Hendrik Grimm III

Hendrik Grimm III
Personal
Born2977[1]
Died6 December 3049[2]
AffiliationHouse Grimm
Profile
Title(s)King
ProfessionPirate King
Family
ChildrenElla Grimm[2]
Johann Grimm[2]
Karl Grimm[2]
(possibly also Hendrik Grimm IV)

Hendrik Grimm III was both the best-known and also the last ruler (King) of the Oberon Confederation before it was overrun by the Clans, supposed actions attributed to Hendrik Grimm IV nonwithstanding. Hendrik III is widely regarded as the king who turned the pirate realm into a more or less legit periphery state.

History[edit]

Early Life[edit]

Born in 2977,[1] Hendrik Grimm III was a direct descendant of Colonel Hendrik Grimm, a Lyran Commonwealth officer commanding the 6th Lyran Regulars regiment which was battered by House Marik troops on Graham IV. Blaming their near destruction on poor leadership, he and the remains of his unit deserted House Steiner and settled on the Periphery world of Oberon VI at some time between 2829 and around 2855.[3][4] The Grimm family has been ruling the world ever since.[5]

While the Oberon Confederation had existed in one form or another since 2775, it had long since faded away and existed largely on paper. Hendrik Grimm II, the grandfather of Hendrik Grimm III, refounded the Oberon Confederation as a mockery of a state in 3012 and turned Oberon into his pirate base.[6] However, rule over the Oberon Confederation fell to Hendrik III within the same year (3012), after an implied interim rule by Hendrik III's unnamed father who simply continued the brutal piracy business.[7]

King of Oberon[edit]

It was Hendrik III who, beginning in 3012, slowly turned the Oberon Confederation into a stable, self-sustaining microstate that could be taken serious as a political entity (as opposed to a group of pirates).[7] He established diplomatic relations with the Draconis Combine, the Lyran Commonwealth and the Elysian Fields among others and generally favored trade and mercenary work over piracy.[7] Still, his forces were feared for destroying any property they could not carry off when looting, and savagely mistreating their prisoners whom they often enslaved.

In 3024, a diplomatic mission by Lyran Commonwealth Viscount Olin Vogel sought to obtain troops from the Oberon Confederation to garrison Trellwan, but a rogue faction within the Confederation subverted the mission and turned it into a sneak attack on the Lyran forces on the planet, on behalf of the Draconis Combine.[8]

By 3025, Hendrik III was leading a coalition of 12 pirate kingdoms.[7] The Lyran Commonwealth courted his realm with money and spare parts, hoping to win his support against the Draconis Combine despite the Trellwan debacle.[9]

In 3035 he oversaw a raid on Damian, where he outmaneuvered Sorenson's Sabres, a component of the 5th Sword of Light. This raid netted three DropShips of cargo.[10]

At some point in the mid-to-late 3040s,[11] Hendrik III had been paid handsomely by the Draconis Combine for a covert mission to Arluna (carried out as ostensibly a smash-and-grab raid for some gold reserves) to bring exiles from there back to Combine space. Hendrik III secretly double-crossed the Combine by bringing only half of the exiles back, selling the other half to the Free Rasalhague Republic underworld for yet greater gain. As part of the cover-up, he spread false reports that he had died and Hendrik Grimm IV was now in command, thereby suggesting internal upheaval within the Oberon Confederation which would in turn lend credence to the misinformation that it had been Morrison's Extractors, and not Hendrik III's forces, who had carried out the raid.[2]

Clan Invasion[edit]

Clan Wolf quickly overran the Oberon Confederation when the Clan Invasion came in in 3049, and Oberon VI was conquered in September of that year.

Hendrik III took to the field in a modified Atlas and tried to kill himself in the cockpit with a gunshot to his head after his forces suffered their final defeat at Kennedy Beach, fearing the unknown raiders were specifically seeking to capture him because of the double-cross at Arluna. Despite the wound, he was captured alive by Clan Wolf forces. Always distrustful of others, he did not believe the Clan's explanations about who they were, and presumed they might be a secret Com Guard force instead. Eventually, he divined from the questioning they were putting him through that the attackers were not actually interested in Oberon VI, but wanted to move on and conquer the Inner Sphere. He correctly predicted they would only leave a small garrison behind.[2]

Together with his sons Johann and Karl, he staged a prison breakout from Grimfort within hours of the main Clan Wolf force having left the world, utilizing several secret contingency plans that he had prepared should someone try to usurp his rule. His sons were unhappy to find just how much information he had witheld from them, and Johann actively tried to convince his father to flee the planet. Hendrik III, however, was adamant that the invaders had to be crushed. Manning a company of vintage Rim Worlds Republic 'Mechs from his Zeta cache, Hendrik III and his followers attacked the Clan Wolf garrison but were defeated when Johann Grimm, convinced that they would be destroyed for good if they stood up to the Clan, turned on his father.[2]

Hendrik Grimm III was captured again, tried, and on 6 December 3049 was publicly sentenced to death at Grimfort. When he remarked that making an example of him was pointless because his people hated him anyways, Clan Wolf Star Commander Niamh, who had passed his judgement, replied that he was wrong: It would be his son Karl who would be made an example of, whereas Hendrik III would be made a monument. She then proceeded to behead him with a sword.[2] His head was subsequently put on a pike and paraded through the city.[6]

Appearance and manner[edit]

In ca. 3019 his former lieutenant Redjack Ryan described him as a bloated drunkard and characterized him as an arrogant "aged, slightly confused befuddled grandfatherly type of a sop", but also a born recruiter and a veritable tiger when fighting in a 'Mech.[7]

Hendrik Grimm's appearance as of 3025 was described as bald and rather obese, giving the impression of a self-indulgent merchant with a booming voice and an infectious laugh.[7]

By the time he was a captive of Clan Wolf is implied that he had only one remaining eye, although from the context it is unclear when or how he would have lost his other eye (possibly from the self-inflicted gunshot wound). He also described himself as weighing nearly 160 kilos at the time. Yet despite his injury, age, and purported weight he still managed to run laps when ordered by his captors, though he found it very hard and felt he was failing whatever testing this was; his son Johann thought Hendrik III would end up being relegated to the laborer caste.[2]

Legacy[edit]

As of 3049, the three regiments of the Oberon Guards were reportedly commanded by Generals Hendrik Grimm IV (1st), Karl Grimm (2nd) and Johann Grimm (3rd), respectively.[12] After the defeat and occupation of the Oberon Confederation by the Clans, Johann Grimm was named as the commanding General of the independent "Oberon Guards (disarmed by Clans)" on Oberon VI in the Clan Wolf occupation zone in a report from 3054[13] while no other mention can be found for the others, suggesting they may have been killed in the Clan invasion. It remains unclear if a Hendrik Grimm IV ever actually existed, or if the name was just used as a decoy, although various later reports treat Hendrik IV as a real person and attribute various accomplishments to him.

Hendrik Grimm III also had a daughter named Ella Grimm with whom Redjack Ryan had an affair before he parted ways with Grimm.[14] Her fate is unknown. After escaping from Clan captivity, Hendrik III, who had suborned Oberon VI's local Precentor Rodrick to be more loyal to him than to ComStar, sent his daughter a recorded message upon learning that the Clan invaders had repaired the world's hyperpulse generator. The content of the message remains unknown. When she received the message, Ella was somewhere in the Inner Sphere under the name "Ella Grimes".[2]

BattleMechs[edit]

No specific BattleMech is associated with Hendrik Grimm III. As effectively a periphery bandit king, he would have used a range of different 'Mechs over time.

When Clan Wolf invaded Oberon VI, he fought in an Atlas that he had newly acquired not too long ago; its configuration was nonstandard, presumably because of unspecified field repairs and modifications.

After having escaped from Clan captivity, Hendrik III piloted a vintage Rim Worlds Republic Warhammer in his last battle, which was downed.

Trivia[edit]

  • Presented besides Redjack Ryan and Helmar Valasek as one of the periphery Pirate Kings in the rulebook of the original game, Hendrik Grimm III and his Oberon Confederation were part of the BattleTech universe right from the beginning, but played only a very minor role. They were effectively written out of the fiction through being conquered by the invading Clans.
  • Alluded to by "King Overweight of Overbite" in Critter-TEK.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Described as 48 years old in The Periphery (1st Ed.) sourcebook, p. 149; the sourcebook is implicitly dated 3025
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Grimm Sentence
  3. ↑ The Periphery (1st Ed.), p. 148
  4. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 56, "Tales of Grimm"
  5. ↑ The Grimm family had been ruling over Oberon VI for "over 170 years" as of 3025, according to the Battledroids rulebook, p. 5; reproduced verbatim in the BattleTech 2nd Ed. rulebook
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Periphery (2nd Ed.), p. 79
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 The Periphery (1st Ed.), p. 149
  8. ↑ Decision at Thunder Rift
  9. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 96 - "Interstellar Relations - The Periphery"
  10. ↑ Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 35
  11. ↑ Hendrik Grimm III tells this story in late 3049; Morrison's Extractors, whom he framed to deflect suspicion away from his own forces, only came into being at an unspecified point in time around the mid-3040s.
  12. ↑ 20 Year Update, p. 79
  13. ↑ Objective Raids, p. 49
  14. ↑ Unholy Union

Bibliography[edit]

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