Clan Blood Spirit: Get Off Our Lawn

[CJC070]

Personally…. I’d think it would be funny if say a broken Spirit Galaxy shows up at the Escorpion Imperio and is absorbed. Some random Mandrills too lol

Although no warriors were taken some Fire Mandrills lower castes were taken before the Scorpions pulled out the homeworlds.

[Stormlion1]

Some of the Green Ghost mechs have been seen sporting Blood Spirit insignia.

[ColBosch]

Some of the Green Ghost mechs have been seen sporting Blood Spirit insignia.

The Word of Blake was rarely shy about using false insignia.

[Stormlion1]

The Word of Blake was rarely shy about using false insignia.

That's if you believe they were a WoB operation for there entire existence.

[tassa_kay]

Shrapnel Issue 3 explicitly confirms that at least the Boques Bloodname did make it to the Inner Sphere.

Which is a little silly to me, given how Blood Spirits are amongst the worst possible bondsmen one could take (and who would even target them with a Harvest Trial to begin with?), but c'est la vie. Hardly the only questionable thing I've read in Shrapnel.

Although no warriors were taken some Fire Mandrills lower castes were taken before the Scorpions pulled out the homeworlds.

Some warriors were taken, actually: Fire Mandrill Star Colonel Hampton Schroeder as a named example (whom Khan Suvorov beat in a boxing-match Trial of Possession), and WoR also notes that the few Mandrills survivors taken off Dagda were mostly warriors, scientists, and technicians.

[Stormlion1]

Slightly off topic. Anyone think the Blood Spirits were using the Diamond Sharks to ship Mechs, Armor, etc from the Inner Sphere to pad there forces out? Bring captured gear and give it the IIc treatment? I know the Spirits were on trading terms with them and they probably could have gotten mechs for cheap from the Inner Sphere. Or would there distaste have stopped such a deal?

[tassa_kay]

Slightly off topic. Anyone think the Blood Spirits were using the Diamond Sharks to ship Mechs, Armor, etc from the Inner Sphere to pad there forces out? Bring captured gear and give it the IIc treatment? I know the Spirits were on trading terms with them and they probably could have gotten mechs for cheap from the Inner Sphere. Or would there distaste have stopped such a deal?

We know that the Spirits were shocked to find out that the Inner Sphere was near-parity to them in technology (exceeding in some areas), but I don't see the Spirits spending the resources to have Spheroid equipment shipped all that way to them when there's plenty of likely-cheaper (and in their eyes, better) alternatives closer to home.

[Wolf72]

It would be very pragmatic (somewhat desperate maybe) to do so ... so no.  While we should, we wouldn't.

BUT remember its your (ours) game!

[Tyler Jorgensson]

It would be very pragmatic (somewhat desperate maybe) to do so ... so no.  While we should, we wouldn't.

BUT remember its your (ours) game!

It’s one thing if you’re the Jaguars sending IS machines back to ‘study’ and then assigning them to your Garrison forces. It’s another thing if you are the Spirits and you’re cash/resource strapped to begin with: what are you going to bargain with?

Now OTOH if I had information on IS designs I would Trial to get the better ones: zombie mechs that I could upgrade to Clan variants: Thunderbolts, Awesomes, Grasshoppers, Guillotines and the like.

[tassa_kay]

Now OTOH if I had information on IS designs I would Trial to get the better ones: zombie mechs that I could upgrade to Clan variants: Thunderbolts, Awesomes, Grasshoppers, Guillotines and the like.

The Spirits already have access to plenty of solid designs. Inner Sphere design imports are not only against their character to do, they’re simply unnecessary. It’s not Mechs they’re hurting for, it’s resources.

[Tyler Jorgensson]

So randomly (although on a similar topic)…

Do you think the Blood Spirits would have willing be absorbed by any other the other Clans? Obviously the Star Adders were going to Annihilate them at any opportunity, with the Cobra agreeing and the Coyotes and Stone Lions at a parity for strength… so there weren’t a lot of opportunities.

But what about the Inner Sphere Clans or the Scorpions? Do you think that had any Spirits made it that far that they would have been ‘willingly’ absorbed like the former Ice Hellions? Or do you think that their mentality of isolation would have been their ultimate fate regardless?

More of a thought exercise than anything, I just want to get some opinions on the idea. Maybe submit it to the Fanfic ideas board later

[tassa_kay]

No. The Spirits’ hatred of the other Clans (save a very few exceptions like the Mandrills) ran very, very deep, and was an intrinsic part of their identity.

[Stormlion1]

I could see them pulling a Hells Horses though by taking over worlds on the Periphery side to free up Home Clan units for use elsewhere. The problem is the Jade Falcons just got rid of the Steel Vipers, the Ghost Bears wouldn't need them and the Wolves already have the Hells Horses for that.

[tassa_kay]

Crusader Clan or not, I don’t see the Spirits invading or migrating the Inner Sphere (or anywhere else) under any conceivable circumstance. They don’t have the capability of taking and holding territory in a military campaign while still being able to defend York, and they don’t have the transport capacity to transplant their tens of millions of civilians (who I don’t see them leaving behind; they’re a very tightly-knit people that are committed to each other).

Now, if they hadn’t interfered in the Burrock Absorption, that’s a very different story. Before that ill-conceived action, the Spirits fielded twelve Galaxies, which would allow them to be much more adventurous/less conservative in their offensive operations. But as things unfolded up to that point, they simply can’t do it. Nor would they particularly want to.

The thought exercise is fun, but I just don’t see a scenario in which the Spirits would ever willingly submit to Absorption by another Clan, and especially not to an Inner Sphere Clan. It’s just not in their character to do so; Blood Spirits are literally raised on a diet of hatred towards the other Clans, to the point where they refuse integration into other Clans when taken as isorla, and are content to stand and die in the defense of their home.

[Terminax]

Willing to be absorbed? Absolutely not. They'd rather die and did in the end.

Had different choices led to an altered path? I could see points of cooperation like with the Diamond Sharks, Fire Mandrills and Snow Ravens. Nothing is impossible in fiction but likely?

I don't subscribe to they couldn't change. They tried to at points, but their comfort zone was in a twisted orthodoxy that every time they returned to, their grudge list was both broader and deeper and digging themselves from that all but impossible. To unjam that, you'd require major revision *somewhere*. Irony is they fell as the system they espoused said they should.

Like, had they not interfered in the Burrock absorption? They'd have been worlds better equipped for what came later. Or had their first decent Khan in some time not died in fighting the Steel Vipers reaving campaign or later yet not just charge head first into the fighting at the Steel Vipers? They'd have something to work with, instead of the shell shocked survivors being led in part by a bitter failure. Heck, let's say their bolt hold hadn't been found and they'd given no further offense to the Star Adders? They'd just as much chance as the Coyotes.

The problem with alliances is they didn't have trust with many. The Snow Ravens used them to cover their exit, the Cloud Cobras likewise lost their phone number real quick. The Fire Mandrills died and what little was left of them brought into the Blood Spirits. The Diamond Sharks sold them out. The Ice Hellions viewed them as competition and so on. That's leaving off the pressure they were under between Burrocks, Star Adders or the Steel Vipers or lack of transports they traded off to survive as long as they did.

[tassa_kay]

later yet not just charge head first into the fighting at the Steel Vipers?

It’s never addressed in the writing, but I’m convinced that Banacek intentionally had the Spirits leading the charges on Circe and New Kent specifically to weaken them. It seems a very Adder thing to do, plus why would the insular Spirits give a damn about prosecuting the Viper Annihilation when they could just throw a token force in and watch the Clans they hate so much beat each other to death?

[Terminax]

I don't exactly disagree, but we just don't know. I suspect you're right as the Blood Spirits had reverted to type at that moment, willing to blindly follow the Clans leadership and do as they were told.

My other little twig is that Karianna Schmitt was a clone of Colleen Schmitt, by the very small Society element present in the Clan but she wasn't reaved by dint of not being a warrior at the time the Steel Vipers came by and thus an after thought. No proof obviously but there's definitely a few suggestive lines here and there.

[tassa_kay]

I wouldn’t exactly call that reverting to type, and it seems doubly odd for them to submit to a Star Adder ilKhan, but it is what it is, I suppose. Literally my only gripe with the otherwise-excellent WoR was how the Spirits were handled in the end.

[Terminax]

I'd have been happier if they survived myself but that's what AUs are for. The AU WoR campaign I discussed here years ago raised some ire at me and I've been working on another one lately hence my conversation over in the Fire Mandrill thread.

I had my hopes raised when Blood Avatar suggested that there could be something for us Blood Spirits but I don't see the possibility anymore.

Edited that to be not quite as salty sounding.

[tassa_kay]

Hey, if there’s any thread where salt makes sense, it’s this one. We Blood Spirits subsist on salt and hatred. Canonical fact!

[Wolf72]

And here I thought it was work/family/genetics causing my high blood pressure! 

[Tyler Jorgensson]

Thanks all for the comments: like I said just thinking out loud

Hey, if there’s any thread where salt makes sense, it’s this one. We Blood Spirits subsist on salt and hatred. Canonical fact!

The Clans exist on salt lol. Name one non-salty Clan at some point in their career?

I'd have been happier if they survived myself but that's what AUs are for. The AU WoR campaign I discussed here years ago raised some ire at me and I've been working on another one lately hence my conversation over in the Fire Mandrill thread.

I had my hopes raised when Blood Avatar suggested that there could be something for us Blood Spirits but I don't see the possibility anymore.

Edited that to be not quite as salty sounding.

I’d like to know more about it honestly

[Terminax]

It's baking at the moment. I've got some art coming in at some point when their main gig allows them time to complete commissions so keep an eye out in the Fan art section. Once my research is deeper in, I'll post some stuff in Fan units and fiction too. A couple of fellows here and SB have been proofing my initial ideas but nothings quite ready for release yet.

But as a tease, I'll spoil the working title: The Eternal Khan.

But back to following canon events, I just caught up on the HTP Foster pdf and I do wish they'd follow up with a brush war piece on the Burrock Absorption. The details of the Burrocks, Blood Spirits and Star Adders toumans at their heights before that event would be lovely.

[tassa_kay]

The Clans exist on salt lol. Name one non-salty Clan at some point in their career?

You’re missing the point. The Blood Spirits are defined as a faction by their bitterness and salt towards the other Clans. It’s their primary trait.

I do wish they'd follow up with a brush war piece on the Burrock Absorption. The details of the Burrocks, Blood Spirits and Star Adders toumans at their heights before that event would be lovely.

It's already in the works, if you weren’t aware, as part of the upcoming Brush Wars series.

[Terminax]

Excellent. I was hoping it'd come but given all the IlClan era stuff and plastic miniatures sets I figured it be awhile if ever.

[alex blood spirit]

I'm looking at creating an assault point for the Spirit starting with 2 King Crabs  1 Atlas 1 Stalker 1 Awesome

[Terminax]

Your Assault Star looks good on paper. What are you planning to assault with it?

*** *** ***

Another research question. Have we ever figured out which three Warships we traded to the Snow Ravens for 2 Galaxies of equipment?

[tassa_kay]

Another research question. Have we ever figured out which three Warships we traded to the Snow Ravens for 2 Galaxies of equipment?

No, unfortunately, because they never appear or get a mention in print anywhere.

[Terminax]

Dang, that'd make it too easy. Oh well.

[Alan Grant]

Pure speculation, but if the Eden Rose (Potemkin-class) isn't originally of Clan Blood Spirit, I will be truly shocked.

My rationale:

1. It's named after something that is pinkish/reddish. Common theme with the Blood Spirit warship names.

2. The Eden Rose itself (the flower) is named after a poet who also served as a diplomat.

3. Almost every Clan warship fleet has at least one Potemkin. Talking about the 3050s-3060s. The Nova Cats have a LOT of Carracks instead, the Crusader Wolves lost theirs to the Exiled Wolves, and the Jade Falcons don't but otherwise have a large fleet, that's it. All the other Clans, even the Fire Mandrills and Ice Hellions, had a Potemkin. The Blood Spirits don't... and I wonder if it's because they traded it away.

I can come up with arguments for a few other vessels in the Snow Raven fleet. Morning Violence makes me think "red sky in the morning" or a red sunrise, and keeps with the red theme, Scabbard (has been used as a symbol of peace, and keeping a blade in its scabbard can be seen as a moment in which one is using words and not swords), Kerensky's Hope (feels extremely optimistic, reminiscent of the Blood Spirits early days as a unifying force, but a philosophy they had gotten away from over the decades and they then might have discarded the ship as well, but weak argument I admit), Bloody Talon (they already have a Blood Kite, Blood Fury, Stooping Kite, it fits, even if it also fits with bird Clans as well). However, all of these are mostly based on 1 rationale as opposed to multiple ones. Weak arguments.

I'd stand by Eden Rose a bit; the others just make a short list of respectable possibilities in my mind.

We also have to be mindful of the fact that the Clans have been known to rename warships. So, it's also just possible the Snow Ravens renamed their former Blood Spirit warships in the same process of recommissioning them as Snow Raven warships.