Aris Sung

Aris Sung BTLegends.jpg
Aris Sung
Character Profile
Born 3034[1]
Died 5 August 3072[1][2]
Affiliation Capellan Confederation
Profession MechWarrior

Aris Sung was a MechWarrior of Warrior House Hiritsu.

He entered into the service of the House at an unusual age of 13 years (he was too old to join the house by regular means) by stealing Crescent Moon and asking for a place in the house before he returned it. He rose through ranks and commanded a company during the siege of Kaifeng. He also participated in the Capellan - St. Ives war.

History[edit]

Early Life[edit]

Aris Sung grew up on Randar as an orphan, and it is implied he was a thief and street gangster by 3047 when he was 13 years old. He admired House Hiritsu who resided on the world and wanted to join their ranks.[3]

At thirteen years of age Aris Sung won admission to Warrior House Hiritsu by impressing House Master Virginia York with his audacity and maturity when he broke into the House's stronghold and stole Crescent Moon. It was at that young age that he merited the ire of future House Master Ty Wu Non, establishing an irascible relationship that lasted throughout Sung's career with the Warrior House. Sung entered training later than most other applicants, but applied himself and had, by 3051, become a member of House Hirtisu's infantry battalion. It was in this role that he was present on Gei-Fu to subdue a BattleMech (a Stinger) single-handedly, saving the life of House Master York in the process. This earned him a promotion to the House's BattleMech battalion in the 'Mech he captured.[3]

Kaifeng[edit]

By 3058 Sung's obvious abilities and brilliant mind had earned him the position of Lance Leader in the BattleMech battalion, and he was instrumental in the attack on Kaifeng. When traitors from within House Hiritsu conspired with the Kaifeng Sarna March Militia to bring down the Warrior House and succeeded in killing House Master Virginia York, Sung advanced to Company Leader, uncovered the conspiracy, and helped the House battle its way to victory.[3]

On Kaifeng, Aris befriended a young thief named Li Wynn, who provided vital assistance to him as he was stranded behind enemy lines. Admiring Aris, Li Wynn joined Warrior House Hiritsu afterwards,[4] though he and Aris would later come to disagree with each other on certain issues.

Capellan-St. Ives War[edit]

When the Chancellor chose to tour the Capellan worlds along the St. Ives Compact border, it was House Hiritsu, and Aris Sung with them, who oversaw much of his security. In his personal journal Sung wrote of how the Xin Sheng movement had revitalized the Confederation's populace and military, and his own pride in serving as head of the Chancellor's honor guard, as well swearing to protect his ruler against any St. Ives treachery, for if Sun-Tzu Liao died the Confederation's revival would die with him.[5]

Sung's suspicions about his Compact brethren appeared vindicated when the Blackwind Lancers struck at the Chancellor's entourage on Hustaing, though Sun-Tzu himself had instead returned to Sian briefly, and was represented on Hustaing by his fiancée, Isis Marik, who went missing in the attack.[6]

Sung and the Hiritsu warriors drove the Lancers off, never realizing that Sun-Tzu had in fact instigated the attack using a Maskirovka agent in the Lancers (and had apparently planned to sacrifice Iris Marik for greater impact). Aris Sung even sought and received special permission from House Master Ty Wu Non to infiltrate the city during the upheaval to find and rescue Isis Marik. In this he succeeded, though in the final showdown between Hiritsu personnel, Blackwind Lancers, and several criminal street gangs, Aris Sung would have been killed if not for the intervention of a mysterious operative with an unknown agenda.[6]

In the subsequent war with St. Ives, Sung and the Hiritsu warriors remained near the forefront of the Capellan advance.

Together with other Capellan forces, House Hiritsu was present on St. Ives when the CCAF took that world. Sung was often the voice of compassion and reason within the Warrior House during this period, a role that House Master Ty Wu Non encouraged him in, despite their past differences.[7]

Word of Blake Jihad and Death[edit]

Aris Sung was sent to Fanardir, in the Magistracy of Canopus, along with a team from House Hiritsu, to make contact with a supposed anti-Blakist resistance cell after the Word of Blake has brought the world under their control. The insertion failed; Aris Sung and his fellow MechWarrior Mikhail Chess were discovered and hunted down in their BattleMechs. Both were destroyed, but survived.[2]

Aris managed to escape initially, but was tracked and attacked by Setiwah, a female Manei Domini operative. She ended up cutting his hand off and driving a blade into his heart.[2]

Aris woke up weeks later at a Resistance cell base and learned they had rescued him from a Blakist laboratory. For some reason they had kept him alive and fitted him with an artificial hand and heart. However, it was an elaborate ruse. The "resistance cell" turned out to be a Word of Blake counterinsurgency operation designed to gain Aris Sung's trust. Through his attempts to contact other Hiritsu operatives on Fanardir he unwittingly compromised the entire Hiritsu operation as well as the real resistance cell.

Just as he realized that he had been played (upon meeting with the real resistance), Word of Blake forces attacked and decimated them. Aris Sung found his artificial hand spasmed uncontrollably, sidelining him in the fight. In the end he was approached by Setiwah who confirmed that it had been her who had helped him twelve years earlier on Hustaing, because he sought to rescue Isis Marik— the Word of Blake Master's progeny. Finally, she killed him by stopping his artificial heart with a button on a remote control.[2][8]

BattleMechs[edit]

Aris Sung was awarded the Stinger he had defeated when he was promoted from House Hiritsu's infantry to MechWarrior.[1][3] By 3058, he piloted a Wraith (an unusual design originating from the Free Worlds League) which he painted gunmetal blue and served most of his active career with. The Wraith was destroyed in the failed insertion on Fanardir.

Family[edit]

After the Blakist defeat on Setiwah, Magistracy forces recovered a child with genetic markers matching Aris. The child was taken by House Hiritsu. Aris' granddaughter, Sandra, was born in 3107. During the late Dark Age Era, she fought alongside Danai Centrella-Liao, seeking to emulate Aris' martial and philosophical perfection.[9]

Quotations[edit]

Without the Warrior Houses, the Capellan State would collapse as the eagle falls without her wings.

Notes[edit]

  • Aris Sung was at the center of an ensemble cast of House Hiritsu characters introduced in Loren Coleman's novel Binding Force. They would feature in several more novels and stories by him and later Phaedra Weldon, and were mostly killed off in Weldon's story With Carrion Men.
  • Among the scenes depicted on its cover, Handbook: House Liao features the captive 13-year-old Aris Sung as he is brought before House Master Virginia York by Ty Wu Non.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 BattleTech: Legends, p. 110-111
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 With Carrion Men
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Binding Force
  4. Threads of Ambition, p. 15
  5. Shattered Sphere, p. 64
  6. 6.0 6.1 The Art of War
  7. Era Report: 3062, p. 88
  8. Field Report: CCAF, p. 9
  9. BattleTech: Legends, p. 110

Bibliography[edit]