Difference between revisions of "Ellie Kinnison"

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==Bibliography==
 
==Bibliography==
 
*''[[Invading Clans (sourcebook)|Invading Clans]]'', pp. 80-82
 
*''[[Invading Clans (sourcebook)|Invading Clans]]'', pp. 80-82
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[[Category:Clan Characters]]
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[[Category:Khans]]
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[[Category:Clan Steel Viper Characters]]

Revision as of 13:14, 24 July 2010

Ellie Kinnison was the first Khan of Clan Steel Viper, later Abjured for treason. She is known to the Steel Vipers as the "First Khan" and to the rest of the Clans as the "Traitor Khan" or "Not-Named Khan".

Rise of the Khan

Before joining General Aleksandr Kerensky in the Exodus, Lieutenant Ellie Kinnison was a commander in the 131st Royal BattleMech Division and a protege of SLDF hero Antonius Zalman. When Nicholas Kerensky founded the Clans in 2810, he publicly endorsed Zalman to be elected as the first Khan of Clan Steel Viper; Zalman refused the honor and asked Kerensky to endorse Kinnison instead. Kinnison stated that she would only serve as Khan if Zalman accepted the position of saKhan and continue to serve as her mentor. Kinnison and Zalman were elected as the Viper leaders and proceeded to adapt their Warrior Caste troops to the ilKhan's new rank and file system. In 2812, saKhan Zalman was killed in a training accident and replaced by Star Colonel Steven Breen.

Descent Into Madness

In 2821, Clan Steel Viper participated in the invasion and takeover of Arcadia during Operation Klondike. While the Vipers were adapting the people of their new Enclave to the Clan Way, they noticed their Khan was acting rather strangely, taking every opportunity to preach Kerensky's new society in a fervent manner. However, this method seemed to work, as the ilKhan paid a visit to Arcadia a few months later and noted that the Vipers managed to assimilate their portion of Arcadia's population most efficiently. In an attempt to win Kerensky's affection, Kinnison presented the ilKhan with a gift of a large captured steel viper, the Clan's namesake animal.

Once the Vipers had settled into their new Enclave on Arcadia, they began their Warrior Caste eugenics program. A report soon reached the ilKhan that the Vipers were graduating fewer warriors than other Clans, so the ilKhan sent a Clan Sea Fox Scientist Caste investigative team to Arcadia to observe the Steel Viper methods of producing warriors. The Sea Fox scientists found nothing wrong; it turned out that the Vipers had a much tougher training regimen than other Clans, thereby producing fewer, but more elite warriors (a doctrine that is still practiced by the Vipers in the present). Along with the scientists' report to the ilKhan was an invitation from Khan Kinnison for the ilKhan to come and see the Viper training methods for himself; Kerensky accepted Kinnison's invitation and made plans for a vacation on Arcadia.

As soon as Kinnison received the ilKhan's reply, she ordered that everything be made ready for the ilKhan's visit, placing saKhan Breen in charge of security. As Breen inspected a warehouse near the DropShip landing pads where Kinnison would welcome the ilKhan, Breen was attacked by three masked men whom Breen quickly disabled, suffering a broken arm in the process. Breen sounded the alarm and searched the rest of the warehouse, finding and eliminating two more assassins. When a message came in over the two-way radio carried by one of the assassins, Breen ran to the ilKhan's DropShip site, finding that the VIP DropShip had already landed and the ilKhan and his wife, Jennifer Winson, were disembarking and about to meet with Khan Kinnison. Breen drew his laser pistol and fired...

...only to hit Khan Kinnison's shoulder, causing her to stumble and fall. As Kerensky's bodyguards rushed the ilKhan and his wife back up the DropShip's egress ramp, three Viper warriors attempted to subdue Breen. In the confusion and chaos, only Breen and Winson saw Khan Kinnison draw out her own pistol and aim it straight at Winson. Breen managed to fight off the Viper warriors attacking him and fired his own laser pistol at Kinnison, killing her.

Breen was eventually exonerated of any wrongdoing, as the surviving assassins in the warehouse confessed to be working for Kinnison, whose personal journals revealed her mental instabilities, including her insane ploy to kill Jennifer Winson and cause a grieving Nicholas Kerensky to turn to Kinnison for love and support. In gratitude, Kerensky publicly praised Breen and nominated him to be Clan Steel Viper's next Khan:

"It seems inconceivable that everything we have accomplished can be threatened by the actions of individuals within our highest ranks. Khan Kinnison acted against everything the Clans represent and all we strive to achieve. ...It is just such aberrations that Clan society will prevent and control. Fortunately, the Steel Viper ranks also produced an individual capable of seeing and believing in the evil harbored in another's heart, and who acted selflessly to dispense proper justice to such a traitor. Count yourselves fortunate, Steel Vipers, that your Clan survives by virtue of a pure majority. ...I nominate Star Colonel Steven Breen as Khan of Clan Steel Viper. ...As your ilKhan, I claim the right to strike the name Kinnison forever from all records past and present. The tainted genes of that accursed line shall be cast out and destroyed as well."

Thus was born the Clan Trial of Abjuration, in which an individual, unit or even an entire Clan will be disowned by the rest of the Clans. However, Kinnison is still remembered by the Steel Vipers to this day:


From the ranks of the many she rose,

Pre-eminent among all others.

Foe after foe fell before the young warrior

For destiny guided her sword.

When our Leader called, she rose

And became the head of the mighty Serpent.

She guided the Viper alongside the Wolf,

Along the path of the True Vision.

Let us forever honor the First Khan, who showed the way.

Let us remain faithful to the True Path she marked for the Viper.


-From The Remembrance (Clan Steel Viper), Passage 3, Verse 5, Lines 6-15

Bibliography