BattleTech Legends: The Blood of Kerensky Trilogy, page 118
Mid-July: The Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon launch their Fourth Wave.
August: The Smoke Jaguars and Ghost Bears begin their Fourth Wave.
Late August: IlKhan Showers allows the use of Provisional Garrison Clusters (PGCs) on Inner Sphere worlds to free up more frontline units for the invasion.
10 September: Twycross is counterattacked by Federated Commonwealth forces, consisting of the Tenth Lyran Guards RCT, the Ninth F-C RCT, and two Kell Hound regiments. The world is retaken, and the destruction of nearly all the Falcon Guards Cluster creates a political backlash that leads to Timur Malthus retiring from saKhanship.
2 October: Clan Smoke Jaguar is defeated on Wolcott, and as a result swear never to invade the world again.
31 October: A suicide attack by Rasalhagian pilot Tyra Miraborg on the Dire Wolf kills ilKhan Showers.
1 November: A Grand Kurultai convenes on the Dire Wolf and it is decided to return to Clan space and vote for another ilKhan. This starts what is later called the “Year of Peace”—an event that allows the Inner Sphere to close the technological gap on the Clans and prepare for their eventual return. All Bloodnamed warriors are invited to return— including Natasha Kerensky, who returned to Clan Wolf from Wolf’s Dragoons.
5 November: Adam Steiner—who was on Tharkad training cadets when his homeworld was invaded by Clan Jade Falcon—retakes Somerset.
1 December: The Bloodnamed warriors of the invasion force rendezvous at Paulus Prime to begin their journey back to the Clan homeworlds. Here, Natasha Kerensky rejoins Clan Wolf.
3051
January: Clan Jade Falcon begins to stage raids on Somerset, whittling away Adam Steiner’s strength.
12 January: Called by the Dragoons, a council of war is held on Outreach. Jaime Wolf releases massive amounts of information about the Clans to the Inner Sphere. The leaders of the Inner Sphere decide to work together to fight this external foe.
5 February: Theodore Kurita and Hanse Davion conclude a non-aggression pact on Outreach.
19 June: Khan Ulric Kerensky is tried before the Grand Council for his actions during the invasion. He is acquitted and elected ilKhan. Natasha Kerensky replaces him as Khan of Clan Wolf. The ilKhan activates Clan Steel Viper (to help Clan Jade Falcon), Clan Nova Cat (to help the Smoke Jaguars), and Clan Diamond Shark (reserve) to help with the invasion.
15 October: Anastasius Focht returns to the Clans at Engadine upon learning of ilKhan Kerensky’s return.
29 October: The Clan invasion resume with the Fifth Wave.
7 November: Clan Wolf resumes its offensive one week after the other Clans.
20 November: Ulric Kerensky asks ComStar for information on Luthien in preparation for attacking it.
3052
4 January: The Battle for Luthien begins as the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats attack. Having been tipped off early, Kanrei Theodore Kurita has the world well-prepared, and receives assistance from Hanse Davion in the form of the Kell Hounds and Wolf’s Dragoons mercenary units. A total of twelve front line and three militia regiments defend the world against five Galaxies. After two days, the Inner Sphere forces throw the Clan invaders off the planet.
5 January: On Satalice, Ragnar Magnusson, the heir apparent to the throne of the FRR, is captured by Clan Wolf.
7 January: Primus Myndo Waterly meets with ilKhan Kerensky on Satalice, and learns that the objective of the Clan invasion is Terra. As a reaction to the problems during the early waves, Khan Jorgensson of Clan Ghost Bear orders a change in tactics and strategy when dealing with the Inner Sphere forces. His merchants are told to find supplies wherever possible, even if it means dealing with Inner Sphere merchants.
18 January: Hohiro Kurita is trapped behind enemy lines on Teniente, and begins guerrilla warfare.
16 February: Precentor Martial Focht chooses Tukayyid as proxy battleground for Terra.
15-17 March: Clan Diamond Shark wins the Periphery world of Nyserta from Clan Ghost Bear in a Trial of Possession.
5 April: The bidding for Tukayyid between ilKhan Kerensky and Precentor Martial Focht takes place at Diosd. It is decided that the Clans will be given the keys to Terra if they should win and in case of their defeat, they will wait for fifteen years to resume the invasion.
8-20 April: With the Clans distracted by the preparations for Tukayyid, the AFFC invades Barcelona. Though it is defended by Jade Falcon PGC forces only, they put up a much bigger fight than anticipated. Adam Steiner commands the reserves and manages to win the day.
1 May: The Battle of Tukayyid begins, as does Operation Scorpion.
6 May: The Revenants under command of Victor Steiner-Davion hit Teniente and rescue Hohiro Kurita.
8 May: Romano Liao and Tsen Shang are assassinated on Sian.
21 May: The Battle of Tukayyid ends in a ComStar victory.
6 June: Anastasius Focht and Sharilar Mori depose Primus Myndo Waterly on Terra after learning about Operation Scorpion.
12 June: The Clan Grand Council ratifies the Tukayyid Truce after Phelan Ward—newly appointed saKhan of Clan Wolf—defends it in a speech before the Grand Council.
16 June: Anastasius Focht and Primus Sharilar Mori begin to restructure ComStar. Demona Aziz and Precentor Atreus split away from ComStar, and the Word of Blake is born as a result.
17 June: Hanse Davion dies of a heart attack on New Avalon.
7 December: The Explorer Corps and Theodore Kurita sign an agreement to combine efforts to find the Clan homeworlds.
BATTLETECH GLOSSARY
Clan military unit designations are used throughout this trilogy:
Point: 1 ’Mech or 5 infantry
Star: 5 ’Mechs or 25 infantry
Binary: 2 Stars
Trinary: 3 Stars
Cluster: 4—5 Binaries/Trinaries
Galaxy: 3-5 Clusters
Nova: 1 ’Mech Star and 1 infantry Star
Supernova: 1 ’Mech Binary and 2 infantry Stars
ABTAKHA
An abtakha is a captured warrior who is adopted into his new Clan as a warrior.
AUTOCANNON
This is a rapid-fire, auto-loading weapon. Light autocannons range from 30 to 90 millimeter (mm), and heavy autocannons may be from 80 to 120mm or more. They fire high-speed streams of high-explosive, armor-piercing shells.
BATCHALL
The batchall is the ritual by which Clan warriors issue combat challenges. Though the type of challenge varies, most begin with the challenger identifying themself, stating the prize of the contest, and requesting that the defender identify the forces at their disposal. The defender also has the right to name the location of the trial. The two sides then bid for what forces will participate in the contest. The subcommander who bids to fight with the number of forces wins the right and responsibility to make the attack. The defender may increase the stakes by demanding a prize of equal or lesser value if they wish.
BATTLEMECH
BattleMechs are the most powerful war machines ever built. First developed by Terran scientists and engineers, these huge vehicles are faster, more mobile, better-armored and more heavily armed than any twentieth-century tank. Ten to twelve meters tall and equipped with particle projection cannons, lasers, rapid-fire autocannon and missiles, they pack enough firepower to flatten anything but another BattleMech. A small fusion reactor provides virtually unlimited power, and BattleMechs can be adapted to fight in environments ranging from sun-baked deserts to subzero arctic icefields.
BLOODNAME
A Bloodname is the surname associated with a Bloodright, descended from one of the 800 warriors who stood with Nicholas Kerensky to form the Clans. A warrior must win the use of a Bloodname in a Trial of Bloodright. Only Bloodnamed warriors may sit on Clan Councils or hold the post of Loremaster, Khan, or ilKhan, and only the genetic material from the Bloodnamed is used in the warrior caste eugenics program.
BONDCORD
A woven bracelet worn by bondsmen who has been captured and claimed by a Clan member. Warrior-caste bondsmen wear a three-strand bondcord on their right wrists, with the color and patterning of the cords signifying the Clan and unit responsible for the warrior’s capture. The cords represent integrity, fidelity, and prowess. The bondholder may cut each strand as he or she feels the bondsman demonstrates the associated quality. According to tradition, when the final cord is severed, the bondsman is considered a free member of his or her new Clan and adopted into the Warrior caste. Each Clan follows this tradition to varying degrees. For example, Clan Wolf accepts nearly all worthy individuals regardless of their past, while Clan Smoke Jaguar generally chose to adopt only trueborn warriors.
BONDSMAN
A bondsman is a prisoner held in a form of indentured servitude until released or accepted into the Clan. Most often, bondsmen are captured warriors who fulfill roles in the laborer or technician castes. Their status is represented by a woven bondcord, and they are obliged by honor and tradition to work for their captors to the best of their abilities.
CASTE
The Clans are divided into five castes: warrior, scientist, merchant, technician, and laborer, in descending order of influence. Each has many subcastes based on specialized skills. The warrior caste is largely the product of the artificial breeding program; those candidates who fail their Trial of Position are assigned to the scientist or technician caste, giving those castes a significant concentration of trueborn members. Most of the civilian castes are made up of the results of scientist-decreed arranged marriages within the castes.
The children of all castes undergo intensive scrutiny during their schooling to determine the caste for which they are best suited, though most end up in the same caste as their parents. This process allows children born to members of civilian castes to enter training to become warriors, though they belong to the less-prestigious ranks of the freeborn.
CIRCLE OF EQUALS
The area in which a trial takes place is known as the Circle of Equals. It ranges in size from a few dozen feet for personal combat to tens of miles for large-scale trials. Though traditionally a circle, the area can be any shape.
CRUSADER
A Crusader is a Clansman who espouses the invasion of the Inner Sphere and the re-establishment of the Star League by military force. Most Crusaders are contemptuous of the people of the Inner Sphere, whom they view as barbarians, and of freeborns within their own Clans.
DEZGRA
Any disgraced individual or unit is known as dezgra. Disgrace may come through refusing orders, failing in an assigned task, acting dishonorably, or demonstrating cowardice.
DROPSHIPS
Because interstellar JumpShips must avoid entering the heart of a solar system, they must “dock” in space at a considerable distance from a system’s inhabited worlds. DropShips were developed for interplanetary travel. As the name implies, a DropShip is attached to hardpoints on the JumpShip’s drive core, later to be dropped from the parent vessel after in-system entry. Though incapable of FTL travel, DropShips are highly maneuverable, well-armed and sufficiently aerodynamic to take off from and land on a planetary surface. The journey from the jump point to the inhabited worlds of a system usually requires a normal-space journey of several days or weeks, depending on the type of star.
FREEBIRTH
Freebirth is a Clan epithet used by trueborn members of the warrior caste to express disgust or frustration. For one trueborn to use this curse to refer to another trueborn is considered a mortal insult.
FREEBORN
An individual conceived and born by natural means is referred to as freeborn. Its emphasis on the artificial breeding program allows Clan society to view such individuals as second-class citizens.
HEGIRA
Hegira is the rite by which a defeated foe may withdraw from the field of battle without further combat and with no further loss of honor.
ISORLA
The spoils of battle, including bondsmen, claimed by the victorious warriors is called isorla.
JUMPSHIPS
Interstellar travel is accomplished via JumpShips, first developed in the twenty-second century. These somewhat ungainly vessels consist of a long, thin drive core and a sail resembling an enormous parasol, which can extend up to a kilometer in width. The ship is named for its ability to “jump” instantaneously across vast distances of space. After making its jump, the ship cannot travel until it has recharged by gathering up more solar energy.
The JumpShip’s enormous sail is constructed from a special metal that absorbs vast quantities of electromagnetic energy from the nearest star. When it has soaked up enough energy, the sail transfers it to the drive core, which converts it into a space-twisting field. An instant later, the ship arrives at the next jump point, a distance of up to thirty light-years. This field is known as hyperspace, and its discovery opened to mankind the gateway to the stars.
Jump points are the locations within a star system where the system’s gravity is next to nothing, the prime prerequisite for operation of the K-F drive. The distance away from the system’s star is dependent on that star’s mass, and is usually many tens of millions of kilometers away. Every star has two principal jump points, one at the zenith point at the star’s north pole, and one at the nadir point at the south pole. An infinite number of other jump points also exist, but they are used only rarely.
JumpShips never land on planets. Interplanetary travel is carried out by DropShips, vessels that are attached to the JumpShip until arrival at the jump point.
KHAN (kaKhan, saKhan)
Each Clan Council elects two of its number as Khans, who serve as rulers of the Clan and its representatives on the Grand Council. Traditionally, these individuals are the best warriors in the Clan, but in practice many Clans instead elect their most skilled politicians. The senior Khan, sometimes referred to as the kaKhan, acts as the head of the Clan, overseeing relationships between castes and Clans. The junior Khan, known as the saKhan, acts as the Clan’s warlord. The senior Khan decides the exact distribution of tasks, and may assign the saKhan additional or different duties.
The term “kaKhan” is considered archaic, and is rarely used.
LASER
An acronym for “Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation.” When used as a weapon, the laser damages the target by concentrating extreme heat onto a small area. BattleMech lasers are designated as small, medium or large. Lasers are also available as shoulder-fired weapons operating from a portable backpack power unit. Certain range-finders and targeting equipment also employ low-level lasers.
LRM
This is an abbreviation for “Long-Range Missile,” an indirect-fire missile with a high-explosive warhead.
POSSESSION, TRIAL OF
A Trial of Possession resolves disputes between two parties over ownership or control. This can include equipment, territory, or even genetic material. The traditional batchall forms the core of the trial in order to encourage the participants to resolve the dispute with minimal use of force.
REMEMBRANCE, THE
The Remembrance is an ongoing heroic saga that describes Clan history from the time of the Exodus to the present day. Each Clan maintains its own version, reflecting its opinions and perceptions of events. Inclusion in The Remembrance is one of the highest honors possible for a member of the Clans. All Clan warriors can recite passages from The Remembrance from memory, and written copies of the book are among the few nontechnical books allowed in Clan society. These books are usually lavishly illustrated in a fashion similar to the illuminated manuscripts and Bibles of the medieval period. Warriors frequently paint passages of The Remembrance on the sides of their OmniMechs, fighters, and battle armor.
SEYLA
Seyla is a ritual response in Clan ceremonies. The origin of this phrase is unknown, though it may come from the Biblical notation “selah,” thought to be a musical notation or a reference to contemplation.
SRM
This is the abbreviation for “Short-Range Missile,” a direct-trajectory missile with high-explosive or armor-piercing explosive warheads. They have a range of less than one kilometer and are only reliably accurate at ranges of less than 300 meters. They are more powerful, however, than LRMs.
SUCCESSOR LORDS
After the fall of the first Star League, the remaining members of the High Council each asserted his or her right to become First Lord. Their star empires became known as the Successor States and the rulers as Successor Lords. The Clan Invasion temporarily interrupted centuries of warfare known as the Succession Wars, which first began in 2786.
SURAT
A Clan epithet, alluding to the rodent of the same name, which disparages an individual’s genetic heritage. As such, it is one of the most vulgar and offensive epithets among the Clans.
