Characters:
Overall Leaders:
Adrastos “Rok” Kynortas:Position and Rank: Leader of the Black Guard Praetorian, leader of House Kynortas. Rank, “General”.
Status: Deceased
Age: 68 (at time of death in 3138)
Physical Description: A man of an average height, standing at approximately 5’10 (179cm), olive skintone with what had been dark brown hair. As he aged, he went fully white-grey haired by the time he was 44. Said to have possessed brown eyes which held a fury behind them at every glance.
Notes: Adrastos was born in 3070 in the midst of the Word of Blake’s attacks on the Inner Sphere. His father, Nikolaos Kynortas, was in the FWLN, serving aboard the FWLS Menalaus as a ranking officer. After the war, and dissolution of the League however, his father would attempt to keep their noble House from imploding. House Kynortas had made its fortunes during years of prosperity for the Free World’s League. Despite having directly benefited from Thomas Marik’s reign, Nikolaos was the first burning ember of hatred, along with much of the rest of his family, after the discovery of his treachery. Discovering the true Thomas Marik was a madman as well, didn’t help either. The House had made its fortunes owning a dozen major mining projects in a half dozen systems, as well as being heavily invested in localized trade fleets. With the destruction of much of the economy, and the death of much of the trade between what were becoming warring states, Adrastos watched his father slowly spiral from being an upright, stalwart figure, to a broken, bitter man.
Adrastos would inherit that bitterness. His father would manage to procure Adrastos a position in the Oriente Protectorate’s military, due in part that his younger sister was a ranking officer. The Kynortas family had, out of desperation, sent their sons and daughters with what little assets they had left, into the military of the Oriente, as what was left of their financial holdings slowly evaporated under changing conditions. Adrastos would show exceptional ability as a Mechwarrior, earning the callsign “Rok”, before rising through the ranks. Nepotism helped him, and was a tactic he employed himself, promoting up cousins and encouraging much of his family to enlist in the Oriente military, despite their disdain for Jessica Halas. Adrastos would call her the Viper at the heart of Hell in private. He met the “Captain-General” in person as well, once, shortly after his promotion to Colonel, where he played the role of the good solider.
During this time, Adrastos would marry Sotiria Argyris, from House Argyris, another slighted family with similar political cause. The union was proposed by her father, Karolos, at the time his ranking officer in the increasingly subversive unit, the Oriente 5th Guards Regiment.
It would be in 3009 that movement was made by four regiments, linked to now General Karolos Argyris, that they would attempt to move on Jessica Halas-Hughes. However, unfortunately, Karolos would be discovered and killed prior to these events. A small skirmish broke out with the units impacted, as loyalist forces intercepted them. Much to Adrastos’s benefit, the 5th Guard hadn’t been directly involved, yet, and instead had been setup to be the reserve for their coup. Acting immediately, Adrastos would take possession of several dropships, and a sympathetic Jump Ship, before departing with as many assets as he could.
Karolos Argyris, was captured, court-martialed, and shot. He gave no public statement before his execution, though a statement was read out by the government describing his numerous crimes against the state. The 1st, 3rd, and 8th Oriente Guard were disbanded, and reformed under new leadership, and local Houses which were seen as supporting the coup, were rapidly undone. Adrastos watched from outside of the Protectorate as his friends and family which had not escaped, were amongst those undone. Either by Imprisonment, or other methods.
It would become his life’s work to restore the Free World’s League from that point on, with Anson Marik at its head. Early in the process of discovery as to what the 5th Guards would do, Adrastos realized a movement needed to come from another direction, then the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth. To be seen as puppets of the Mariks would do them no favours. Instead, much like several organizations forming, or had formed, across the former League, he decided to begin to create an independent organization, funded by disillusioned houses and seeking aid and shelter across the region.
In his private life, he already had two children, his son Basil, and his daughter Katina. He would go on to have a total of six children, with his family, both immediate and extended, becoming the core glue of what were now the
In the following years, Free Eagle Regiment would evolve as it began absorbing other failed dissident units. Adrastos would see hundreds of battles, some forming success, others in failure. Often, his efforts would go unrewarded, or would fail in the end. Worlds flipping between regions were no the upheaval he was seeking. The Free Eagle Regiment’s behavior, its discipline in battle also became harder to control. Bitterness and anger started becoming too ingrained in behaviours of commanders and soldiers alike, and even he recognized it. After years of conflict and turmoil, and a dozen campaigns, progress on their journey seemed… slow, at best. At worst it seemed to be a stalled dream, something which could be reached out for, but never achieved.
Adrastos himself, would inevitably fall to this mindset as well. Often, the unit became infamous for lashing out in post-battle or even post-campaign environments. Nationalists for particular worlds or regions were treated with disdain, whether they be military or civilian. Where as the unit when it first started operating, often tried to uplift people, in an effort to spread their message, as funding became tighter with every small house or planet supporting them became less or restricted, they increasingly would use negative reinforcement.
Supporters of the Rim Collective, or the Oriente Protectorate, would see their homes destroyed, as a punishment, for not supporting them. Assets would be taken from one community and given to another. This often would lay the seeds for more civil conflict later on that world, or in those systems. By 3120, Adrastos was a man who wore the face of war at all times. All of the former Free World’s States, barring the Mairk-Stewart Commonwealth, had declared them their enemies. Even the state they sought to support considered them an international group of terrorists. Adrastos preferred the term, patriots.
He would later say, in private, shortly after the destruction of Kios II’s industrial facilities, after the local population had lied to them, briefly switching their allegiance only to turn their backs on them within a year, that he never had wanted things to go this way. He’d wanted to save people, and build something greater for everyone to participate in. He wanted to help bring back the prosperity that they had all lost. Even he, by 3129, in the honest moments to himself, saw what he and his unit had become. They had become just another tragedy, in the tragedy of what had once been the home of prosperity.
The death of his son, Stefanos, also hit him hard, as the conflict that he died in was one brought about wholly by his own actions in the ROTS, holding on for longer than normal when they had made good progress in several in depth, heavy raids.
In 3138, after decades of conflict, death, broken promises, and an ideal that seemingly was never brought to pass, Adrastos would die in his bed, physically destroyed by the enemies without the Free World’s League, rather than from within. What was left of his spirit died, as the true successor to the Free World’s League, was killed.
Katina “Blade” Kynortas:Position and Rank: Leader of the Black Guard Praetorians. Currently holding the rank of Colonel.
Status: Alive.
Age: 44 (As of 3150)
Physical Description: Katina is said to have a kind face, though often now it reflects more of a person worn by worries. Her hair went grey in her late 30’s, and she never bothers dying it, instead keeping it short and professional for her position. She has her mother’s eyes, which were green. She stand’s approximate 5’5 (165cm). She doesn’t smile often.
Notes: Second child born to Adrastos Kynortas and his wife, Sotira. Katina would be raised on jumpships, going from world to world, often seeing the emergency of wonderful sights, and not fully understanding the horrors that would appear on their surfaces. What time she did get on planet, regardless of the world, she would spend with her mother and siblings, as well as the other children born from the numerous warriors within the organization. It was only by the time she was 6, that she began realizing that familiar faces of different parents disappearing, and people becoming quiet when their names were spoken, meant they were more than just ‘gone’. The dangers of the lifestyle around her formed a person who never fully would feel secure.
The childhood she and everyone had, was cut short by simple reality. Once they were able to assist in any operation of a ship, or function of war, they were pressed into service. Education hung over their shoulders like a haunting specter. Ideology was as much a part of such an upbringing, as family was. The unit was shown almost in the light of avenging knights, trying to bring about the restoration of peace and prosperity.
Needless to say, Katina and the generation of people around her, would reach adulthood with a severe amount of baggage behind them. She herself, was inducted into the 1st Liberation Regiment at the age of 18. During her two years there, she participated in battles against the Oriente Protectorate. The first day she shot down two men when her position was flanked, she felt panicked. The night after the battle, once safely behind friendly lines, she vomited several times. But that feeling itself would vanish with time. Her father’s position would help her find her way into an opened Mechwarrior position. She had gone through simulator training for much of her life, though she wasn’t considered an expert by any means. The mech she found herself in was a CN9 Centurion. It would be her mech of preference and operation throughout her career.
A career that she seemingly cut short, when she met Brian Clayton, a Mechwarrior whose unit joined the Regiment in 3122. She would be moved out of frontline operations whenever possible once she’d decided to give up her vaunted Mechwarrior seat, in order to have a family. Brian and Katina were expecting their first child, a daughter, by the time she was 24. She was promoted to operations due to her experience in the infantry, as well as being a Mechwarrior. Her father also of course, saw to it that his loyal offspring were always in positions of some note, even if not in charge, in order to keep tabs on things within the unit. Before they could marry, Brian Clayton and his lance were killed in a battle in Regulus Space.
His death was an extremely hard thing for her to come to terms with. Her daughter, Tasia, was born without a father. Katina would return to service as soon as she was able, and had a deep disdain for Regulans after these events.
Her rank continued to climb as she eventually became in charge of one of the Aetos Hoplite’s Companies, the 7th support Company. She would retire from frontline service again when she had her second child, returning to operations. It’s unknown who the father of her second child is.
Often, she can be described as being lonely, only finding herself when in command. But the death of her younger brother, Stefanos, was said to have a profound effect on her, especially given he died while under her direction from headquarters. The ROTS had cornered him, and she’d tried her best to get reinforcements to him, as well as open a way for withdrawal. Prior to his death, he’d demanded that the 5th’s artillery fire on his position. She hesitated too long to confirm the order, and enemy casualties from the bombardment only included a medium mech and an APC, instead of the majority of the host which had attacked.
Her life, culminated up to the conflict with the Lyrans and the Wolves. The former, were demons of her childhood, where the outsiders had been decadent beasts. She saw them as little else as well, even in adulthood. Every Lyran she’d ever met, she’d prejudged to by arrogant, and was often not surprised. Taking overall command of several theatres on several worlds, she would act decisively, even when the situation seemed most dire, taking swift action to curb problems as they arose. Experience had taken her this far. She even saved the Andurien Battalion’s mech element, twice, in the face of a Clan Wolf assault, prior to a fighting withdrawal. She oversaw the bloodletting of the unit she was brought up in. Through orders and calls she made, she let her friends and family die, one by one, in order to save the others that she could.
A behind the lines assault on a later campaign during the Wolf Assault, would see her lose her left arm below the elbow to an elemental, before she and the remaining command staff were saved by friendly Marik-Commonwealth forces. After being briefly treated with amputation, she immediately began to take command once more, trying to reestablish what had happened. This was the last battle they participated in, during the Steiner-Wolf invasion, as this was the battle her father, the overall leader of the Black Eagle Praetorians, was mortally wounded, and there simply were not enough troops, or supplies, remaining to participate.
After her father’s death, and the death of her older brother Basil, an expert Mechwarrior and fine commander, Katina found herself being pushed forward to take up the role of leadership. This split the unit within days after she won a contested vote amongst commanders to take the role. Worse yet, the unit had not been in such terrible condition in its decade’s long history. The Free World’s League reborn, under the leadership of the hated enemy of her family, also created more than just a few problems.
Chaos went through the ranks. The Black Eagles were already not known for their discipline outside of battle. Moral nosedived, some wanting to rejoin the League, or even disband the unit, others showing open hostilities. She did what she had to, to keep things together. People out of line were brought to heel. Harsh measures were taken, and she’d even seemingly held the support staff hostage at several points, installing people loyal to her as guards. Most of the support staff often were made up by non-combat family members of frontline troops. This was enough to quell things, until the open rebellion broke out as she reached out to the League itself.
The insurrectionists had come from two units absorbed into the Praetorians much earlier, ironically, one of their leaders being Brian Clayton’s brother, John Clayton. When she ordered the destruction of the dropship they’d mutinied and taken, she killed her daughter’s uncle without hesitation. Katina, much like people of her generation, were born into the unit and its goals. Her goal was to see the Free World’s League return, and now, even if it wasn’t perfect, it had started to. Until the threats from the outside were dealt with, the splinter nations of the League were all at risk. Better they unite for the time being, and handle the usurpers later.
The reception was about as good as one would imagine, however. Even without communications in person, one could feel the disdain come through any images the officials showed her. No deal was made, but she took up the decision to side with the League regardless, and spend the last of the unit’s resources currying their favour. The destruction of multiple Steiner rear guards, spent in blood, carried enough weight to acquire the minimum resources they needed to begin rebuilding.
And rebuild she would. From the ground up, she began reorganizing how they did things, and began the process of coopting more forcefully, people from populations on occupied worlds. From 3142-4150, she’d command her units as they raided across the frontiers against every target north of the Free World’s League she could, while in their home territories, the government brought much of the former Free World’s League to heel, leaving only the Anduriens outside of their former sphere of influence, and worlds under occupation by the Wolf Empire.
As of 3150, the unit’s strength had been bolstered from captured clan mechs, and a substantial component of infantry, armour, and aerospace assets. Internal disunity had been brought to heel, and slowly but surely, discipline had been restored in almost every unit, barring, the renamed Andurien Battalion, now named the Aetos Varangian Guard.
Relations with the government itself, were also restored enough that despite it not being public, by 3150, she had official contacts within the government itself, as well as with the FWLM. The Black Eagle Praetorians, once an enemy to almost every government in the former FWL, was now working its way into being an asset, though she knew that would only remain so long as they both held common cause. They were being used to harm the Wolves, at a distance, despite the peace treaty. It gave the FWLM deniability. They were radicals which the government had no control over. They were useful tools to help flip Steiner worlds when needed, or be used as a shock unit in the right circumstances.
Their reputation of being ruthless fanatics, was a double-edged sword. Katina herself was a fanatic. Her children were raised in the same way she had been, as well as her nephews and nieces. The Praetorians goals, in her eyes, were the only things that mattered. She had lost too much, as had everyone, to simply abandon what they were. Just like in the Oriente Protectorate decades earlier, much like her grandfather, she still had designs on the overthrow of Nikol Marik, the successor to Jessica Marik, and for the true successors to take on the title of Captain-General. The goal of restoring the League itself, had already started.
Funnily enough, she was almost afraid of the world she fought for, in some ways. As by the end of it, she would have no role in it.
