Aidan Pryde
Sarna News
 | This article needs to be updated with material from Era Report: 3052. Once these titles clear the Moratorium period, or if they already have, please consider revisiting this article and updating it with the new material. |
Aidan Pryde (born 3012[1] – died 3052[2], aged 40 years) was a trueborn of the Ramon Mattlov-Tania Pryde sibko. Aidan became a MechWarrior of Clan Jade Falcon who earned his warrior status and the Pryde Bloodname through a very unorthodox and un-Clanlike path.
Contents
Trial and Bloodname
Aidan failed his Trial of Position, which would have qualified him as a warrior, and was demoted to the Technician caste. Through the manipulations of Ter Roshak, Aidan secretly assumed the identity of a dead freeborn cadet named Jorge. Under this identity, Aidan won his second Trial of Position with the freeborn, Horse. Aidan was granted warrior status as a freeborn, which in the Clan caste structure, meant very little respect and constant harassment from trueborns.[3]
During a battle with Clan Wolf at Glory Station, it was Aidan's heroic execution of a plan that he had formulated based on one of the many rhymes in one his secret books he kept hidden away, that made Aidan reveal his true identity as a trueborn. After subsequently overuling the Jade Falcon council on his right to remain as a warrior, by fighting and winning a Trial of Refusal, Aidan participated in the Grand Melee and, later, entering the Bloodname contests for the Pryde Bloodname. Although he eventually won the Pryde Bloodname, most Jade Falcon warriors still regarded him with contempt at the improper way he had first won his warrior status, and felt that his tainted codex would only bring dishonour the Pryde Bloodline.[4]
Rebuilding the Falcon Guards
During the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere, Aidan Pryde came to command the Falcon Guards, a recently disgraced unit that was defeated at Twycross. This unit was considered dezgra and the replacements sent to rebuild the Guards were the misfits of the Clan.
Aidan recruited his old instructor and nemesis, Joanna, to the unit. She subsequently, through her harsh training style, whipped the Guard warriors into fighting shape. The Falcon Guards were bid into the fight for Tukayyid. There, Aidan rallied his clan from their relative inaction to put up some fight against the ComGuards opposing them, but to no avail.
The Falcon Guards, also referred to as Pryde's Pride, fought well, but the trickery of the ComGuards and general un-Clanlike attitude of the other Jade Falcon warriors led to a need to withdraw, in order to escape total destruction.
Death and legacy
During the evacuation of Tukayyid, Aidan Pryde fought fiercely to hold off the crushing advance of the ComGuards so that the surviving Clan Jade Falcon forces could withdraw to their DropShips. During the withdrawal, he learned that a wounded freeborn Mechwarrior, Diana, was actually his daughter. He chose to stay behind until she could be rescued and died as a result. However, Aidan was posthumously honored for his bravery when the Clan added his genes to the Jade Falcon Gene Center to be passed to a sibko. Aidan was further honored when his genes were fast-tracked for immediate use in the creation of a sibko. [2] His daughter Diana Pryde would later earn the Pryde Bloodname despite her freeborn status.
Battlemechs
Aidan piloted a Summoner OmniMech for most of his life, including his original Trial of Position. Prior to the Battle of Tukayyid, however, his 'mech was destroyed and he was forced to fight on in a Timber Wolf. In an odd twist of fate, he fought his most famous battle in the Timber Wolf, up until he met his death at the hands of the ComGuards, ironically, saving the life of his freeborn daughter, MechWarrior Diana, whose own 'Mech had been crippled during the Jade Falcon retreat from Tukayyid.
Portrait Gallery
- Aidan Pryde.jpg
Aidan Pryde
References
- ↑ Aidan Pryde's year of truebirth is a matter of some dispute. According to Shattered Sphere he was trueborn in 3010, while Field Manual: Crusader Clans gives the year as 3012. A good deal of supporting evidence can be found for the 3012 date, while nothing can be found to support the 3010 assertion. Therefore 3012 is more likely the correct date. A more detailed discussion can be found in the Classic BattleTech forums, with the research provided by site maintainer Patrick "Roosterboy" Wynne.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Falcon Guard, p.[citation needed]
- ↑ Way of the Clans
- ↑ , p.[citation needed]
Bibliography
- Bloodname (novel)
- Era Report: 3052
- Falcon Guard (novel)
- Way of the Clans (novel)