Harvest Trials

Harvest Trials
Conflict details
Part of Clan Invasion
Start Date 1 July 3059[1]
End Date 15 November 3059[1]
Location(s) Clan Homeworlds
Result Recouped Refusal War losses by Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon

Minor Clans able to homogenize their forces and purge malcontents

Attacking Forces
Affiliation Clan Wolf
Clan Jade Falcon
Commanding Officer(s) Khan Vlad Ward
Khan Marthe Pryde
Command(s) Clan Wolf touman
Clan Jade Falcon touman
Defending Forces
Affiliation Non-Invader Clans
Command(s) Home Clan toumans
Other Forces
Affiliation Clan Ice Hellion
Commanding Officer(s) Khan Asa Taney
Command(s) Clan Ice Hellion touman

The Harvest Trials, also known as the Harvest Wars, were a series of Trials of Possession conducted by Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon to skim warriors and other martial assets from other Clans in order to rebuild their toumans after the Refusal War.

History[edit]

Refusal War[edit]

After the terrible losses suffered during the Refusal War in 3057, the grievously weakened Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon sought to rapidly regain their strength in their own way. The now Crusader slanted Wolves led by Khan Vlad Ward launched raids against Clan Smoke Jaguar as a show of strength, as well recruiting and training troops from the Wolves' lower castes for garrison duties to rebuild his touman. Marthe Pryde of Clan Jade Falcon instead chose a more dramatic means, graduating many of her sibkos early and launching a dramatic incursion into the Lyran Alliance in 3058 to both blood her forces and show the Falcons remained a threat to be reckoned with.

However, upon returning to the Clan Homeworlds in the aftermath of Battle of Coventry, the Wolves and Falcons now both faced calls in the Grand Council from the Crusader Khans of Clans Ice Hellion and Diamond Shark for Trials of Absorption as a precursor to replace the weakened invading Clans with untried but assumed to be stronger Home Clans. Reaching a loose political alliance, Vlad and Marthe rose to the defense of the other's Clan and made it clear the possibility of any Homeworlds Clan taking part in a renewed invasion were remote, and that the only chance of any of their warriors to participate was to be taken as isorla by Clans already chosen. The temptation of a chance at glory in the Inner Sphere to those units who would give their allegiance to Clans Wolf or Jade Falcon proved too much for hundreds of warriors, who deluged both Clans with preemptive batchalls for Trials of Possession which they then proceeded to allow themselves to lose.[2][3][4][5][6]

Preparations[edit]

While the Home Clan Coalition Crusaders bemoaned the loss of troops to Wolves and Falcons, the Warden Clans viewed the Trials in a positive light, allowing Clans such as the Diamond Sharks to rid themselves of conservative troublemakers.[7][8] For Clan Goliath Scorpion it allowed them to free up slots in their touman for recruits from ex-Khan Nikolai Djerassi's revamped sibkos.[9][10] Rather than take part in the Harvest Trials, Khan Malavai Fletcher of Clan Hell's Horses reached an agreement where Crusader Horses troops would be bid directly into the invasion force under Wolf Command, avoiding wasteful fighting and providing the Wolves the Horses' elite forces while allowing them to fight for the honor of their own Clan.[2]

Cause and Effects[edit]

However, not all the Trials were amicable or beneficial. Bitterness between Clan Snow Raven and the Jade Falcons manifested in the Snow Ravens' saKhan Joseph Crow bidding in forces purely to embarrass the Falcons, only to lose two whole Clusters to the Falcons and a handful of smaller units to the Wolves before the Ravens desperately tried to extricate themselves.[11] Units in various Kindraa of Clan Fire Mandrill launched challenges to both the Wolves and Falcons, but while past experience with Mandrill bondsmen led the Wolves to largely refuse them out of hand, the Falcons did not and discovered that those taken would prove to be a disruptive influence.[12] Even the Ice Hellions, the Clan that pushed most stridently to absorb and take the place of the invading Clans saw a number of its best warriors, including saKhan Weiland Cage, challenging the Wolves and Falcons to Trials to be taken.[13]

Aftermath[edit]

The Harvest Trials proved to be highly successful for both Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon, simultaneously allowing both Clans to strengthen themselves with battle-hardened troops to hold off Absorption while undercutting the power base of those who raised the motion in the Grand Council. It also had the side-benefit of providing both Clans with valuable and up to date intelligence on the mindset and fighting style of the Home Clans.[2][3][4][5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 8
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57: "Current Events"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 93: "Power Games: Preparations for War (3059)"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, pp. 137–138: "Unlikely Allies and New Enemies"
  5. 5.0 5.1 Shattered Sphere, p. 88: "Clan Wolf - Crusaders' Rise"
  6. Field Manual: Updates, p. 10: "The Shape of Things that Were - Clan Maneuvers"
  7. Shattered Sphere, p. 94: "Clan Diamond Shark"
  8. Field Manual: Warden Clans, pp. 61–62: "New Currents"
  9. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 107: "Present Action"
  10. Shattered Sphere, p. 97: "Home Clans - Clan Goliath Scorpion"
  11. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 122: "Present Action"
  12. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 42: "Reemergence of the Fire Mandrills"
  13. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 78: "Dream Destroyed - Wolf Trap"

Bibliography[edit]