Ansgar Shurasky
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Ansgar Shurasky | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Also known as | Wolfsjäger[1] |
| Affiliation | House Shurasky |
| Career | |
| Rank | Colonel[2] |
| Title(s) | Baron[2] Knight of Donegal[2] |
| Profession | MechWarrior |
| Family | |
| Siblings | Shana Shurasky[1] |
| Spouse | Wilva von Ritter[1][2] |
| Children | Yes |
Ansgar "Gar" Shurasky was an officer made noble of the Lyran Commonwealth.[2]
History[edit]
He was a hero of both the Federated Commonwealth Civil War and the Jihad, and by 3080 he still looked pale and drawn from years of combat.
Shurasky achieved a degree of notoriety during the FedCom Civil War, when the First and Second Royal Guard RCTs fought in defense of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion; fighting against forces from Clan Wolf-in-Exile, Shurasky earned the nickname "Wolfsjäger“ (Wolf Hunter) for his successes against the Clan troops—the only Lyran officer to consistently win against or surprise the Exiles.[1]
During the battle against the Allied forces on Tharkad, Shurasky had been Klaus Warberg's commanding officer in the Second Royal Guards, and together they fought in three major engagements—the battles at Methow Valley, Stahlwurzel Forest and Tharkad City. Warberg later credited Shurasky for being the reason he and a lot of other personnel from the Second Royal Guards were still alive. Never comfortable with the nickname Wolfsjäger or being regarded as a hero, after the surrender of Katherine Steiner-Davion's forces Shurasky suffered a complete mental breakdown.[1]
He had won the name Wolfsjäger from a journalist embedded in the same battalion of the Second Royal Guards he'd been serving in, after Shurasky claimed three Exile kills in the first battle in Methow Valley and then another four kills during the opening battle in the Stahlwurzel Forest. Attrition and success saw Shurasky commanding the remains of his battalion in the forest, and then promoted to Kommandant during the battle for Tharkad City, during which he commanded a mixed battalion; his forces had fought for eight days during the siege, and was the last of the Loyalist forces to surrender. Faced with all of the death and destruction that had been caused, and that had killed most of his friends and acquaintances along with General Nondi Steiner, all of which seemed to have been for nothing, Shurasky began to crumble; the final blow that tipped him over the edge had been the death of his sister Shana on Dalkeith. After being found huddled in a fetal position and screaming in his quarters, Shurasky had been consigned to a mental hospital for treatment, being released after four months to return to the woman he loved.[1]
Jihad[edit]
The opening shots of the Jihad era found Shurasky on medical leave on Tharkad. In the immediate aftermath of the bombardment of Tharkad a group of retirees, volunteers and Lyran Alliance Armed Forces personnel who had been on leave at the time of the attack took possession of a combination of equipment from the personal BattleMech collection of Baron Von Moser as well as several more 'Mechs from private owners and the local militia, forming a volunteer unit of sixteen 'Mechs under the overall command of Hauptmann Warberg. Facing the prospect of having more 'Mechs than MechWarriors, Warberg welcomed Shurasky, who has no desire to take command, into his ad-hoc unit.[1] Shurasky wound up piloting "Thirteen", an ancient and supposedly haunted Zeus.
Settling into Thirteen's cockpit, Shurasky found himself having a conversation with his dead sister, Shana. Challenged with the fact that either she is a ghost or he is insane, Shurasky decided that ghost was the better alternative. Shana seemed to be his subconsiousness talking to him, and their "conversation" reassured him on his reasons for being willing to fight again: With the Word of Blake using nukes on civilians, he felt that he had no choice other than defending the citizens of the Alliance, even though that meant becoming the Wolfsjäger again. Later on, Shana would give useful tactical advice to Shurasky in combat including a warning of approaching aerospace fighters and that the fighter he was targeting would break left. His mental issues did not go unnoticed but Shurasky proved himself a valuable pillar of the unit, which would grow to become "Kampfgruppe Ritter" (under Leutnant-General Gerhard Von Ritter) and end up providing critical assistance to Archon Peter Steiner-Davion, a man Shurasky wasn't sure he felt loyalty to.
Peter praised Shurasky's actions, and stated that he wanted to set Shurasky up with a Kampfgruppe of his own to command. The people of the Alliance needed heroes, and he needed the Wolfsjäger, someone he was already familiar with, having heard stories from the Wolves-in-Exile, who were apparently very impressed with Shurasky. After some discussion over Shurasky's loyalty to the people of the Alliance rather than directly to Peter, the Archon field-promoted Warberg and Shurasky, and left Ritter with orders to make the Blakists pay in any way they can, building Kampfgruppen around their existing companies augmented with elements from both the Royals and militia, and with the freedom to recruit anyone who wants to join them and to use any equipment they bring with them.[1]
Post-Jihad[edit]
He assisted the Celebration Ball that run on Tharkad on April 17th 3080 in the rebuilt Marsden Wing of the Archon's Palace with his wife. He was wearing an LAAF dress uniform with his new rank of colonel and the Alliance Star around his neck.[2]