Matsuhari Toranaga
Sarna News
Matsuhari Toranaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | 3089[1] |
| Affiliation | Draconis Combine[1] |
| Profile | |
| Rank | Gunji-no-Kanrei[1] |
| Profession | MechWarrior |
| Family | |
| Parents | Saburo Toranaga (adoptive)[1] |
Matsuhari Toranaga (b. 3089[1] - d. 3???) was the Warlord of the New Samarkand Military District and later the Gunji-no-Kanrei for Coordinator Yori Kurita.
Contents
History
Early Years
Born to middle-class parents Toranaga spent part of his childhood on the streets of Yamashiro, New Samarkand when he was orphaned at the age of seven. Learning to pickpocket for survival, Toranaga became one of his city's premier thieves until he was caught three years later. Destined to spend the rest of his life in prison the young Matsuhari was instead adopted by Saburo Toranaga, a retired tai-sa from the Sword of Light.[1]
Tutored by Saburo in the strictures of bushido, Matsuhari was able to gain entrance to the Sun Zhang MechWarrior Academy where he graduated with honors. Assigned to the Genyosha, he saw action against both the Raven Alliance and Clan Ghost Bear but came to believe that neither foe was a worthy enemy and grew restless at the lack of a true opponent. This led to anger against the reigning Coordinator Vincent Kurita, and Toranaga grew determined to remove him from the throne. He found the means to do so when he discovered the existence of Yori Sakamoto, grandaughter of Franklin Sakamoto and thus great-grandaughter to the revered Coordinator Theodore Kurita. While thus descended from an illegitimate scion of the ruling house, Yori was still a Kurita by blood and therefore a perfect pawn in Toranaga's schemes.[1] [2]
By the late 3120s Toranaga had risen to become Warlord of the New Samarkand Military District. In 3129 he was the target of an assassination attempt while on the planet Kaznejoy. The role played by battle armor troops equipped with Kishi suits in foiling the assassination attempt and saving Toranaga had the effect of taking an already-successful form of battle armor and sealing its popularity with the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery.[3]
Gunji-no-Kanrei
Years of plotting against Vincent Kurita paid off in early 3137 after a series of deaths that practically wiped out the Combine's ruling family. With the Coordinator along with both of his sons slain and no apparent surviving heirs, Toranaga was able to install his protege, now formally bestowed with the surname Kurita, as the new figurehead ruler of the Combine. For himself Toranaga secured the long-vacant position of Gunji-no-Kanrei, making him undisputed leader of the Combine military, and began preparations for a major campaign against House Kurita's historic enemy the Federated Suns.[1]
The first step in this audacious vision would be the conquest of the long-disputed Draconis Reach in 3139. In an unexpected move, Toranaga convinced Wolf's Dragoons to sign on with the Combine for the first time since the Fourth Succession War. The current leadership of the Dragoons agreed to end their legendary feud with House Kurita and proceeded to drive all AFFS forces out of the Reach by the end of 3139. Toranaga then informed them of their next assignment: spearheading an all-out assault upon the Federated Suns itself in 3141.[4]
Toranaga's invasion plans were temporarily derailed that same year when a Draconis March counterattack into the Reach sparked a much more serious crisis. Coordinator Vincent's daughter Emi Kurita, who'd survived the destruction of her family, arose from hiding with a son, Daisuke. Presenting him as a more legitimate claimant to the throne than Yori, Emi and her supporters in Clan Nova Cat and the DCMS took advantage of the fighting in the Draconis Reach to instigate the Draconis Combine Civil War. Despite some setbacks, however, Toranaga prevailed over the rebels by early 3143 and ruthlessly destroyed any future threats to Yori Kurita from either Clan Nova Cat or rival Kurita claimants.[5]
Vanquisher of the Suns
Fortunately for Toranaga, Wolf's Dragons and the Ryuken had been able to prevent their Federated Suns opponents from making any headway in the Draconis Reach throughout the rebellion, and so preparations for the invasion were able to resume uninterrupted. With units and supplies restored in full, the DCMS unleashed a three-pronged assault in March 3144. Swiftly crushing all in their path, the first of many triumphs of this invasion was won on Palmyra. Under Toranaga's personal supervision DCMS forces destroyed most of First Prince Caleb Davion's assembled army and, against the Kanrei's express orders, killed the Suns ruler himself.[6]
Toranaga's victory broke the Davion defenses along the whole front and barely two months later Robinson fell to the Dragon. As a result of his excellent planning and meticulous preparations, Toranaga had thus far orchestrated perhaps the most successful DCMS offensive since the First Succession War. With the new First Prince Julian Davion still on the other side of the Inner Sphere and the AFFS seeming rudderless, the Kanrei with his ruler's support chose to wring as much advantage as he could from this favorable state of affairs.[7] [8]
Throughout 3146 the DCMS drove ever-closer towards New Avalon, until in early July Combine forces and Wolf's Dragoons invaded the Federated Suns capital itself. The fighting raged for three months until Toranaga, previously leery of mercenaries stealing House Kurita's glory, broke the stalemate by reluctantly turning Wolf's Dragoons loose upon the front lines. In short order, the remaining AFFS defenders fled New Avalon and House Davion's homeworld was firmly in the Dragon's brutal grasp. While Yori Kurita celebrated this unprecedented victory with a lavish parade, Toranaga himself focused upon securing the Combine's extensive gains from the wounded but still dangerous Federated Suns.[9]
Beleaguered Warlord
Determined to hold the Combine's large swathe of conquered worlds (dubbed "the Dragon's Tongue"), Toranaga instituted a ruthless stance towards the occupied territories. Nonetheless, both the conquered populace and the AFFS continued to resist. The latter mounted multiple attacks against DCMS targets while civilians under Combine rule responded to their new overlords with riots, workers strikes and sabotage, diminishing the Dragon's material gains from its conquests. Toranaga's reaction to these threats was to fortify the DCMS' existing gains rather than risk overextending his army further, and to petition the Coordinator for more troops, which Yori denied.[10]
By early 3148 Toranaga had grown increasingly concerned with the chronic raiding by Federated Suns units. The damage inflicted by Operation PERCEVAL and the strain upon DCMS forces holding the conquered territory led him to believe that New Avalon had been a conquest too far. Thus the Kanrei continued to unsuccessfully request the conscription of new soldiers as a solution to both problems.[11]
To Toranaga's intense frustration Yori Kurita consistently denied his pleas for more troops, until in June 3148 the Coordinator finally gifted Toranaga a new unit solely under his command: the Hikage. Toranaga's reaction upon receiving this mobile elite force was mixed - while he was thrilled at the prospect of countering the constant AFFS threat to the Dragon's Tongue, the fact that Yori could create such a unit without his knowledge left Toranaga enraged at the prospect of losing control over his once-pliant figurehead ruler.[11]
Nonetheless Toranaga willingly unleashed this new force against the Davion troops who had been bedeviling the Dragon's Tongue. While he considered the Hikage's first operation - a strike against Operation PERCEVAL's base and senior command - a qualified success at best, Toranaga was still pleased with the unit's accomplishments in its baptism of fire.[11]
The Dragon and the Tiger
In early 3149 the Republic of the Sphere's lighting offensive across the Dieron Military District left the Kanrei contemplating his realm's altered situation. With the Wall evidently down the Dragon had a chance to strike towards Terra itself but lacked available forces to do so without dangerously exposing another front.[12]
An unexpected solution to this conundrum arrived in April, in the form of an embassy from the Capellan Confederation with an alliance proposal. The Coordinator drove home Toranaga's diminishing control over her by ensuring that his admittance into the talks was long delayed; when he was finally allowed to join in Toranaga's first reaction was one of hesitancy. While a joint assault upon the Republic by the two Houses might aid the Combine's own ambitions towards Terra, it would also give Daoshen Liao a chance to claim humanity's homeworld and declare himself First Lord of a new Star League. Toranaga felt such an outcome was too risky and so he advised Yori Kurita to politely decline the Capellans' offer.[12]
Then the Capellan ambassador revealed that Devlin Stone had returned to lead the Republic, and the shocked Combine leadership agreed to the proposed alliance. While Toranaga still had qualms about the resulting Unity Pact - he believed that the Capellans were all too likely to reach Terra first - he set about preparing the Combine's part in the joint offensive to come.[12]
Notes
- Amongst his other actions Toranaga is also notable for being the individual responsible for ordering that Shiro-class BattleMechs were only to be piloted by DCMS MechWarriors of acclaim and honor[13] following the Shiro's introduction to service in 3135.
Titles and Positions
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Era Report: 3145, p. 89-90, "Matsuhari Toranaga profile"
- ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 89, "Yori Kurita profile"
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3145 Draconis Combine, p. 4, "Kishi Battle Armor"
- ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 21-22, "Dragon Rising"
- ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 31-32, "Savage Tumult"
- ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 32-35, "Setting Suns"
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3145 Draconis Combine, p. 2, "Introduction"
- ↑ Shattered Fortress, p. 28
- ↑ Shattered Fortress, p. 28-29
- ↑ Shattered Fortress, p. 33-34
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Shattered Fortress, p. 59-60
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Shattered Fortress, p. 67-68
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3145 Draconis Combine, p. 44, "SH-1V Shiro"
- ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 21