Please don't confuse an observation for an opinion or a judgement. If I didn't have an interest in the clans I wouldn't be running a campaign whatsoever.
Cool, thanks for clearing up my confusion.
It's just that if a clan warrior's ultimate goal is to achieve a bloodname and be added to the genetic pool then are not their motivations largely self-serving? It seems to me that their personal honour and glory are second only to the betterment of the clan, and sometimes not even then.
That's true for every nationality. Some people may join the DCMS because they honestly want to defend the Combine from foreign aggression. They may be willing to sacrifice themselves completely for that goal. Others might join the DCMS for more self serving reasons, or once in, become more focused on #1, and less on the DC.
The same is true for the Clans, where some conflate their own relevance to such a degree that their personal success becomes = to the success of the Clans. A Clanner will be swift to absorb such notions regardless, but some approach it as a general self-sacrifice kind of patriotism, others as a self-centered narcissism.
There are two things I think you underestimate, or don't assign adequate weight on. That may be a misconception on my part, in which case the following is redundant:
The Clan Warrior Caste education system indoctrinates a decidedly low self-image, especially when compared to most Inner Sphere (or modern) nations. People are a cog in a machine. Starting with that as a base premise about your role in the universe, you're not likely to frame your goals along the lines of: I want to be the big dog, because it's good to be king.
That's true for all Castes, more so for the Warriors, who are taught they're the first and foremost of all Castes. Especially MechWarriors and Aerospace pilots are prone to start justifying their actions as if their personal advancement is for the Greater Good for their Clan. But that's a frame of reference, the Clan as an abstract entity is far more prominent among most Clanners than a nation is for most Spheriods. That's evidenced particularly by their willingness to accept Bondage; their loyalty link to their prior Clan is almost completely cut, and they're ready to be a cog in the new machine.
The second thing is that advancement, ultimately, is achieved almost exclusively through combat prowess. While politics are far from dead, and while it seems a safe bet that politics are involved not just in attaining, but maintaining a rank of Star Colonel or above, the bottom line is that it's rarely enough to arrange for your promotion by ensuring your superior meets an untimely end, or is implicated in some kind of scandal. You have to be able to fight to take the rank, and then fight to *keep* it. While some weasels might get far, ultimately, social generals are almost impossible unless they're also skilled at least during the initial part of their career. An example Elias Chrichel, (I think I goofed the spelling) who was a feeble Warrior as a Khan, but is noted for being quite competent and brilliant in his earlier years.
Your descriptions of a Clanner's mindset don't seem to take that in to account. The truly self-serving are not likely to be numerous. Not because Clanners are better people, but because the balancing act is different.
Furthermore most of the trueborns seem to place little emphasis on loyalty in personal relationships, coupling with whomever to satisfy their biological needs and not much else.
I disagree. Friendships and personal loyalty have been shown as being evident numerous times in fiction and canon.
To me they seem like a mix of the Kingons and the Jem'Hadar. Like the Jem'Hadar they're genetically bred for war and exist only to fight. And like the Klingons personal glory dominates their lives and they follow their superiors only so long as that person is competent. But even then they're looking for a promotion at every opportunity.
I don't think that's inaccurate per se, though the Klingons are a bit rougher and less disciplined in comparison IMO.
But it's relevant to me to take my prior remarks in to consideration. If just as a frame in which a truly selfish Clanner has to justify his own actions to himself and his peers.
"Well, my superior officer was clearly an incompetent failure, so I saw no benefit to the Clan to expend additional resources in extracting him from his predicament. If he had fought harder, he would have prevailed. I stand ready to defend my new rank to any who claim to be my better."
Paul