History of Clan Hell's Horses

Symbol of Clan Hell's Horses
This article details the history of Clan Hell's Horses. For more information, see Clan Hell's Horses.

Founding[edit]

Clan Hell's Horses was founded by Star League Defense Force Major General John Fletcher, commander of the Thirty-fifth Infantry Division of the Nineteenth Army, LVI Corps. Fletcher, a staunch loyalist of General Aleksandr Kerensky, took part in the invasion to liberate Terra from Stefan Amaris during the Amaris Civil War. Fletcher's loyalty to Kerensky and the ideals of the Star League would inspire him to join the First Exodus from the Inner Sphere in the wake of that terrible conflict and settle on the Pentagon Worlds to start anew.[1] The Thirty-fifth Infantry was disbanded by the new Star League-in-Exile, and Fletcher was placed in charge of training the new militia force of planet Eden.[2]

However, old divisions among the Exodus' population soon festered into a new civil war, and despite putting down a rebellion at Cathay,[3] Fletcher was unable to prevent the outbreak of warfare. When Kerensky died, Fletcher accompanied the General's son Nicholas Kerensky on the Second Exodus to the Kerensky Cluster where the Clans were formed.[1]

For his loyalty to General Kerensky, Fletcher was made Khan of Clan Hell's Horses by Nicholas Kerensky. Fletcher chose Colonel Patricia Cobb, one of his most able BattleMech battalion commanders from the Thirty-fifth, as his saKhan, and together they forged their Clan into one which placed its focus first and foremost on its warriors, instead of the military hardware at their disposal. For this reason they requested a smaller share of 'Mech forces in return for a larger share of conventional armor and approval to train additional infantry from decommissioned WarShip crews. In short order they were able to put together an impressive combined-arms army, bucking the current military orthodoxy that saw the 'Mech as the supreme battlefield weapon. While their critics foresaw the Clan's demise, the Hell's Horses' performance would eventually cast aside the myth of 'Mech dominance.[1]

Major General John Fletcher, first Khan of Clan Hell's Horses

Operation KLONDIKE[edit]

During the Trials for participation in the coveted Eden invasion of Operation KLONDIKE, the Hell's Horses won a surprise victory over Clan Ghost Bear[4] and so were deployed to Eden alongside Clans Jade Falcon, Smoke Jaguar and Wolf. For the most part the Horses were assigned auxiliary or rear-area duties in support of other Clans - this rarely sat well with either the Horses or the other Clans they were attached to, often causing tension between them.[5] Khan Fletcher eventually convinced Nicholas Kerensky to assign his Clan an independent operation, the conquest of the Purgatory Peninsula.[6] The peninsula, located in the western part of the continent of Irkutsk, was home to a collection of city-states locked in conflict. Of the city-states, the most important ones were Allah, Dante and Vesta.[7][1]

While the city-states were no friends of each other, they did unite against the invaders and put together a combined force which outnumbered the Hell's Horses six to one. After suffering from a series of ambushes that destroyed several Clan scout 'Mechs, Fletcher began looking for flaws in the enemy's strategy and realized that they fixated on targeting 'Mechs above "inferior" tanks and infantry. He put this knowledge to good tactical use, by using his 'Mechs as bait to draw out the rebel 'Mechs so they could be smashed by conventional forces.[8] Relying on infantry and combat vehicles was a tactical gamble that paid off, as the Horses were able to pair the flexibility of infantry and vehicle combined-arms forces with the long-range 'Mech weapons such as those refitted onto captured Hoplites.[9] Allah and Dante were captured quickly, while Vesta took longer to subdue but was in Clan hands after a day of fighting. By the end of the two-week campaign the Hell's Horses had completely smashed all resistance on the peninsula, proving the success of their unorthodox tactics and suffering fewer equipment losses than other Clans which preferred to slug it out 'Mech-to-'Mech. Vesta, the largest and last city to fall, would be renamed Hades and transformed into the Hell's Horses' capital.[10][11] Khan Fletcher held Trials in all three cities on Purgatory and would allow the winners into his infantry and vehicle auxiliaries - this practice enabled the Horses to return to full fighting strength much more quickly than the other Clans that had been operating on Eden.[8]

During the Battle of Novy Moscva, the Hell's Horses were relegated back to supporting roles for other Clans despite their impressive performance in the Peninsula Campaign. The Horses provided tank and infantry support to the other Clans, and many Horse infantry were killed in the intense urban combat.[12] Despite this, Novy Moscva was liberated, and the Clans stood victorious over Eden.

Golden Century[edit]

The Hell's Horses peculiar philosophy of commitment to combined-arms warfare led most of the other Clans to dismiss them - Ghost Bear Khan Hans Jorgensson called the Hell's Horses development of new tank designs "funny and sad at the same time".[13] The Horses tended to keep to themselves through the Golden Century until they learned of the Elemental infantry armor by Clan Wolf. Eager to obtain the Elemental armor, the Hell's Horses entered a series of Trials with Clan Wolf where the armor was put up against the infantry breeding protocols that the Hell's Horses had discovered. These gigantic warriors would be known as Elemental.[14]

The Hell's Horses won one of the three Trials and so obtained the Elemental armor, and began deploying their genetically engineered Elemental infantry in battle armor in 2870.[15] Other Clans challenged the Hell's Horses for the breeding rights, among them Clan Fire Mandrill. In 2870, Kindraa Smythe-Jewel of the Fire Mandrills used deceptive bidding tactics to give the impression of a much smaller force and won the Trial. Kindraa Payne would take the brunt of the Trial of Possession, while the Smythe-Jewels walked away with new Elemental breeding protocols and Battle Armor.[16] The Horses' incumbent Khan Eric Amirault demanded a Trial of Annihilation but was denied by a Grand Council vote. As the Hell's Horses prepared to move against the Fire Mandrills, Clan Coyote's Khan Manfred Hollifield stepped in. They too had been cheated by Kindraa Smythe-Jewel in that Kindraa's bid for the Coyotes' OmniMech technology a few years prior.[17]

Seeing the wisdom in joining together, the Hell's Horses arranged for a contract bid to include the Coyotes in the Hell's Horses Trial against the Kindraa, the first usage of contract bidding by the Clans. The combined Hell's Horses-Coyote task force descended on the Smythe-Jewel enclave on Foster and challenged them to a Trial that saw the death of the Kindraa Smythe-Jewel. Half the genetic legacies and most of the battle salvage was taken by the Horses and the Coyotes took the enclave, the bondsmen, and the rest of the legacies, with small shares of each going to Kindraa Payne, which had joined in the final stages of the battle, trapping the last Smythe-Jewels as they attempted to flee. The Coyotes and Hell's Horses each parted with great respect for one another. This action did much to win the Hell's Horses a good measure of respect from the rest of the Clans as well.[17][18][19][20] The Horses were able to acquire OmniMech technology themselves, and in 2870 they debuted their first OmniMech design, the Nova, a notable feature of which was specialized connection ports that enabled battle-armored infantry to ride the 'Mech into combat. This original design gave rise to mechanized battle armor, and the results were so successful that the connection ports soon became standard on all OmniMechs.[21]

To increase their OmniMech production capability, the Horses constructed MechWorks Alpha on Tokasha which would become the Clan's primary 'Mech factory. In 2921, the factory was targeted by Clan Ghost Bear for a Trial of Possession. Horses Khan Aaron Cobb bid Alpha Keshik and the whole of Beta Galaxy in its defense, an unusually large bid against which the Bears brought their Alpha Galaxy. The Trial for MechWorks Alpha was a brutal, slogging battle in Tokasha's thick jungle terrain.[22] The fighting seemed to favor the Hell's Horses until a stray shot slew the beloved Ghost Bear Khan Kilbourne Jorgensson. The outraged Ghost Bears tore into the Hell's Horses in a berserk fury, forcing them to withdraw.[20] This incident put paid to any notion of the Hell's Horses moving away from their reliance on conventional vehicles towards a more traditional Clan attitude of 'Mech supremacy, and the death of Khan Jorgensson would form the basis of the long-lasting feud between the Ghost Bears and Hell's Horses, which would not begin to heal until the late thirty-first century.[22][20] Aaron Cobb would step down from the Khanship after the loss of Tokasha, allowing his saKhan Darwin Lassenerra to replace him.[23]

Clan Invasion[edit]

The feud between the Hell's Horses and Ghost Bears would continue throughout the years leading up to the Clan Invasion. After the Horses built a new 'Mech factory on Niles, the Bears issued a Trial of Possession for it in 3048 and another fierce battle ensued - though the Horses emerged victorious they lost their Khan, Lair Seidman.[24] Seidman was replaced by Malavai Fletcher, an Elemental who was horribly injured in that battle.[23] Fletcher, wounded almost unto death, was forced to have large amounts of his body replaced with cybernetic prostheses, including almost all of his skull and one eye.[25] Fletcher gained a deep and abiding hatred for the Ghost Bears since Niles, which he would carry with him for the next twenty years.

At this time the debate around returning to the Inner Sphere had given rise to the Crusader and Warden schools of thought. Malavai Fletcher was a staunch Crusader, and managed to appoint enough Crusaders in his Clan to leadership positions to push the Horses into the Crusader camp, despite the fact that many among the Horses' rank and file were Wardens. This political shift helped to make Operation REVIVAL a reality after ComStar's Outbound Light appeared over the Smoke Jaguar world of Huntress in 3048. The Horses would be eliminated from the bidding for participation in the Invasion early on, but this did not bother Khan Fletcher too much. While the invading Clans assaulted the Inner Sphere, Khan Fletcher kept his Clan out of much of the infighting in the Clan Homeworlds, instead keeping them focused on building their strength.[26]

When Clan Ice Hellion's Khan Asa Taney formed his Home Clan Coalition in the wake of the Battle of Tukayyid that saw the invading Clans defeated, Malavai Fletcher gave Taney his support for the effort to renew the invasion. Though they would not immediately get the invasion they wanted, the Harvest Trials presented their own opportunity for another invasion in future.[27]

Though the Horses did not win a place in the planned second invasion, they did manage to find a way to obtain worlds in the Inner Sphere. When Khan Vladimir Ward of the Wolves started the Harvest Trials, Khan Fletcher convinced him to bid Hell's Horses units in contract bids without first winning those units for the Wolves in a formal Trial of Possession, much as the Hell's Horses had done with the Coyotes during the Golden Century. Khan Ward agreed and ceded three worlds in the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone: Stanzach, Vorarlberg, and Engadin to Clan Hell's Horses.[27]

Meanwhile, in the Inner Sphere, in response to the Clan Invasion the Successor States had been galvanized into uniting under the banner of the Second Star League. The new Star League sent Task Force SERPENT to the Clan Homeworlds, where Victor Steiner-Davion took the remarkable step of issuing a Trial of Refusal against the Clan Invasion itself. The incumbent ilKhan, Lincoln Osis of Clan Smoke Jaguar, agreed to the Trial and thus the Great Refusal was held on Strana Mechty. The Great Refusal was structured as a series of combat Trials between elements of the Inner Sphere and the Crusader Clans, and saw the Hell's Horses pitched against the Free Rasalhague Republic's Third Drakøns. In a stunning upset, the KungsArmé troops defeated the Hell's Horses, scoring a win for the Inner Sphere.[28]

Civil War era[edit]

During the numerous Trials of Possession that were launched following the Annihilation of the Smoke Jaguars, Abjuration of the Nova Cats, and the start of the relocation of the Ghost Bears, the Hell's Horses managed to seize large portions of Bearclaw, Hoard, and Tokasha, pitting them against forces from the Ghost Bears, Ice Hellions, Jade Falcons, and Snow Ravens. It was during the fighting on Bearclaw in 3061 that Malavai Fletcher first encountered the Ghost Bear ristar Jake Kabrinski, who bested Fletcher in combat and forced the Horses' Khan to retreat, earning his enmity.[29] The Horses also managed to seize the last portion of Kirin making it an exclusive Hell's Horses possession. Consequently, the Horses touman was able to grow strong and viable among those of the other Home Clans.[30] However, at this time the Horses' Watch noticed an increase in the tension between the Clan's Crusader officer corps and its Warden rank-and-file.[31]

When Clan Cloud Cobra presented their first Babylon Diet, a massive religious conference involving both Clan and Spheroid religious delegates, to the Clan Council, the Hell's Horses voted in support of it. Ultimately, however, the Diet was of little consequence other than a political stumbling block for Clan Coyote.[32]

Not long after the Hell's Horses gained full control of Kirin, Malavai Fletcher traveled to the Inner Sphere in 3064. Upon learning of Fletcher's arrival, Vlad Ward, Khan of Clan Wolf, invited Fletcher to a private meeting wherein he revealed to Fletcher the depleted military state of the anti-spinward border of the Ghost Bear Occupation Zone (renamed the Ghost Bear Dominion).[33] This lack of troops was due to the Dominion having recently become embroiled in a war with the Draconis Combine. This was a political maneuver on Ward's part to tempt the Horses into attacking the Ghost Bear Dominion, weakening both of the Wolves' rival Clans.[34] Thus manipulated by Ward, Fletcher and the Horses attacked from their Inner Sphere holdings that they had been gifted by Clan Wolf in. However, after the Ghost Bears' war with the Combine ended, the Bears retaliated against the Hell's Horses and seized all three of the Horses' worlds, sending them back to Clan Space. Khan Malavai Fletcher's leadership was challenged by James Cobb, a Warden, who assumed the Khanship after killing Fletcher[35] in a sword duel. With his final words, Fletcher charged Cobb with taking revenge on the Wolves and Ghost Bears.[36]

In 3067, the Horses and Clan Wolf fought a Trial of Possession over Tiber, which degenerated into a melee when the Wolves broke zellbrigen. In response, the Horses called in the remainder of their initial bid and defeated the Wolves.[37] Two weeks later, the Grand Council met to discuss the collapse of the Second Star League - the Hell's Horses did not attend either in person or remotely, as their Khan Cobb was preoccupied with covertly arranging for the Clan's relocation to the Inner Sphere by way of an invasion of the Wolves' Occupation Zone.[37]

In December of 3067, Star Adder Khan Stanislov N'Buta discovered James Cobb's plan to invade the Inner Sphere after reports from a successful Trial of Possession against the Hell's Horses for some supplies on Nouveaux Paris. Confronting Cobb with this information, N'Buta and the Horse Khan bargained that N'Buta would keep the Horses' secret in exchange for access to the manufacturing facilities on Nouveaux Paris. The two Khans also bargained that Clan Star Adder would attack Clan Wolf's territory in the Clan Homeworlds, in order to distract the Wolves from the Horses' operations - in return, the Horses would cede Hoard to Clan Star Adder.[37]

Khan James Cobb

Wars of Reaving and Jihad[edit]

In 3068, as part of an intelligence-gathering mission, the Hell's Horses Ninety-first Mechanized Assault Cluster Trialed for and won the entire contents of the Ghost Bear Dominion Watch's database as well as three DropShips. As part of this successful operation, Horses Khan Cobb claimed the Ghost Bear ristar Jake Kabrinski (Malavai Fletcher's nemesis) as a bondsman as part of a long-term plan to win an alliance with the Ghost Bear Dominion.[38] The mission complete, Cobb returned to the Homeworlds and entreated Clan Snow Raven for the construction of a large mobile shipyard.[39]

However, Cobb became concerned that his motives were becoming obvious when the saKhan of Clan Ice Hellion, Connor Rood, approached him for an alliance, suggesting that he knew what Cobb and the Horses were up to. Cobb attempted to delay any talks for an alliance, while ordering saKhan Tanya DeLaurel to attack Clan Wolf in the Homeworlds as a further misdirection. Unfortunately this attack did not end well for the Horses, and DeLaurel was forced to redeploy to counter opportunistic aggression by Kindraa Mick-Kreese-Kline-Sainze of Clan Fire Mandrill.[40] The Hellions would end up supporting the Horses in this, and the joint force would fully repel the Mandrills by 3069.[41]

In that same year, the Hell's Horses would determine that they would have to leave behind all matériel that could not be brought with them on their relocation to the Inner Sphere. Over the course of the next two years, the Clan would discreetly give away many of their Homeworlds holdings to Clans Coyote, Star Adder and Diamond Shark.[42]

In 3070 Clan Hell's Horses would finally commence their migration to the Inner Sphere. Establishing a limited alliance with Clan Ice Hellion, the Horses attacked the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone and managed to secure multiple worlds from both the Wolves, as well as founding a new Omega Galaxy from Wolf abtakha who eagerly assimilated into the Horses rather than languish in postings on Clan Wolf's Periphery border.[43][44] Omega Galaxy would go on to spearhead further incursions into Wolf territory, while Khan Cobb tasked Epsilon, Zeta, Eta and Iota Galaxies under the command of Loremaster Temuchin Amirault to defend the Horses' remaining territory in the Clan Homeworlds. Some officers of Iota Galaxy would attempt Trials of Grievance in protest of these orders, but none would succeed.[43]

The following year of 3071 saw the next phase of expansion by the Hell's Horses - by April, the Horses had taken no less than twenty-nine worlds from Clan Wolf, including Steelton and Csesztreg, the world that would eventually become the capital of the Horses' Occupation Zone.[45] (Despite this, the Horses still voted against ilKhan Brett Andrews' motion to Annihilate the Wolves.)[45] The Horses' offensive finally halted when the Wolves drew their "line of death" from Ferleiten to Ridderkerk and Zoetermeer, which the Horses would unsuccessfully poke in September of 3071.[46]

After failed attempt by Clan Jade Falcon to take Steelton in April of 3071, that world would eventually be wrested away from the Hell's Horses in September by their erstwhile allies in Clan Ice Hellion.[47] The following month, Horses Khan Cobb and Falcon Khan Marthe Pryde agreed to cease hostilities between their two Clans and instead jointly attack the Ice Hellions. By February of 3072, the Horses had taken nine worlds from the Ice Hellions,[48] and the matter was settled in March when a joint Jade Falcon-Hell's Horses force (including the Horses' Iota Galaxy, which had been partially relocated from the Homeworlds by this time) assaulted the Hellion's last remaining world of Vantaa and crushed the Hellion touman, slaying the Hellion Khan Raina Montose after she refused to accept hegira[49] and leaving barely a Cluster's worth of Hellions alive to flee to the Periphery with their saKhan Connor Rood (who would eventually become Khan of Clan Goliath Scorpion[50]).[48] With the Ice Hellions dealt with, the Hell's Horses began efforts to stabilize, sending trade envoys to the Jade Falcons, Ghost Bears and even Clan Wolf-In-Exile, with whom the Horses would collaborate to develop the Cygnus BattleMech.[51]

Loremaster Temuchin Amirault

However, while the Hell's Horses were going from strength to strength in the Inner Sphere, the same could not be said of the portion of their civilian castes and touman remaining in the Clan Homeworlds. The Wars of Reaving and the machinations of The Society had consumed the Clan Homeworlds, and the Hell's Horses remaining there were isolated and cut off from their leadership which now resided in the Inner Sphere. The Horses' population in the Homeworlds were easy prey for other Clans, demonstrated in such incidents as the slaying of an entire planet's worth of Horses sibko by Clan Cloud Cobra on Niles in February of 3072,[52] or when Clan Blood Spirit conquered Eden and absorbed the entire Hell's Horses population there in early 3073.[53] Similarly, the Horses' territory in the Deep Periphery was under threat, and an attempt to liberate Nouveaux Paris from a Society coup ended in disaster when Eta Galaxy was badly mauled by a Clan Burrock ambush, retreating with little more than a Cluster.[54] Having suffered extreme casualties, Eta Galaxy was disbanded and its remaining troops sent to bolster other damaged formations in the Horses touman.[55]

The Hell's Horses in the Inner Sphere would have their own reckoning with the Society when the SLOT virus released by the Society's leader, Etienne, caused the widespread failure of HPG networks across Horses, Wolf and Jade Falcon territory in 3073.[56] In May of that year, the Horses' Watch uncovered elements of the Clan's scientist caste colluding with members of the Society, and began a thorough purge of their own scientists.[54]

In 3074, the Hell's Horses agreed a ten-year truce with Clan Jade Falcon, sealed by the exchange of some remaining members of the Horses' scientist caste for the Falcon worlds of Persistence and Winfield.[57]

Eventually, the Horses would be successful in carving out their own occupation zone, becoming members of the Council of Six Clans. They would join the other Spheroid Clans in cutting off all relations with their Homeworld brethren and join with Devlin Stone's coalition, lending it a Cluster of warriors.[57]

In 3080, Clan Wolf would make several attempts at regaining some of their lost territory - the Wolves attacked four worlds, but were only able to briefly capture Harvest before the Horses retook it. However, the Horses would soon see the death of two of their Khans - Khan Cobb died in his sleep in mid-October of 3080,[57] and his successor Tanya DeLaurel was killed in action while defending Bruben from the Wolves in the following year. Jake Kabrinski, Cobb's right-hand man who had been instrumental in brokering good faith between the Horses and the Ghost Bear Dominion, was elected to the office of Khan in 3081.[58]

Khan Jake Kabrinski

Those Hell's Horses who survived the Wars of Reaving in the Homeworlds were accused by their brethren of being tainted due to the Horses' involvement with the exiled Wolves and Kell Hounds mercenary unit. Zeta Galaxy Commander Magnus DelVillar, the senior remaining Horses officer, countered these claims by pointing out that none of his warriors had actually been to the Inner Sphere themselves. After a hard-fought Trial of Refusal, the Grand Council motion to Abjure the bulk of Clan Hell's Horses was upheld, as was the Absorption by Clan Star Adder of the "untainted" Horses in the Homeworlds. However, Adder Khan Stanislov N'Buta was impressed enough with the Horses' conduct that he offered DelVillar an alternative, and in short order Clan Stone Lion was formed from those Horses remaining in the Clan Homeworlds.[59]

Zeta Galaxy Commander Magnus DelVillar

Post-Jihad[edit]

The Horses found themselves facing a number of problems in the wake of the Jihad. While the Clan was buoyant following their successes and enjoyed a touman larger than that of the Wolves and broadly comparable in size to that of the Falcons, their warriors were heavily committed. Internally, elements of both the intelligence organization Mimir and the Motstånd terrorist network continued to make life difficult for the Horses domestically, while the Rasalhagian population of the Ghost Bear Dominion continued to press Clan Ghost Bear to attack the Horses occupation zone and reclaim ethnically Rasalhagian worlds. Adding to the external threat from the Ghost Bears was the desire on the part of the Jade Falcons to reclaim the worlds that the Horses had opportunistically snatched during the incursion into the Falcon occupation zone by the Ice Hellions.[60]

Moreover, while the Clan had established itself territorially by the end of the Jihad, its industry was lagging behind. The Clan was relying on mobile factories brought over from the Homeworlds, as well as what facilities they had been able to capture from Clan Wolf. While their preference for combat vehicles and battle armor allowed the Hell's Horses to rebuild their touman well enough, the Clan was still hampered by internal insurgency movements that their Watch was still learning to deal with.[61]

While their industrial output was still somewhat lacking (due in no small part to their logistics chains suffering a dearth of JumpShips), the Horses had a number of facilities ready to produce combat vehicles, 'Mechs and battle armor, including Swedenborg Heavy Industries.[62] Additionally, the Clan was also beginning to develop a true ProtoMech production capacity, and was producing standard models as well as developing unique variants, such as the Minotaur-XP and Procyon (Quad).[63]

During their move rimward through Wolf territory, the Hell's Horses had abandoned much of their conquests in the coreward Periphery. In this space (which would come to be known as The Barrens), a number of proto-states and pirate kingdoms would form - two notable ones were the New Oberon Confederation and the Republic of the Barrens. While the Confederation was all but openly a pirate kingdom, the Republic was modeled on Clan society and remained on good terms with its neighbors in the Hell's Horses. Over time, a standing agreement grew between the Clan and the Republic, by which the latter defended the former's coreward border from pirate raids in exchange for hardware and training.[64]

Dark Age[edit]

Having firmly established their Occupation Zone - carved out of former Wolf, Jade Falcon and Ice Hellion territory - the Hell's Horses found themselves trapped between powerful neighbors.[65] However, their relatively egalitarian interpretations of Clan society worked in their favor for integration of conquered worlds. In captured territory the Hell's Horses were content to adopt a hands-off approach to integration. The Clan warrior caste ruled from so-called "DropShip cities", which were effectively urban sprawls constructed around the initial landing zones used by the Horses during their conquest. Satisfied mainly to leave the native populations to themselves as long as order was maintained and production quotas met, the Hell's Horses built a flourishing model of civilian integration second only to that found in the Rasalhague Dominion.[65] The native populations, used to the hard regimes of the Wolves and Jade Falcons, largely welcomed the change. In some cases, however, years of repression by the natives' previous masters left them resentful of Clan administration, and some chose to exploit the greater leniency of the Hell's Horses to establish black markets for luxuries not available within the Clan way of life.[66]

The Hell's Horses also engaged in some scientific research and development. Continuing their legacy of genetic research since their discovery of the Elemental phenotype, the Horses' research into a new trueborn phenotype optimized for combat within a tank, the TankWarrior, saw limited success. This granted tank crews of the Hell's Horses a certain superiority over tank crews from other Clans.[65] However, it was soon concluded that, even with their optimized physiology, TankWarrior crews scored only slightly better than the crews the Horses were already producing through existing training regimens. A unit of Hell's Horses TankWarriors were able to defeat Jade Falcon tank crews in a Trial of Possession on Waldorff, preventing the Falcons from claiming a Trinary belonging to the Horses, but the Horses' Khan Teresia Cooper was killed during this Trial - her death may have contributed to the lack of continuing interest in the TankWarrior program.[67]

During the Dark Age, a tactical doctrine was developed by the Horses: the "Mongol Doctrine". The Doctrine, initially proposed during the 3080s by one Star Colonel Domnall Seidman, emphasized the rapid use of light vehicles and 'Mechs to engage in hit-and-run tactics, drawing foes into position for heavy and assault-class 'Mechs and vehicles to strike. This was practiced by the First Horde Cluster, a command granted to Seidman to test his new Doctrine. The Doctrine, as Seidman envisioned it, became popular among the Horses - however, a radical reinterpretation of the Mongol Doctrine used by Clan Jade Falcon, led by the infamous Galaxy Commander Malvina Hazen, focused less on the tactical use of light assets and instead on the psychological impact of subjecting enemies to maximum brutality in order to weaken their morale and that of their allies.[65] This "perversion" of the Mongol Doctrine enraged some Horses: in 3136, a Horse Galaxy commander, ristar Tristan Fletcher, traveled to the planet Skye, challenging Hazen to a Trial of Possession for the Mongol Doctrine.[68] Both commanders fought in tanks, and Fletcher was defeated and slain by the Mad Falcon.[69]

Some weeks later a Galaxy of Horses - Fire Horse Galaxy, led by Galaxy Commander Manas Amirault - joined Malvina's forces, forming an alliance which would become known as the Golden Ordun.[70] The Ordun helped Malvina in the fight against Falcon Khan Jana Pryde - after defeating Pryde and taking her place, Malvina destroyed the Jade Falcon capital city of Hammarr. Horrified by the evil of his ally and lover, Manas attempted to leave her, but she killed him in a Trial of Possession, taking his Galaxy.[71]

The same year when Clan Wolf left their occupation zone, the Horses managed to take twenty-two of their former worlds, including the old capital, Tamar, greatly expanding their occupation zone. In November 3139, Malvina Hazen's forces staged a Trial of Possession for the agricultural worlds of Romulus and Harvest, "accidentally" starting fires at great expenses to their lands, threatening the Horses' worlds with the prospect of famine, forcing Horses Khan Gottfried Amirault to ally his Clan with the Falcons and thereby bringing the entirety of the Hell's Horses into the Golden Ordun.[72] As far as possible, however, Amirault sent only parts of his touman to fight with the Falcons, keeping their losses low, but helping them conquer a large swath of the Lyran Commonwealth.[73]

In January of 3145, the Ordun was able to capture Hesperus II with little resistance from its Lyran defenders. However, a counteroffensive was launched by the Commonwealth's recent allies in Clan Wolf (whose new Khan, Alaric Ward, had just revealed his genetic mother to be Katherine Steiner-Davion).[74] The Wolf counteroffensive turned into a two-month stalemate; after an attempt on Malvina Hazen's life left her alive but in a coma,[65] and a Lyran relief force arrived in-system, the Ordun was forced to retreat.[74] The Hell's Horses escaped with far fewer losses than the Jade Falcons - notably, however, the Hell's Horses saKhan Jeronimo Cobb was killed in action during the fighting on Hesperus II.[75] As a result of the failure to take the planet and Hazen's inability to prevent the Horses' departure, the Horses' Khan dissolved the Ordun and the Clan returned to their Occupation Zone, having fully abandoned their erstwhile Jade Falcon allies by the end of the year.[76] However, in the wake of their conquering of much of the former Clan Wolf Occupation Zone, the Hell's Horses had gained a number of hardware production facilities including the W-8 Facilities on Tamar[77] on which Omega Keshik under the command of the new saKhan Fulk Lassenerra, as well as elements of Epsilon Galaxy, were deployed.[78]

After successfully extracting themselves from the Golden Ordun and thereby annulling their alliance with Clan Jade Falcon, the next steps for the Hell's Horses were to reclaim the Mongol Doctrine from their former allies. In late 3146, saKhan Lassenerra devised a plan to do exactly that.[79] The following year, the first phase of Lassenerra's plan (which would become known as Operation NOYAN) would begin. On the 7th of April 3147, the Hell's Horses began a series of attacks against the Rasalhague Dominion, using swarm attacks with light assets as per the "untainted" Mongol Doctrine. Trials of Possession were declared and fought over St. John, New Oslo and Unzmarkt, with the Hell's Horses successfully conquering all three systems.[79] Of particular distinction was the Twenty-second Mechanized Assault Cluster's artillery Star, which employed pairs of Hadur Fast Support Vehicles to achieve accurate artillery fire on the move by using target-designating LRM systems during the fighting on New Oslo.[80]

Lassenerra's bold actions raised concerns in the Clan Council of a retaliation from the Jade Falcons over the Horses' use of the Mongol Doctrine despite the Falcons having won the rights to its use in a Trial of Possession. Unfazed by the possibility, Lassenerra declared that Malvina Hazen was welcome to try and enforce her ownership of the Doctrine if she dared.[79] He then outlined his plans for Phase Two of Operation NOYAN - an incursion against the Jade Falcons themselves. On the 17th of June 3147, the Horses executed their attack on the Falcon border, striking Biota, Colmar and Leskovik. The former two worlds were soundly defeated through application of the traditional Mongol Doctrine, but the attack on Leskovik failed after the defending Eighteenth Falcon Regulars denied safcon to the attacking Seventy-First Mechanized Cavalry, shooting down a full quarter of the attacking forces and forcing the surviving Horses to retreat from the planet. Despite this isolated failure, the Clan Council declared Operation NOYAN a success and set about preparing themselves for Malvina Hazen's retaliation. However, the "Chinggis Khan" was otherwise engaged, and the anticipated attack never came.[79]

Khan Gottfried Amirault

Meanwhile, matters rimward had taken a concerning turn. Beginning in 3140, the Republic of the Barrens had started to come under coordinated attacks from the New Oberon Confederation - by 3144, BattleROM footage had been recovered by the Hell's Horses Watch that showed NOC 'Mechs equipped with advanced technology rampaging across Republic planets. The Republic beseeched the Hell's Horses for aid, but Khan Amirault repeatedly refused to authorize any aid missions, wary of Ghost Bear opportunism or Jade Falcon retaliation for Operation NOYAN.[64]

The raids on the Republic continued, however, and in 3150 Amirault finally relented and authorized a reconnaissance-in-force into the Barrens. Galaxy Commanders Julian Vewas of Omega Galaxy and Joseph DeLaurel of Kappa Galaxy fought a Trial of Possession to determine who would lead the expedition, which DeLaurel won - the Twelfth Rangers Cluster was deployed and managed to capture and interrogate some bandits reiving across Republic space, who confessed to affiliation with the NOC.[81]

Kappa pushed onwards into the Republic, liberating Crellacor and Gustrell - on the latter planet, Star Colonel Danielle Cobb was nearly defeated by a mysterious red-and-black Marauder, which disappeared without killing her.[82] After Watch reports indicated that NOC pirates were operating from Butte Hold, saKhan Lassenerra ordered a detachment from Alpha Galaxy to strike the planet. They secured the capital city without encountering any NOC pirates, but did find an element of Snord's Irregulars who, while denying responsibility for terrorizing the Republic, refused to explain their presence.[83] Alpha Galaxy attacked them, but they were able to escape.[82]

ilClan Era[edit]

Following the success of Operation NOYAN, the Hell's Horses Khans resolved to use the momentum from NOYAN for a further push into Jade Falcon territory. Many of the production facilities from former Wolf territory were restored to functionality, including HH Industriplex Alpha on Tamar which by 3150 was being used to produce the Gargoyle OmniMech.[84] On the 4th of February 3151 the Second Horde Cluster attacked Shaula in Jade Falcon space, expecting strong resistance, but found the planet defended by only two Star League-era 'Mechs and a handful of tanks and conventional infantry. Easily defeating this skeleton crew, Khan Amirault uncovered information that the Jade Falcons were on their way to Terra en masse. saKhan Lassenerra called for further invasion into Jade Falcon territory,[85] but the Horses' Khan had his own plan to conquer the cradle of humanity - however, since Khan Amirault did not know how to breach the defenses of the Fortress Republic, they decided to take what they could from the Jade Falcon occupation zone with the newly declared Operation STAMPEDE out of retaliation for their manipulation of the Hell's Horses and their Mongol Doctrine.[86]

Initially devised as a plan for the Hell's Horses push on Terra, then mothballed after Malvina Hazen's claiming of the Mongol Doctrine, Operation STAMPEDE was repurposed as a plan for attacking the Jade Falcon territory now left exposed by the Falcons' rush to Terra. Alpha, Delta and Epsilon Galaxies were dispatched to push coreward, quickly taking Rastaban - the Trial of Possession for which consisted of Hell's Horses Star Colonel David Fletcher lopsidedly defeating, hand-to-hand, the Star Commander in charge of law enforcement for the city of Castle Hill (there being nobody of higher rank on the planet to challenge).[87] Perturbed by the empty depots and deserted military bases near Castle Hill, Fletcher surmised that the Jade Falcon warrior caste had totally abandoned the planet, leaving behind a few washouts and dezgra to keep order. Khan Amirault, sensing the opportunity to secure a large amount of near-undefended Jade Falcon territory, ordered an attack on nearby Domain.

After Clan Wolf's final victory in the ilClan Trial made Alaric Ward ilKhan and Clan Wolf the ilClan, a delegation from the Hell's Horses arrived on Terra led by the Horses' Khan and saKhan. Angry at the Wolves for denying his Clan the opportunity to fight on Terra, Amirault stated that he did not recognize Ward as ilKhan and claimed that the Wolves had unfairly denied the Hell's Horses a chance to become the ilClan, while at the same time "inviting" Clan Jade Falcon to Terra to participate in the planet's conquest. Amirault then demanded a Trial of Refusal against Ward - Ward responded by pointing out that the Wolves were under no obligation to invite the Hell's Horses to Terra, nor had the Horses earned the right to such a consideration.[88] Ward then stated that there would be no Circle of Equals between himself and Amirault because, as ilKhan and First Lord of the Star League, he had no equal. Amirault, in response, declared that the Hell's Horses would not stand for such an offence[89] and the Horses' delegation publicly declared their nonrecognition of the new ilKhan's authority before the assembled Clan representatives during Ward's coronation as First Lord.[90]

Amirault decided to prepare his Clan for the inevitable hostilities with Clan Wolf, and to that end set his ambitions on conquering the rest of the former Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, which was already festering with pretender Khans and petty kingdoms. After some delay, Operation STAMPEDE was re-launched with the aim to capture as much territory as possible in order to secure more resources for the Hell's Horses.[91]

Alpha Galaxy conquered Suk II, La Grave, and Orkney, crushing any Jade Falcon challengers and claiming the planets for the Hell's Horses. Many of the planets' Wolf-descended lower castes celebrated the Hell's Horses' arrival as a welcome reprieve from Malvina Hazen's oppression.[92] Meanwhile, Fire Horse Galaxy attacked Montmarault and Benfled, under orders to refuse challenges for Trials of Possession and simply conquer their target planets. Since ilKhan Ward had ignored Khan Amirault's right to a Trial of Refusal for the ilClanship, Amirault was now determined to ignore the requests for formal challenge from the former Jade Falcon worlds he was now conquering.[93] This caused a certain amount of dissent amongst the warrior caste, with Star Captain Peter Cobb of Fire Horse Galaxy writing about the futility of the Hell's Horses accumulating backwater planets and slaughtering militia to satisfy Amirault’s ego, while an ilClan had already emerged on Terra.[94]

Nonetheless, Operation STAMPEDE continued. Omega Galaxy took Erewhon, Anywhere and Wotan while Beta Galaxy took Golabdrinas and Kappa Galaxy set up a logistics base in the Dark Nebula before joining Omega to attack Somerset, once more finding a deserted planet. Omega also attacked Bone Norman, sweeping aside some paramilitaries who fled after putting up token resistance.[95]

In early 3152, Operation STAMPEDE netted Black Earth, Beta VII and Barcelona. The taking of Barcelona involved uniquely fierce fighting, much worse than anything encountered so far, as it had been made the capital of the Turkina Ascendancy, one of the many Jade Falcon remnants that had sprung up since Malvina Hazen and the majority of the Falcon touman met their fate on Terra. After months of bitter combat in the frozen woods, Omega Galaxy’s Fifth Rangers Cluster finally claimed victory by March.[96] Also in March, the STAMPEDE took Hot Springs and Malibu before crashing upon the borders of the Vesper Marches, a Lyran splinter state ruled by Duke Vedet Brewer, when they attacked Mogyorod. Fighting themselves to a stalemate, both sides withdrew from the planet.[97]

Meanwhile, Star Captain Jiyi Chistu of the Jade Falcons was reuniting elements of the Falcon touman and lower castes who remained in the occupation zone into a new and independent Clan Jade Falcon. His budding Clan captured several former Jade Falcon worlds that had degenerated into bandit kingdoms, as well as winning some resources from the Rasalhague Dominion, to build his new Clan.[98] Eventually this resurgent Clan Jade Falcon would find itself in conflict with Clan Hell's Horses, as Chistu's remnant had occupied the world of Sudeten, which the Hell's Horses had already set its eye on.[99]

Khan Fulk Lassenerra

A flotilla of Hell's Horses JumpShips arrived at Sudeten in March 3152.[99] Chistu asked the invading forces for their batchall, but saKhan Lassenerra responded that there would not be one, and instead the Horses were coming to conquer Sudeten and kill any who opposed them.[100] The Hell's Horses destroyed Chistu's meager aerospace resistance and captured the planet's orbital stations without difficulty, and landed in early March. Running battles led to the first major engagement at an airport, where Jiyi’s Falcons lured the Fifth Horde Cluster into an ambush and almost completely destroyed them with artillery and fire from a grounded DropShip. Lassenerra and Amirault disagreed with how to proceed, with the saKhan favoring brutal aggression while Amirault urged caution. Subsequent actions went better for the Horses, with only timely intervention from some allied mercenaries saving four Jade Falcon Trinaries from total destruction.[101]

As fighting wore on it became clear that the terrain favored the Jade Falcons - the close-quarters fighting in the cities where the Falcons stubbornly hid allowed Chistu’s forces to exploit their defender’s advantage to the fullest. Fighting intensified around the city of Hammarr, and while saKhan Lassenerra kept calling for the Horses to simply destroy the city and the Falcons within, Khan Amirault refused to allow it, wishing to capture Sudeten’s factories intact.[102]

Eventually it became clear that the reasons for Chistu’s success was that his forces had deployed huge numbers of holoprojectors around Hammarr, and were using them to project 'Mechs or even buildings to fool the Horses' sensors. These holoprojectors were also manned by infantry with field guns, adding credibility to the projections. Having taken too many casualties, the Hell's Horses retreated, contenting themselves with whatever plunder they could take - although it far from compensated for the warriors and hardware they had lost.[103]

Even as the Hell's Horses retreated from Sudeten, another threat emerged - a swarm of pirates and raiders led by the Red Hunter, Abdoun Ricol, struck Clan worlds near the border with the Rasalhague Dominion and threatened to push towards Csesztreg.[104] Worse still, an attack on the Alyina Mercantile League (yet another Jade Falcon remnant, this one led by its merchant caste) failed spectacularly when an aerospace Trinary was destroyed by an ambush after refusing to serve a batchall on the AML defenders, resulting in the AML capturing the JumpShip that the Horses had used to get there.[102]

This series of embarrassing defeats proved too much for saKhan Lassenerra to tolerate, and he eventually turned against Khan Amirault. Lassenerra accused the Khan before the Clan Council of robbing the Hell’s Horses of their own destiny through his own trepidation and incompetence, firstly by allying the Clan with Malvina Hazen, then in failing to mobilize the touman to attack Terra in time for the ilClan Trial, and finally by bungling the invasion of Sudeten and the overall execution of Operation STAMPEDE through his constant hesitation. He issued a formal Trial of Position for the Khanship, and killed Amirault by destroying the cockpit of the Khan's Cygnus 'Mech with a devastating strike from his Jengiz fighter.[105] Now Khan, Lassenerra sought to return the Hell’s Horses to a Clan led by a proper warrior, as it always should have been.[106]

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Bibliography[edit]