Shin Katsumoto
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Shin Katsumoto | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Affiliation | Draconis Combine Star League[1] |
| Profile | |
| Profession | MechWarrior |
Shin Katsumoto was a ronin Draconis Combine MechWarrior who volunteered to help the Star League Defense Force during the Amaris Civil War.
History[edit]
When Stefan Amaris and his forces seized the Terran Hegemony at the end of 2766, none of the Great Houses wanted to join the Aleksandr Kerensky or the SLDF in their quest to remove him, adopting official policies of neutrality.[2] Though the SLDF was clearly more powerful, the leaders were suspicious of secret deals other House leaders may have made with Amaris, and joining the losing side would have resulted in irredeemable physical and political consequences that no one wanted to risk.[3]
The coup and its horrors were deeply felt by average citizens everywhere in the Inner Sphere, and as a result, thousands of people left for the Rim Worlds Republic to fight alongside the SLDF. Kerensky chose the Republic as a staging area to regroup and resupply, and now setting up boot camps and makeshift military academies to train the volunteers was a priority in the limited time they had. In total, nearly four divisions of loyal, determined fighters were added.[1][4]
About half of the volunteers had previous training, with approximately a third coming from anti-Amaris Republicans formerly of the Rim Worlds Army or Rift Republican Army. But Kerensky got a boost from an unexpected source: the arrival of a substantial number of ronin Draconis Combine recruits complete with their own equipment. They were all skilled warriors and were utilized in meaningful ways, joining line units or becoming instructors in the SLDF's impromptu academies.[1]
One of the most respected ronin volunteers was Shin Katsumoto, who met with Kerensky and confided that Minoru Kurita, who had recently become Coordinator after his father Takiro passed away at the start of the war, was encouraging them to aid the SLDF in their fight against the Amaris Empire.[1] This surprised Kerensky, as he had suspected the Combine of having covertly supported Amaris, with Minoru also having taken a policy of appeasement. What he didn't know was that Takiro's grandnephew Drago had been effectively held hostage by Amaris to prevent the Combine from supporting Kerensky, and Takiro had made Minoru promise to try to free him through negotiation, even if the optics of their political stance fueled suspicions of complicity.[3][5]