Preservers
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Preservers | |
|---|---|
| Organization Profile | |
| Type | Political Group |
| Parent Organization | Clan Goliath Scorpion |
The Preservers were a faction of members from the Warrior Caste within Goliath Scorpions during the early years of the newly formed Scorpion Empire.
History[edit]
The Preservers were a group of Trueborn warriors within Clan Goliath Scorpion's touman who formed after the Hanseatic Crusade [1]
Their origins go back to their Clan's tumultuous history. Back then, the Scorpions had faced a lot of great changes after being abjured and driven out from the Clan Homeworlds before being forced to integrate with newer populations from other factions. While the absorption of the Clan Ice Hellion alongside members of the Eridani Light Horse and their integration into the Clan wasn't easy, it had been achievable (partly due to their Galaxy and Cluster sized numbers making them a smaller proportion of the Clan's population) as well as their familiar background as Clan-based or SLDF-based entities. Additionally, it was easier than the absorption of the Castilian and Umayyad who outnumbered them altogether while possessing a different culture. However, by placating them with gradual relaxations on customary caste restrictions, improving their quality of life, and using the constant threat of Hansa encroachment as a unifying motivation to cooperate, the Scorpions had successfully united all four groups. However, the later integration of the Hanseatic League after its conquest was significantly harder: the population was much bigger, the culture was just as divergent, there were much heavier resistance, and (barring the distant Homeworld Clans) there was no longer a powerful external enemy to unite against. Then the Preservers were born. [2]
Ideologically, the Preservers were traditionalists as they wanted to revert the Scorpion Empire to the Clan ways of old in the Clan Homeworlds. True to their Trueborn heritage, this resulted in marginalizing the Freeborns and punishing all resistance from the newly absorbed members of the civilian castes harshly. However, they were a relative minority as most of the Scorpions touman comprised the other faction; the so called Imperials who were moderately progressive and preferred offering cooperation and goodwill to their newfound subjects. What made the Preservers problematic was their harsh behavior being a motivator for the Hansa dissidents' terrorist attacks. On worlds led by a Preserver, they often answered any dissent by the civilians with harsh violence with the goal of keeping them in line with fear. But that only invited increased terrorism from Hansa nationalists underground and created a perpetual cycle of oppression and insurgent attacks; which also attracted more frustrated Trueborn warriors into the Preserver camp.[3]
On March 3151, a terrorist attack in the capital Braunschweig levelled the Clan Council Chamber building. Khan Magon Scott ultimately determined he had failed to calm the Empire and decided to launch alternative reforms instead. Using secretly acquired intelligence on the formation of the IlClan on Terra as a rallying cry for unity, he planned to create a new position in the Empire, the ZarKhan, to manage civilian affairs, and to end the political conflict within the Empire. As the controversial reforms would inevitably invite Trials of Refusal from the Preservers, he intended to use the trials to reduce their numbers and political voting power in the Clan Council.[4]
In the next few weeks, the Preservers and Imperials were at each other's throats in multiple combat Trials to thin each faction's ranks. While the Preservers mustered every Bloodnamed warrior they could spare, the vote ultimately remained in favor; pending a final Trial against the vote's outcome itself. On the 30 of May, the final Trial of Refusal was fought, with a Trinary in each side. The Preservers, led by Galaxy Commander Baba, tried to kill the Khan, but failed with very few of the Preservers surviving. The same day, Galaxy Commander Emmy Line, a Freeborn of Hanseatic, became the first ZarKhan. Emmy then made a speech in which informed the Scorpion warriors of the imminent rise of the IlClan, and the changes than the Scorpions will have to face to preserve their ways of life. After concluding her speech with a call to unite against their foes, and all Imperials, and even some Preservers, applauded her.[5]