Well, time for an update. We only get to play twice a month based off of my work schedule. Going off of memory...
We finished all the Trials of Positions with two Mechwarrior, two Star Commanders, and a Star Captain. All the characters are set up to be combat gods with the barest of other skills. Assigned to the Grenadiers, Brandon Howell sent them on maneuvers to see how they would fit in. They maneuvered well and quickly through good leadership. As the exercise was ending, Tosgetios tagged Howell's WarHawk with an UAC 2 from outside of Howell's weapon's range. Tosgetios was made XO of the Command Star of Axion's Beta Trinary, Jaguar Grenadiers. The PC also (true to his US Army job as a SFC in charge of training) created a training schedule identical to what I remember seeing when I was still serving years ago. Flashbacks, man. He's been making one for every month since August for the PCs.
In a Trial of Grievance, Tytos the Elemental lost against Mechano the former Nova Cat, in a fight to the first landed blow. Astro now looks down on Tytos because a Nova Cat beat him in a fight. Since this was accomplished back in August, the group was then sent on extended raid throughout Clan Space after a Grand Council vote went against the Jaguars and Leo Shower's will. As a group they fought and defeated the Hell's Horses with:
Tytos the elemental, (Levi) captured a Bloodnamed elemental, Decker Mazzoni, but his point was nearly massacred doing so.
Astro (Showers) beat Henrik Lassenerra, Star Captain of the trinary they were fighting. He refused to take the Horse as a bondsman, returning him to his clan. His WarHawk scrapped Henrik's Woodsman Prime in two turns!
Axion (Osis) lead the command star in a Summoner C, well through dense forests and bested an older warrior taking her as a bondsman, a Lupus B pilot, but refused to take a Stormcrow pilot after beating him as well.
Tosgetios (Freelander) piloted a Kingfisher with aplomb, taking a mechwarrior, Hillary as a bondsman.
Mechano (Rwabdogo), a Nova Cat sibbie taken in a spiteful Trial of Possession years past, gained respect by defeating a second elemental point which launched an ambush while he was inspecting a bloodhouse chapel for the Lassenerra's. The elementals destroyed the arm with the UAC5 on his Adder B and nearly took him down. He gained yet more respect taking a Piranha down right after beating the ellies. He took both pilots as bondsmen.
They won their Trial of Possession against the Horses for two trinaries' worth of Mad Dogs and Vipers on Niles.
The players have struggled with the Way of the Clans, most of the players having served in the US Armed Forces and being familiar with the American School of Firepower and the right (Inner Spheroid) way to prosecute wars and fighting. They are coming along on Zellbriggen so other things will fall into place.
It was on Glory Station where the command star of Beta Trinary of the Jaguar Grenadiers gelled. Brandon Howell, acting upon orders, issued a Trial of Possession for the warrior, Taion Tutuola and his spawn. Dwilt Radick performed horribly, his 16th Battle Cluster whiffing the fight. The Grenadiers trounced them, pursuing them into a bunch of canyons where they were cornered and Radick was felled in his Hellbringer Prime to Axion's Summoner Axion a custom configuration. Mechano led a heavier Stormcrow Prime on a merry chase crippling the mech just as it was crippling his Viper. Tosgetios scored a kill against a Gargoyle A in the canyons while Astro handily beat a Timber Wolf near the Wolf base. Tytos scored again, this time beating Taion Tutuola and his elemental point, winning the Trial after conserving his last volley of SRMs to finish them off. Able leadership by Axion gave them a cushy job on the next leg of the trip, going to Tathis to resupply the Cluster's water reserves.
This adventure will be covered in the next post I make.
Base characterizations are as follows:
Star Captain Axion (Osis) is a go-getter mechwarrior who knows jack about Clan politics let alone House politics in the Jaguar Clan. He is a combat murder machine. He has not lost a Trial yet. While a good leader, someone with better political skills may run circles around him in the power structure. The current contest against the Nova Cats on Brim may change him irrevocably. His peers view him as a soft warrior relying on big guns instead of skill to win. They also detest his softness towards bondsmen and a general lack of concern for his leniency for the lower castes. Rumor has Axion actually sparing the lives of castemen who were openly rebelling on Brim in exchange for some resources to continue a fight against the Nova Cats in the ongoing conflict there.
Point Commander Tytos (Levi) is a traditional Smoke Jaguar, if a little brash. He stands his ground and is willing to fight at the drop of a hat. Capturing two Bloodnamed warriors in separate Trials before reaching the age of 20 has put him on the map for the Clan and it is whispered in the Levi Bloodhouse that he may be the choice of the House's leader, Baldwin Levi, for the next Trial of Bloodright.
Star Commander Tosgetios (Freelander) is the very model of a good executive officer. He runs the unit when Axion is away but is beginning to excel in backroom deals and machinations behind his commander's back.
Mechwarrior Mechano (Rwabdogo) was in the Nova Cat Mystic Might Sibko when it and two other sibkos were Trialed for and taken by the Jaguars when he was 15. The Trial was a result of the 3RD Jaguar Cavaliers failure to win a different Trial against the Cat's 32ND Assault Cluster. After winning the sibkos, they spitefully leveled the structures of the training base. The Star Colonel was not punished for the incident. Constantly derided and beaten, Mechano affected a zen-like attitude to complete Smoke Jaguar training to test as a Mechwarrior. Strangely, after handily beating his first opponent in the Trial of Position, he powered down his 'mech and refused to continue his Trial. He knows a former sibmate, Greta, also tested into the warrior caste but no more than that. Seen as insubordinate and unwilling to fully buy into the Smoke Jaguar way, he was shipped from unit to unit until a certain Trial in which his Kit Fox was disabled in combat. Further information on the next two years of his life are restricted to Khan's eyes only, according to Mechano's codex. Rejoining the Jaguar Touman at the age of 22, he spent another year being mistrusted and distrusted by his various commanders. He was assigned to the ristar Axion's command star by Star Colonel Brandon Howell (ain't that a mouthful?) His excellent skill in a light or medium 'mech is all that has kept him in the touman. Within months of turning 24, he is the oldest member of Beta Trinary's command star by a full generation. An arm-length tattoo of a Nova Jaguar irritates and angers Cats and Jaguars alike.
Mechwarrior Astro (Showers) is arrogant past a fault. He brooks no bullshit. He hates anything Nova Cat. Contemptuous of Tytos for his loss of face against Mechano, he is likely to take the reins of the movement to unseat Axion if he does not improve politically. Unfortunately, the water bugs on Tathis ended his career early when he was pulled by the same into the water-filled, honeycomb-like structures of the central continent on Tathis. While officially MIA, it is not expected that he will survive being eaten by the water bugs subsurface.