Thelos Auburn

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Thelos Auburn
Character Profile
Died 24 December 3042[1]
Affiliation House Auburn
Profession Court Historian
Children Misha Auburn

Thelos Auburn was House Steiner's family historian and the author of numerous books and other works. Many BattleTech sourcebooks contain sections that purport to be excerpts from in-universe works attributed to him.

History

Thelos Auburn got along well with Cranston Snord, once the latter set up a museum for his collection on Clinton.

Operation Junk Yard Dog

When Free Worlds League forces staged a retaliation raid against Snord's museum on 14 February 3017, the otherwise timid Thelos Auburn was caught up in the battle, narrowly escaping death several times over. His attempts to safeguard the invaluable historical objects saw him witness or even inadvertedly cause the deaths of several infantrymen who tried to rescue him. Faced with the deaths of men who had wanted to help him, and the utter disregard of enemy troops for the artifacts he treasured, Auburn was inspired to reach the local ComStar station to call for help (ComStar's accepted neutrality preventing the invaders from attacking the station).[2]

Auburn had overheard that the attackers were going to bring looted artifacts to Nathan, and that crucial piece of information enabled Snord to set out on Operation Junk Yard Dog in response.[2]

Death

While working in the main library of Cranston Snord's museum on Clinton, Thelos Auburn suffered a seizure on 22 December 3042. Despite the efforts of the best doctors Snord could muster, his condition was terminal. Relizing that his friend was dying, Cranston Snord had Thelos Auburn brought to the operating room of the SLDF Castle Brian facility that the museum was built on, but which Snord had kept secret.

On his deathbed, the historian learned the full truth from Cranston Snord about Kerensky's Exodus, the Clans, the true mission of Wolf's Dragoons, and that a Clan Invasion was coming – seven years before the actual invasion would hit the Inner Sphere. Thelos Auburn died in that room on 24 December 3042, beneath a faded Cameron Star and holding a medallion from Cranston in his hands that had once belonged to an (unnamed) founder of a Blood Line, the first of a Bloodname.[1]

Works

Thelos Auburn was named as the author of the following in-universe works (and implicitly many others):

  • Encyclopedia Res Publica[3]
  • Commonwealth Symbols: Insights Through the Icons[4]
  • The Lyran Commonwealth Before the Steiners[5]
  • The Star League and the Commonwealth[6]
  • Mercenaries of the Succession Wars[7]

Notes

  • There is an apocryphal scenario named "The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars - The Bribery Gambit" by Blaine Pardoe (who authored the two Snord's Irregulars scenario books, and frequently used Thelos Auburn as a side character), published in StarDate Vol. 3 #6. In this scenario, Marik forces aim to kidnap his daughter Misha Auburn, in order to pressure Thelos into assassinating Archon Katrina Steiner and Archon Designate Melissa Steiner. However, the LIC learned of the plan and a trap is set on Clinton. When bandit forces consisting of seven 'Mechs and five tanks make planetfall in 3025, the entire Snord's Irregulars company, plus Thelos Auburn himself piloting a Crusader, engage them on a terrain feature called the Ferrald Slopes.
    Piloting a 'Mech in battle seems notably out of character for Thelos Auburn, who is otherwise consistently portrayed as an academic with no military training.
    The piloting/gunnery stats given in the scenario, if taken at face value as boardgame stats, would mark Snord's mercenaries decidedly mediocre MechWarriors while giving Thelos Auburn extremely elite skills; it is thus generally assumed that the stats given are for MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game and would thus translate as competent skills for the mercenaries and very poor skills for Thelos Auburn in boardgame terms.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Rhonda's Irregulars, p. 4
  2. 2.0 2.1 Permanent Losses
  3. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth),p. 17
  4. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth),p. 20
  5. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth),p. 14
  6. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth),p. 40 (42 in PDF version)
  7. Cranston Snord's Irregulars, p. 2

Bibliography