Connor Rood


Conner Rood
Conner Rood
Personal
Born3038[1][2]
AffiliationEscorpión Imperio;
Clan Goliath Scorpion;
Clan Ice Hellion (formerly)
Career
RankKhan;
reKhan of Valencia[3]
ProfessionMechWarrior

Conner Rood was a trueborn Clan MechWarrior and saKhan (later briefly Khan) of Clan Ice Hellion until that Clan's Absorption into Clan Goliath Scorpion. He later became the saKhan and then Khan of his new Clan and the Escorpión Imperio.

Character and Personality[edit]

A young moderate Crusader among his trueborn brethren. He was noted for his intelligence and political views which made him popular among his subordinate freeborn warriors.

History[edit]

Early Life[edit]

Conner Rood was a ristar in his Clan.[4] When he undertook his Trial of Position, his skill and kills earned him rank of Star Captain. This rare feat got him noticed by his fellow Clanners. In time he gained his Bloodname, along with fame for his accomplishments. His first command was a Cluster of Beta Galaxy's 121st Hellion Lancers. His personal Trinary was noted for its performance in engagements with other Clans. Rood's command style and political views gained him the trust of the warriors under his command.[5] He was soon considered a Khan in the making.

saKhan of Clan Ice Hellion[edit]

In 3065, Conner's career changed, with Raina Montose's successful Trial of Grievance over Khan Asa Taney. Conner was chosen to become saKhan and Galaxy Commander of Beta Galaxy.

By 3067, Conner had rebuilt the esprit de corps of Beta Galaxy's warriors with help from his aide, Star Colonel Brendon Wick. However, Connor's efforts had been successful only due to the presence of two Flurry Clusters among his Galaxy's numbers. The Flurry Clusters caused any victory won by the Galaxy to be tainted due to the presence of combat vehicles.[6]

Inner Sphere Invasion of 3071-72[edit]

In the early 3070s, Khan Montose devised a plan to invade Clan Jade Falcon's Occupation Zone as part of her plan to create an OZ for the Ice Hellions at the cost of the Falcons. She mustered all their frontline combat Galaxies and divided them between herself and Conner. Rood was given command of three Galaxies for his Task Force, Delta, Zeta, and his own Beta Galaxy. His forces were to secure the Periphery border, while she would secure industrial worlds to bolster their declining touman strength.

In June 3071, saKhan Rood led his task force on a successful conquest of six Falcon worlds. On Bone-Norman, while leading the Lithe Kill Keshik, Rood engaged the Jade Falcon garrison in two weeks of hide-and-seek across the Hapsburg continent. Forced to use himself as bait to draw out the Falcon warriors, Rood nearly perished when his Kit Fox was attacked by a Star of Erinyes ProtoMechs led by Star Captain Kandari Falcon. Nonetheless the Hellions were able to claim victory, although the Falcon Guards would retake Bone-Norman just weeks later.[7][8]

The successes of his Task Force's campaign continued for six months with few reversals. However, by November Clan Hell's Horses begun to aid the Falcons in their resurgent of their offensive against his Clan's efforts. Conner was forced to retreat to Lackhove due to the Falcons' reinforcements, leaving his Galaxy's command unit, the 200th Attack Cluster, in the process.

By early 3072, faced large quantity of Jade Falcon and Hell's Horses forces hunting down his task force. Conner orders his task force's survivors to pull back to Dark Nebula, one his unit's first conquests. In March, Beta's survivors and his Galaxy's Naval Star clash with Falcons' Delta Galaxy and Hell's Horses Theta Galaxy. Rood's naval forces are heavy mauled, leaving him only Potemkin, CIH Coterie left his command. Falcon saKhan Samantha Clees offers him and his command hegira, which he accepts at later discourse of his Khan.[9]

Post-Invasion and Jihad[edit]

Rood had reportedly taken the Coterie with his Galaxy's three remaining Clusters and withdrawing to the Deep Periphery. Intelligence reports suggest his destination was Nouveaux Paris, where his Clan had maintained a garrison outpost.

Goliath Scorpion[edit]

The few elements of the Hellions under the leadership of Connor Rood, the main body of their Clan's remnants, were able to make it back to Clan space with the WarShip Osis' Pride at the end of December 3072. The three trinaries of the 200th Attack Cluster represented a significant boost for the heavily depleted clan. The Hellion enclaves outside Hector had been stripped away through predation by the other clans, Bandit Caste forces, and the Society while the HPG network across the Homeworlds was inactive. However, even then the added Hellions could barely muster a full galaxy.[10]

As the Ice Hellions could not rebuild their clan, in 3073 Rood negotiated with the Khan of Clan Goliath Scorpion to have the surviving Ice Hellion elements merge with Clan Goliath Scorpion. Rood viewed this as the preferrable alternative to Clan Ice Hellion disappearing completely, but the offer was rejected. The Goliath Scorpions resented any implication that they might be in a weak enough state to need to merge with another clan. Rood was honest and open about the perilous state of the Hellions, so the Goliath Scorpions counter-offered to absorb the Hellions in a fashion that limited the number of losses.[11]

The proposal was agreed upon by both Clan Councils, and following a ferocious but brief battle between a Star of forces from each clan in March 3074, the remaining Ice Hellion holdings and touman joined the Goliath Scorpions. Afterwards, Rood was elected to the post of SaKhan to replace Kelton Myers, who had been killed during the trial.[11][12]

Connor Rood succeeded Colin Yeh as Khan of Clan Goliath Scorpion in 3086. He instructed Chi and Beta Galaxy to investigate reports of all Ice Hellion warriors in the Periphery that became lost after the Hellion's failed attempt to claim territory in the Inner Sphere. Over several years, many were found and the majority returned to clan society either being claimed as isorla or as part of Trials of Possession. The returned warriors were integrated into Beta Galaxy and increased Hellion influence in the clan (Beta Galaxy would be renamed Hellion Galaxy). The presence of the warriors also aided the clan's replenishment of depleted genetic stocks. However, the integration was not without problems. SaKhan Henrika Suvorov was assassinated by Star Commander Kliff Wallace, after she insulted him and the Hellion legacy. Rood issued a Trial of Grievance and killed Wallace in return, but ordered a giftake to be taken, to preserve Wallace's lineage.

Later, Galaxy Commander Mull Elam refused to be nominated SaKhan out of fear that they would be assassinated too. Rood decided to create a bodyguard unit for the SaKhan, the Hellion Keshik, composed of Beta's best warriors of all origins. He assembled the Scorpion's entire touman in Valencia, delivering a fiery, invective-filled address against discrimination, while reminding all present than the Trial of Absorption was part of the Way of the Clans. He ended by promising a reckoning for those which choose safety over glory and offered five brand-new Hellion 'Mechs for the best members of the new keshik. His efforts to integrate the competeing legacies in the clan fully succeeded, beginning a fiery competition to be part of the keshik.[13]

Khan Rood also instituted a colonization program of worlds between the Imperio and the Hanseatic League. Meanwhile, Castilian and Umayyad civilians were given the means to attain status though Higher Education. Using clan influenced Trials of Worth, students competed for places in Universities with faculty staffed by the Scientist Caste. The program yielded great results and, within two decades, factories that had struggled to produce Succession Era equipment could manufacture Clantech.[14] After the Hellion Keshik's heavy ProtoMech losses to pirates on Graystone, Rood ordered the end to ProtoMech production, which began the phase out of ProtoMech use by the Scorpion touman.

Rood retired in 3108, however, his career didn't end immediately. He was succeeded as Khan by Enrico Kirov who created the position of ReKhan and Rood was appointed the first ReKhan of Valencia.[15]

Legacy[edit]

At the end, Rood's reign as a Khan proved one very long and successful: the full integration of the Hellions into Clan Goliath Scorpion and modernization of the Imperio were his legacy. Enrico Kirov continued his work. He would rename Beta Galaxy to "Hellion Galaxy" where many captured Hellion warriors ended up, along with most of those who would later earn former Hellion Bloodnames. That ensured the survival of the Hellions' tactics and culture among the Scorpions.[16]

BattleMechs[edit]

Initially, Rood's 'Mech was a Kit Fox OmniMech, but after losing it to an Elemental ambush in Bone Norman was forced to replace it with a bigger Linebacker.[17][18]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 190: "Conner Rood Profile"
  2. ↑ BattleTech: Legends II, p. 92
  3. ↑ Spotlight On: Hellion Keshik, p. 3
  4. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 86: "Beta Galaxy - 121st Hellion Lancers - Conner Rood's status as ristar and unit he served with is listed"
  5. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 84: "Star Captain Conner Rood" - Profile gives brief background to character's early life
  6. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 47: "Ice Hellion Touman" - Beta Galaxy - Conner Rood's elevation and efforts since becoming saKhan and Galaxy Commander of Beta
  7. ↑ Technical Readout: 3075, p. 150: "Erinyes, notable pilots"
  8. ↑ Touring the Stars: Bone-Norman, p. 7
  9. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, pp. 28–30: "Operation Ice Storm" - saKhan actions and history during the conflict with Jade Falcons & Hell's Horses
  10. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, pp. 98–99: "The Hellion Fades"
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Wars of Reaving, p. 127: "Scorpion Gambit"
  12. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 159
  13. ↑ Spotlight On: Hellion keshik, p. 2
  14. ↑ Operational Turning Points: Hanseatic Crusade, p. 8
  15. ↑ Spotlight On: Hellion Keshik, p. 3
  16. ↑ Operational Turning Points: Hanseatic Crusade, p. 9
  17. ↑ Operation Ice Storm part 1, ch. 6
  18. ↑ Technical Readout: 3075, p. 150: "Erinyes" - Star Captain Kandari Falcon - Conner Rood's actions on Bone-Norman noted

Bibliography[edit]

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