Vance Rezak

Property "Update Needed From" (as page type) with input value "Historical Turning Points: Antallos]],Hot Spots, [[The Bitter Taste of Hope" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process. Vance Rezak - thirty-first century Periphery pirate, former Kurita Nobleman and Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery officer, and Military leader of the Band of the Damned

Vance Rezak as leader of the Band of Damned.

Brief Character Description

He was a average size man with only two distinguishing physical traits, his scarred face and artificial left hand. Rezak been noted for his keen intelligence, brutality, and extensive spy network. By the 3050s, Rezak was considered one of the wealthiest individuals in the periphery.

Character History

Service with Draconis Combine

Rezak was born to a Draconis Combine noble family, where he later went on to attend the Sun Zhang Academy. Rising through the ranks of DCMS, Rezak saw extensive combat during his career as a Commanding Officer. In a raid on the world of Koulen, Rezak was badly injured in a cockpit explosion which resulted in the loss of his hand and scarring on his face.

By the 3040s, he had achieved the rank of Sho-sa and commanded the second BattleMech Battalion of the 7th Pesht Regulars. In 3048, his commander Tai-sa Kurtis Benzinger assigned Rezak and his battalion of old and rejected MechWarriors the task of hunting down a notorious pirate band that had been terrorizing Combine's periphery border worlds.

His battalion searched for several months, tracking the Band of the Damned though the periphery region known as the Draconis Rift. His unit finally cornered the Band and ended up fighting a fierce battle on an uncharted world to annihilate the pirates. During the two weeks of initial fighting, the pirates managed to damage their JumpShip stranding Sho-sa Rezak's unit. Rezak, needing reinforcements, ordered his battalion into defensive positions and called for supply & reinforcements. However, after further fighting between the two, Rezak's supplies grew low. In desperate bid to end the fight, he ordered an all-out assault on Damned. Rezak's strategy was successful, and he and his men defeated the pirates. In a surprise move, Rezak declared himself leader of the Damned. He and his men merged with the pirate band.

Early Piracy Career

After assuming control of the Damned, he declares war on his former nation for its betrayal of him and his unit during their time fighting pirates. It is believe he also discovered that his old commander Tai-sa Benzinger, was working with the Damned and he deliberately send them on suicide mission to be victim of the pirate band.

Shortly after 3049, the band under command of Rezak begun conducted numerous raids against Combine worlds. In these raids, the Damned reap the numerous stolen goods includes slaves from these targeted worlds. The Band's success lead to Rezak establishing a estate & secret operating center on the pirate world of Antallos. During the course of years and wealth, Rezak establishes large spy ring of informants from New Avalon to Luthien.

Later Piracy Career

During the course of the years between the late 3050s and into the early 3060s, Rezak and his band discover an uninhabited Spinward periphery world along the Combine's unprotected border. On this barely habitable planet, Rezak establishes a secret staging and operations base there. Naming it Rezak's Hole, he goes through great care to keep the base secret. He uses Rezak's Hole as a means to deeply penetrate the Combine's largely unprotected periphery border. Sometime in the 3060s, he also cuts a deal with the Word of Blake where the Word deploys at least two companies worth of troops with Rezak's unit. A Blakist Operating Agent known as "Tricky" Smith becomes Rezak's second-in-command of the Pirate band. Rezak's band is successful up to this point, capturing a company worth of DCMS OmniMechs and expanding his battalion into a combined-arms regiment, which included a couple of battalions of armored vehicles and an Aerospace Fighter Squadron.

While at his Port Krin estate on Antallos, elements of Clan Snow Raven attack and wiped out Rezak's base and garrison forces on Rezak's Hole in 3064. Rezak then fortifies his position on Antallos. Through an unexpected twist of chance, the rogue mercenary unit Vinson's Vigilantes, after clashes with his band, collapses and merges with Rezek's pirate band without a shot fired. This allows Rezak's pirate band to gain regimental strength by 3067.

Despite his Band regaining some of its strength, rumors surface that Rezak and his Band are being harassed by Clan Snow Raven & even former Smoke Jaguar warriors nearly daily, issuing Trials against him.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Periphery
• Field Manual: Updates
• Handbook: Major Periphery States
• The Periphery (1996)