Character Study of the Week: Jamie Wolf
Who: Jamie Wolf
Aka Jamie of Clan Wolf (presumed)
What: MechWarrior, Choyer Garrison Cluster, Clan Wolf
MechWarrior, 328th Assault Cluster, Clan Wolf
Colonel, Commander, Wolf’s Dragoons Mercenary Brigade
Commanding General, Wolf’s Dragoons Mercenary Brigade (actual rank nebulous, authority absolute)
When: 2980 – 18 October 3067
Weapon of Choice: Archer BattleMech, 2R, 2W or possibly modified further with Clan technology
Jamie Wolf. One of the most storied characters in the Battletech setting. If you know nothing of his history you have missed a sizable chunk of the early setting.
From a setting point of view his history starts when he turns up with five pristine BattleMech Regiments plus several regiments’ worth of supporting units, along with enough dropships, jumpships and a portable space station in Davion space asking for work.
At the time there was absolutely nothing about that which was not utterly fantastic. In an era where understrength, jury rigged, damaged ‘Mech companies decided the fate of planets the Dragoons were a game changer for any faction that hired them, regardless of ability. The fact that they redefined what ‘elite’ was in terms of skills just made everyone all the more terrified. And curious, naturally.
Of course what we know now it all makes sense, Clan origins and standards, resources from what was essentially a bottomless pit since it was all ridiculously outmoded by Clan standards and a degree of planning and preparation no other mercenary could have.
From within the Battletech universe Jamie’s life begins in the Kerensky cluster, as the son of a bloodnamed MechWarrior and a merchant, and he managed to earn entry into the Warrior Caste, first in a secondline cluster, working his way up to a frontline unit under Natasha Kerensky and then into command of the Dragoons.
Little is known of his time among the Clans, he was certainly extremely talented, after all he was a freeborn who made it into frontline service, even among the egalitarian Clan Wolf this is an accomplishment, and to be selected as leader of the expeditionary force known as Wolf’s Dragoons.
His history within the Inner Sphere proves that as he led his forces, from the front in true Clan style, against a myriad of foes, adapting tactics, strategy of just plain outwitting them at every turn.
This makes him one of the overwhelming, overpowering characters that heavily populated the early years of Battletech, when the fiction was bent more towards pulp sci-fi rather than pulp military. The former usually has a greater allowance for fantastical, do anything and everything characters, and given his phenomenally diverse skill set that is exactly what Jamie Wolf is.
This is not to say he is infallible, the vendetta with Takashi was a major blinder to other issues, it’s these little things that help keep him human. Just.
In keeping with this he is a faction leader, and a faction is exactly what the Dragoons are. At five regiments, growing to, considering the amount of space they receive in the Mercenary Field Manuals, five Galaxies plus another Galaxy or two in specialist units, home guard and miscellanea and more warships than some factions, Clan, Periphery or Inner Sphere, and undisputed ownership of a planet this is a force that could have carved out a sizable nation.
Instead, betraying a degree of Clan thinking, Jamie lives the Clan and merc utopia of being a self-sufficient fighting force picking and choosing contracts, and thus conflicts, all without the messy need to administer a world or populous any more than absolutely necessary. So in some respects he did carve out an empire, just not one in the traditional sense.
Come to think of it, given the sway the Dragoons had, the MRBC was arguably an empire.
Naturally this means that Jamie is also a living legend, somewhat rarer within the setting, though during his lifetime there were a number, Natasha Kerensky and Kai Allard-Liao, they are legendary primarily for being MechWarriors of phenomenal skill. Jamie, again with his diverse skill set, manages to set the bar high on multiple fronts.
He is far from a slouch as a MechWarrior, but he has been undone in the past, left vulnerable or nearly killed.
Of course he remained an active MechWarrior, or at least retained his capacity, well into old age. While this leads to his death it still shows that somewhat unrealistic streak written into the character, as well as quite a few in universe traits shared with other aging Clan characters, such as an inability to simply stay out of a fight, not all that unrealistic considering his origins.
So he dies in the cockpit in a violent and glorious manner, taking down multiple foes. Going down swinging, Clan style, well, there was no other way for such a character, it is in keeping with his background, life and even the nature of his pulp literary origins.
That it happens in the distinctive blue and gold Archer is little more than branding. While it has never been stated outright that he piloted a 2R, 2W or other Star League tech or Clan tech augmented design it doesn’t really matter. An Archer is a support design, and can serve very well as a command ‘Mech given that it has heavy long range firepower that discourages closing and getting distracted by things like battle fists heading towards your cockpit.
Personally, because of the Dragoons variants on the Archer, I can imagine Jamie back in the Clans piloting a Summoner B, but that’s pure speculation.
Equally important is the colour scheme. Blue and gold. Not the Dragoons’ black and red. A nod to some part of his history, disinformation, or something else? A small detail that could have been a hook in waiting but never was. Regardless it became his coffin, and if he was any bit still a Clansman at heart he would have had it no other way.
It is a death that is dramatic, in terms of emotional content from within and without of the setting, and as an event. This is the death that inspires the Dragoons to assault the Sol system and is one of the three major actions that guts them militarily. Jamie Wolf’s legacy was almost the destruction of his beloved unit.
It is tempting to say that the Dragoons could not survive without him. Keep in mind that Jamie Wolf did more than just lead them militarily, he also rebuilt the Dragoons several times over, reinvigorating them each time, making improvements, innovations, even reorganising the Dragoons along Clan lines, all while tapping into new sources of resupply once the Clan homeworlds and their own cache were no longer available.
Again this is that heavily stacked deck of talents coming into play, more out of the necessity of plot than anything, the Dragoons keep getting knocked down but someone has to pick them back up, and that has to be the leader of the group.
Could someone else have rebuilt the Dragoons just as big and bad as before?
Sure, like I said, necessity of plot, Maeve was in the process of doing just that before getting killed. And necessity of plot means that the Dragoons, no longer in a pulp sci-fi setting, and in fact in a setting that was downsizing considerably, could not fantastically pull themselves back together to the same degree, regardless of who was in charge.
This, in an odd way, defines Jamie’s impact upon the setting. He defines leadership, organisational capability, tactical ability, strategic skill, pretty much everything military, as befits the game, through continued success against overwhelming odds while leading the largest single storied unit in the setting.
Just as importantly he does so purely as a warrior, never a politician.
Don’t get me wrong, Jamie is far from politically naïve and as a mercenary leader is forced to remain aware of the dreaded politics, but he never operates in that world. Dips his toes in when he has to, with quite a bit of skill, but honestly no one walks away from the experience the same, just look at the conference on Outreach for proof of that.
Jamie is through and through a military character, even his death is the result of a military action. Caused by political considerations, certainly, however in the Battletech universe politics are the root cause of all combat.
But this devastating impact, utter, consummate skill, is precisely why he has to die. He’s just too damn good, and his like will never be seen again.
The same holds true for the Dragoons for the same reasons. From a fiction point of view a faction that always wins is boring. The Dragoons have been laid low in the past, but their first irreversible defeat starts with Jamie’s death.
And within the setting, well, the Dragoons, and most likely no one, will be able to live up to such an intimidating legend. In either case the only place to go from the top is down.
What am I trying to say about Jamie? He’s a character from another time, from two perspectives. He was generated at a time when an amazing character like this was a hook into the setting, not as an individual warrior like Natasha, but as a leader, trying to inspire the player to be this person or put themselves into their hands.
Jamie also comes from a period of Clan history we know little or nothing about, lived through one and a quarter (roughly) Succession Wars and a host of more modern conflicts. He went from the apex of technology to its depths (the highest quality of those depths but nonetheless a significant downgrade) and saw it come back up again.
We may never see his like again but he can still inspire us with what our characters may be, if the rolls are ever within our favour.
