Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack

Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack
Academy Information
Previous Name(s) Blackjack School of Conflict
Location Blackjack
Founding Year Jihad Era
Course Information


Blackjack School of Conflict
Blackjack School of Conflict Logo
Blackjack School of Conflict Logo
Academy Information
Location Blackjack
Founding Year Succession War era
Course Information
MechWarrior

Located on the planet of Blackjack, the Blackjack School of Conflict was the only privately run military academy in the Lyran Commonwealth until its destruction during the Clan Invasion, finally reopened by Clan Jade Falcon during the Jihad as the Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack. It would continue to operate under the Alyina Mercantile League.

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Blackjack School of Conflict
Kommandant Katrina Bigelow 3025[1]
Kommandant Dean Bristow 3050[2]
Commanding Officers of the Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack
Head Falconer Derek-Jaim Clees -3151[3]

History[edit]

The Blackjack School of Conflict was the only privately run military academy in the Lyran Commonwealth, and was known for producing graduates with a flair for corruption, despite being excellent warriors otherwise. Founded by tutors who'd failed the entrance exams at other academies, Blackjack School of Conflict prided itself on being open to any student who could afford the entrance fees, making it the option of choice of those lacking the political or social connections to enter other more prestigious academies. The school also differed in other ways, supposedly offering "unofficial" courses on the shadier side of real military life, with Blackjack graduates supposedly more likely to survive their military careers and retire with healthy (and questionably acquired) nest eggs than those of the Nagelring. The LCAF made no effort to clean up the school, or even force it run Katrina Steiner's mandated course on Military Ethics, for the simple reason that for all its shady dealings, the Blackjack school produced excellent soldiers.[4]

The Blackjack School of Conflict's final class was held in August 3050 when the world was attacked during Clan Jade Falcon's fourth invasion wave. The inexperienced and outgunned Blackjack Training Battalion impressed the Jade Falcon's Second Falcon Jaegers with their bravery and honorable combat. While the battalion suffered an 80% casualty rate, the impressed Falcons took a number of cadets as bondsmen and allowed the remainder to evacuate. But earning the Jade Falcons respect also earned the Steel Vipers scorn, the Vipers razing the school completely after their successful post–Battle of Tukayyid Trial of Possession for the planet.[5][2]

With control of Blackjack then traded back and forth between the Falcons and the Lyran Alliance, it wasn't until the Falcons recapture of the world in the lead-up to the Jihad and being cut off from their Clan Homeworld training facilities on Ironhold that consideration was given to rebuilding the school. While located on the same site as the Blackjack School of Conflict, the Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack had a much more Clanlike appearance and training focus, with trueborn sibkos raised in the Clan style while freeborns were allowed to try out for the school upon turning thirteen. The first class of this rebuilt school was scheduled to graduate in 3077.[6] One notable departure was an adjacent militia school, with a shorter program for training solahma, warrior police, and civilian caste enforcers as garrisons and law enforcement for the lesser Inner Sphere holdings of the Falcons as the Jihad stretched the touman to its breaking point. This militia school was initially staffed by particularly ethically questionable faculty from the pre-Falcon Blackjack School, who taught the Falcons brutal but effective ways to handle dissent and prevent revolutions.[6][7]

The first trueborn sibko graduated from the Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack in 3079. This was a particularly impressive achievement since many of the Falcon's genetic repositories were damaged during the Jihad by local uprisings.[8] The Jade Falcon School of Conflict on Blackjack trained trueborn and freeborn warriors as well as providing police training to certain individuals. The two main courses of study were focused on MechWarriors and police.[9]

When the Falcon occupation zone splintered in 3151 in the wake of most of the Clan leaving for Terra, Blackjack fell under the control of the School's head Falconer, Derek-Jaim Clees. Under pressure from the neighbouring Alyina Mercantile League, on 31 December 3151, Clees offered Blackjack and the School if, and only if, his cadets were defeated in a Trial of Possession. Fighting mock objective-focused battles with powered-down weapons, the cadets lost, but earned the respect of the Mercantile Militia for their skills and for their willingness to use trickery and decoys. Clees invoked bondsref afterwards, leaving the much-desired School of Conflict to Marena and the AML without its head Falconer.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 124
  2. ↑ a b Double Down
  3. ↑ a b Tamar Rising, pp. 49-50
  4. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), pp. 126, 128
  5. ↑ Jade Falcon Sourcebook, p. 41
  6. ↑ a b Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 134
  7. ↑ Tamar Rising, p. 102: "Blackjack"
  8. ↑ Field Report: Clans, p. 5
  9. ↑ Objectives: Clans, p. 15

Bibliography[edit]

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