Shandra Noruff

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Shandra Noruff
Shandra Noruff
Personal
Also known asShandra Noruff-Cameron
Born19 October 2516[1]
Died8 May 2600[1]
AffiliationHouse Noruff
Career
RankCommanding General[1]
Title(s)Duchess of New Earth
Baroness of Neuble Downs[1]
ProfessionNoble
Family
SpouseIan Cameron
ChildrenTimothy Cameron
Nicholas Cameron

Shandra Noruff-Cameron was a Terran Hegemony noblewoman, a Hegemony and Star League military officer, the Duchess of New Earth, and the first Commanding General of the Star League Defense Force.

History[edit]

Early Life and Career[edit]

Daughter of Duke of New Earth, Shandra was given the title of Baroness of Neuble Downs at her birth. When she was in her teens, she had set her mind on joining the Terran Hegemony Armed Forces as officer. Her father and Director-General Deborah Cameron in 2533 had against her wishes conceived a plan to have arranged marriage between her and Lord Cameron's son, Ian. She didn't want to be pledged to a man she didn't know, and was looking for her own future with the military. A large party was arranged as part of their first meeting between her and Ian hosted by her father. At the Grand Ball, they met briefly, acknowledging each other, and soon after mutually split away from one another. This action had shocked her father and Lady Deborah to the point they reconsidered the marriage. Their parents would force her and Ian to send letters between one another in hopes of fostering a better relationship. Shortly after their meeting, Shandra cut all ties with her father, which would be last she would see of him. The Duke would be killed several months later in an aircraft accident.

Over the years, exchanging letters did indeed foster her relationship with Ian, where in two years' time they would finally be married in April 12th, 2535. At their wedding, they would greet thousands of well wishers as two BattleMechs, one from each of their respective units, would escort their limousine. Early years of their marriage would be pleasant but would shift to where they would split up. However, they would always return to each other's arms. In 2536, Shandra would give birth to their son, Timothy, who was born with inoperative heart defect. Her young son only had weeks to live, she and Ian would hold vigil, ignoring their duties to the Hegemony.

For the following two years, they would be out of public life to grieve for their loss child. After two years of grieving, their relationship would be stronger than before their marriage begun. She would rise through the ranks on her own accord to become the Terran Hegemony's Commander-in-Chief of its Armed Forces. As the decades passed following their son's death, speculation on an heir would be spoken of from time to time. It would not be until 2556 on Terra that she would have her second child named Nicolas.[2]

As Commanding General of the SLDF and Later Years[edit]

In 2571, her husband would appoint Shandra as Commanding General of the Star League's newly formed Star League Defense Force. She organized the new military into six military regions for each of the League's member states. She would make sure not too many member-state military officers were to be found in a command that was stationed in a military region that was a former rival of the officer's home nation. Among her first task was to organize and recruit individuals for the new force. She and husband had made it a priority that recruitment and training officers would be loyal the SLDF. She wanted keep down the number of rival member-states officers from getting out of hand. Her husband would direct her to recruit from common citizens.[3] Later that year, she would council her husband with other military advisors how to handle number of former member-state troops. She would influence Ian to organize a large military exercise named United Triumph Military to assist in better training member-state militaries to work alongside SLDF's troops. Newly formed SLDF forces would conduct these Exercises in 2572 on lightly inhabited worlds on the periphery borders. These Exercises proved to show Shandra's troops inexperience as they had been regularly outperformed by their member-state counterparts. Even though the Exercises were considered a failure, they paved the way for the Border Guard Agreement which established SLDF bases throughout the Inner Sphere and on the borders of the Periphery.[4]

Events in the Periphery steadily increased, and her husband begun to see them as a threat to the Star League after the events of the Malagrotta Crisis. With his Pollux Proclamation on January 2nd, 2575, undeclared war would soon be coming to the Periphery nations. As commander of the SLDF, she was in charge of the operation. With her husband and trusted military regional commanders, they set about planning the four campaign thrust into the Periphery nations. She and the war advisers conceived of a strategy of driving each campaign's expedition force into the heart of their target nation's industrial and political hearts. The strategy was to quickly strike in a dirty campaign to force other nations to surrender with their forces. The first target of the campaign would be the Taurian Concordat.[5]

In November, her career would be ended. Shandra would suffer from a heart attack. She would retire as SLDF's commanding officer and be replaced by one her people, General Carlos Dangmar Lee. She would later pass away in 2600, and the entire Star League would mark her passing with a year of mourning. The High Council of the Star League would order their officials to all wear black and official vehicles of the league to be painted with black stripes during this mourning period. Her passing and this mark of respect for her would become a tradition in the Star League.[6]

Circumstances of Death[edit]

Officially, she died of natural causes in May 2600 though it is also noted that some historians believe "foul play was involved".[1]

Apocryphal Content Starts

The information after this notice comes from apocryphal sources; the canonicity of such information is uncertain.
Please view the reference page for information regarding their canonicity.

According to an apocryphal source,[7] Shandra Noruff-Cameron was shot on New Year's Eve 2600 at the Camerons' winter residence in Canada, Terra. She died just before the clock hit midnight (in Canada, i.e. 8 hours behind UTC and thus around 8 a.m. standard time on 1 January 2600). The event was covered up to allow a secret service investigation to proceed unhindered; officially, it was reported that the four attackers had killed another person and her passing was publicly announced on 6 January.

In 2604, two years after Ian Cameron's death, it was revealed that Leonard Kurita, the mad Coordinator of the Draconis Combine who harbored a deep, paranoid hatred of Ian Cameron, had ordered the assassination solely to hurt him. Ian's son and successor Nicholas ordered secret service agents to abduct Leonard Kurita from New Samarkand to put him on trial, but Kurita was killed before the order could be carried out.

Apocryphal Content Ends

Legacy[edit]

She was a founding member of the SLDF, and helped shape it into a powerful force. In a somewhat dubious honor, the Cameron-class SLS Lady Shandra would be named after her.

Trivia[edit]

  • She was the First Commanding General of the SLDF and tasked to unify the militaries of the Star League into one unified force.
  • Under her leadership and with the Border Guards Agreement of 2572, over 500 hundred bases were built throughout the Inner Sphere and made an arrangement to recruit soldiers in member states[8]
  • An Award/Ribbon was named in her honor, the Shandra Noruff Ribbon, which was awarded to winners of the Martial Olympiad. Her family crest of a charging lion is part of the crest of the metal. It was highly prized by participating SLDF members.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Historical: Reunification War, p. 46: "Shandra Noruff-Cameron profile"
  2. The Star League, pp. 39–40: Lord Ian and Lady Shandra - Shandra's early life and career including the forced courtship between her and Ian Cameron
  3. The Star League, p. 40: Organizing the Military - Early task Shandra was charged with was to bring in potential troops the SLDF who would be loyal it above all else
  4. The Star League, p. 43: United Triumph Military Exercises - Shandra's SLDF takes form and her inexperience becomes apparent in her attempt to help former rival militaries to work together
  5. The Star League, p. 47: Battle Plans - Shandra's role in buildup of SLDF and member state forces in striking the Periphery nations
  6. The Star League, p. 52: A New First Lord - Shandra Noruff-Cameron passes away and its effects
  7. Über dem Gesetz
  8. The Star League, p. 105

Bibliography[edit]