Kitsune Kurita

Kitsune Kurita
Personal
Also known as	Kit
Born	3060
Affiliation	The Republic of the Sphere
Profile
Title(s)	Knight
Family
Parents	Victor Steiner-Davion (father) Omiko Kurita (mother)
Siblings	Jade (half-sister) Burton (half-brother) Lee (half-brother)
Spouse	Sandra
Children	two daughters

Kitsune Kurita was the son of Victor Steiner-Davion and Omiko Kurita. He became a Knight of The Republic of the Sphere.

History

Early Life

Born in secret to Omiko Kurita, Kitsune was kept hidden for the first few years of his life, though rumors of his existence circulated. One such story in 3067 alleged he was living alone on Tukayyid, always accompanied by a vast retinue of personal servants, tutors, and bodyguards on an isolated estate on the shores of the Crucible Sea, and protected by a battalion of elite Com Guard BattleMechs and armored infantry stationed nearby. The author claimed that the child was between five to eight years old.

Evidence strongly suggests Kitsune was actually on Ningxia since the conclusion of Operation BULLDOG, and was guarded by Ryuken-roku in what was dubbed Operation KITSUNE SHIELD. By 3067 Kitsune was being trained by Clan Nova Cat Oathmaster Minoru Nova Cat, whom visions had told Kitsune would succeed him.

Even after his existence was revealed either in 3081 or prior, Kitsune was declared the son of Lady Miyako Kurita, supposedly making him a third cousin to Coordinator Hohiro Kurita's two sons, Shinjiro and Vincent. This alleged heritage would lead to the rebellious Black Dragon Society favoring Kitsune as a replacement Coordinator.

Knighthood

Kitsune Kurita rose to prominence in 3093 when he led a joint DCMS/RAF force against a major Black Dragon base on Shimonita. For this action which ended four years of Black Dragon raids into the Republic, Kitsune was offered Republic citizenship and a knighthood. His public insistence that his rank would be bestowed on him by "one without whom I would be nothing" would lead to an uproar within elements of both the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns. Kitsune was referring to his father, Victor Steiner-Davion, and this revelation of his parentage caused hundreds of Black Dragon members to commit seppuku out of shame for having supported a 'tainted' heir's claim to the Combine throne. The reaction from anti-Kurita partisans in the Draconis March was equally virulent (if less lethal), as Kitsune's mother was portrayed as a nefarious seducer of their nation's former First Prince.

Kitsune served as a Knight of the Republic for the next four decades, during which he married a woman named Sandra and fathered two daughters with her. The day after the HPG Blackout of 7 August, 3132, he briefed his father and other Knights on the sudden crisis which had hit the Inner Sphere. Subsequently Kitsune served as one of the investigators into who had caused the crisis, though with little success. In January 3133 he was one of the senior Republic officials who met with Mason Dunne to discuss the upsurge in rearmament across the fragmenting Republic, and tasked Dunne with hunting a lead on anti-Republic criminals on Basalt.

Following the assassination of his father, Kitsune made a formal protest against the holding of a state funeral for him but attended it with the rest of Victor's children.

Notes

• "Kitsune" means the "Fox" in Japanese, so it may be assumed Kitsune's name was a reference to his grandfather, Hanse Davion.

Bibliography

• BattleCorps ScandalVids, 15/05/3067: "Victor-Omi Love Child Hidden on Tukayyid!"
• Crisis Mode (short story)
• Era Digest: Dark Age
• Ghost War (novel)
• Historical: Wars of the Republic Era
• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Sword of Sedition (novel)