Clan Star Adder

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Clan Star Adder Logo
Clan Star Adder
Faction Profile
Time period: 2807 - Present
Classification: Clan
Controlled systems: 13 (7 at 100%)[1]
Capital world: Hoard[2]; used to be Sheridan
Ruler title: Khan
Military: Clan Star Adder Touman
Secret Service: Clan Star Adder Watch

One of the original twenty Clans created by Nicholas Kerensky, Clan Star Adder was long known for their practicality and pragmatism. Like their namesake, the star adder of Arcadia, the warriors of this Clan viewed themselves as perfect hunters, unhindered by corrupting distractions. For this reason they largely kept themselves aloof from Clan politics, though they joined the Crusader faction in calling for a return to the Inner Sphere. While the Star Adders failed to take part in the invasion, after the Burrock Absorption they quickly became one of the largest and most powerful Home Clans. In the Great Refusal they achieved one of the few wins for the Clans.

History

Founding

Absalom Truscott, a Major in the Star League Defense Force, met and became friends with Nicholas Kerensky after his father's liberation of Moscow during the Star League Civil War. He followed the Kerenskys on their exodus from the Inner Sphere, settling on the Pentagon Worlds and testing high enough to earn a promotion as commander of the 149th BattleMech Division. When the Pentagon Civil War began, he was the only division commander to back Nicholas' claim of succeeding his father's position, and was among the first to join him in his Second Exodus.[3]

On Strana Mechty, Nicholas' trust in his old friend and mentor prompted him to select General Truscott as one of the first Khans and create his own Clan. Khan Truscott in turn picked Master Sergeant Devon LeFabre as his saKhan and the two set about shaping the Star Adders. They built the Clan centered around teamwork, working off of the esprit de corps already present in SLDF soldiers, rather than high-minded idealism.[3] When it came time for planning Operation Klondike, Khan Truscott was Nicholas' chief military advisory, and it was Clan Star Adder which provided the WarShips and JumpShips used to scout the Pentagon worlds and gather the intelligence needed to plan the reconquest.[4]

Operation Klondike


Fending Off Mongooses

Prior to Operation Klondike, Khans Truscott and LeFabre had examined the possibility of conquering the small number of human colonies which had been set up outside the Pentagon Cluster. With Klondike over and LeFabre in command, the Star Adders immediately began the process of extending their territory into the Kerensky Cluster; by 2834 they had succeeded in colonizing areas in four separate systems. Three years later Clancy Truscott, blood son of Absalom Truscott and newly elected Star Adder Khan, moved his Clan's capital from Arcadia to Sheridan as a symbol of his commitment to expanding Star Adder territory.[4]

Clan Mongoose saw this expansion as a direct threat to them, and in 2844 launched two attacks against Star Adder holdings on Tathis and Marshall. The Trinary of Mongoose 'Mechs sent to take Tathis were defeated in battle with the Quasar Keshik, under the command of saKhan Dembe N'Buta. On Marshall though the Mongooses deployed an entire Cluster, commanded by Star Colonel Miguel Riley, against just two Binaries and a few garrison troops. The Mongoose warriors made no effort to limit collateral damage, charging through built-up civilian areas and laying waste to everything in pursuit of Adder forces; the Star Adders would later claim that this destruction of their infrastructure was done on purpose. Within a week the Star Adder warriors had been defeated, but such was their anger at the Mongosses' disregard for their property that the civilians took up arms against them. In response Star Colonel Riley ordered the civilians massacred, killing tens of thousands and leaving the colony in flames.[5][6]

SaKhan N'Buta pursued Star Colonel Riley to Tokasha, where he proceeded to hunt down and kill every single Mongoose warrior who had been involved in the massacre. N'buta himself personally executed Riley and his last remaining officers, then sent the headless corpse to Mongoose Khan Davis Riley with a message: "This is your surkairede. To forgive is expected; to forget is impossible." Claiming the planet as isorla, he forcibly relocated the entire Mongoose population to Marshall.[5]

Clan Mongoose was undaunted by the response though and for the next two decades, as the Golden Century began, they continued to harry the Star Adders without much success. This changed in 2863 when they deployed their newly-acquired OmniMechs en masse against the Star Adders. Multiple worlds fell to the Mongoose advance; sensing an opportunity, Clan Coyote launched their own attack on the Star Adders. By the time the two invasions had run their course Star Adder territory had been cut in half.[5][6]

The Star Adders had salvaged enough OmniMechs to begin building their own though, and in 2868 launched a multi-Galaxy attack on the Mongooses. The timing was most unfortunate for Clan Mongoose, currently embroiled in conflict with Clan Smoke Jaguar, forcing the Mongoose Khan Walter Martindale to try and plead his case in the Grand Council for a reprieve from the Smoke Jaguars to focus on the Star Adder threat. This attempt at politicking horribly backfired and instead the Smoke Jaguars were granted the right to Absorb the Mongooses.[5] Before the Trial could begin Smoke Jaguar Khan Theodore Osis was informed of the current Adder assault on the Mongooses, a fact which greatly angered him given his recently-won right to Absorb a hated foe. The Grand Council managed to mollify the Khan's rage, allowing for the Star Adder's assault to end just as the Trial of Absorption began.[6]

Even after succeeding in assimilating his enemy, Khan Osis was still angered at what he saw as the Star Adders interference. He brought up charges against the Star Adders in the Grand Council, claiming they had denied the Smoke Jaguars the "full measure of victory" by softening up the Mongooses before the Jaguars finished them off. The Grand Council denied such preposterous allegations and recognized the Star Adders' right to extract recompense for previous Mongoose attacks. Khan Osis was forced to back down, but his attempt to 'punish' the Star Adders started a simmering feud between the two Clans.[7]

Conspiracies of Blood

After the Absorption of Clan Mongoose, the Star Adders sought to rebuild their strength by expanding their territory, though their losses over the previous years had diminished their capacity for such expeditions. After seeing the successes of Clan Nova Cat with their re-introduction of futures trading, saKhan Harian N'Buta approached Clan Burrock with a similar proposal: in exchange for transporting their exploration and colonization teams to various worlds, the Burrocks would receive a percentage of any new discoveries. Burrock Khan Stephen Linn agreed to the proposal, and the two Clans prospered massively from the resulting exploitation of valuable minerals and other natural resources.[7]

By this time the Golden Century had given way to the Political Century, and Clan society was increasingly polarized into two camps: Crusaders seeking a violent return to the Inner Sphere and Wardens who wished to remain isolated. Most Star Adder MechWarriors believed in the Crusader cause, but felt that firstly the Clans had to unite in order for any invasion to succeed.[7]

Clan Coyote was more bitterly divided between the two factions, and in this division Star Adder saKhan Carson Graves saw a chance to overthrow a rival Clan. He met with a number of Crusader-leaning Bloodname House leaders from the Coyote Clan, ostensibly about providing support and possible reinforcements to their attempt to overthrow the Warden leadership. In truth saKhan Graves intended to use these meetings to bring fraudulent charges before the Grand Council and convince it to allow their Absorption by the Star Adders.[7][8]

Coyote Khan Tatiana Steele discovered the plot, and the resulting Blood Scandal caused in the Reaving of all eight traitorous Bloodhouses. In response to saKhan's involvement in the scandal, Khan Eamon Phoushath declared a Trial of Grievance against his subordinate and defeated him in combat. The Adder saKhan was stripped of rank and, along with his genetic legacy, was given over to Khan Steele as surkairede. Khan Steele had him executed and his legacy destroyed, but then demanded at the Graves perform a Reaving of his Bloodhouse as well. The Adder Khan refused, an act which reignited the feud between the two Clans.[7][8]

Operation REVIVAL

The Star Adders supported the Dragoon Compromise and studied their reports carefully. They spent less time politicking than other Crusaders and more time training for the return. When Operation Revival was being planned the Star Adders (uniquely among Crusaders) urged caution and bid in a manner that reflected their awareness of how difficult conquering the Inner Sphere would be. Their conservative bidding cost them their place in Operation Revival.

Undeterred, the Star Adders spent their time building up their strength and raiding the Diamond Sharks. Not long after the Refusal War, the Star Adders uncovered shocking evidence that showed the connection between the Dark Caste and Clan Burrock and the actions of the Burrock Khans to cover up their crime. The Star Adders brought this to the Grand Council and demanded the absorption of the Burrocks, which was granted.

The beginning of the Trial of Absorption went well for the Star Adders: They managed to cripple Burrock reinforcements in space before they reached Albion and managed to kill both Burrock Khans and a senior Galaxy Commander, all of whom had been implicated in the Dark Caste dealings. But they were interrupted by the intervention of Clan Blood Spirit, blood enemies of the Burrocks, who sought to crush the Burrocks. Outraged by their interference, the Star Adders and Burrocks fought together against the Blood Spirits. The Star Adders lost three full Galaxies and the Burrocks lost almost four, but only eight clusters of the seven Blood Spirit galaxies managed to survive. After the Blood Spirits' defeat, the Burrocks fought proxy battles, going over to the Star Adders practically without fighting. The only real losses in the entire trial were from the Blood Spirit intervention.

Their successful absorption and integration of Burrock warriors gave Clan Star Adder the touman and second largest WarShip fleet of any Clan. Their prestige was further enhanced by the fact that during the Great Refusal on Strana Mechty, the Star Adders were the only Clan (aside from the Jade Falcons) who managed to defeat their Inner Sphere opponents. The Star Adders faced the First Free Worlds Guards in a swampy area and used a couple of light 'Mechs and an Elemental point as bait. The Star Adders blasted and rolled up the right flank of the Guards, destroying over half the unit and winning the battle handily.

The Star Adders are now one of the most powerful Clans and since the Ghost Bears relocated to the Inner Sphere and the Jade Falcons and Wolves have to divide their energy and military between their holdings in Clan Space and their Inner Sphere Occupation Zones, the Star Adders are left as the most powerful military force in Clan Space.

Culture

The Star Adders were noted for several traits, most notably their pragmatism. They trained extensively for both Operation Klondike and Revival instead of merely pontificating about the righteousness of their cause. They do not see the Kerenskys as demigods as most of the other Clans do, but merely as superb military leaders. They are strategists rather than tacticians and fight accordingly. They also have a dedicated intelligence service, which is rare among the Clans.

Their most recognizable trait is their belief in unity: Their easy fraternal attitude in their Clan is similar to the "family" atmosphere in the Ghost Bears. While good-natured sparring and competition are frequent, deep resentments between units and individuals are practically unheard of. No Adder will do anything to jeopardize the well being of their Clan. This attitude permeates all facets of Clan Star Adder: No service ('Mechs, Fighters, or Elementals) dominate the Touman, all warriors, even solahma, abtakha, bondsmen, and freeborns, are accepted and suffer no special antipathy, and the other castes are treated fairly and justly. This attitude even extends beyond just the Star Adders as they believe that the Clans must pull together in the spirit of unity. The Star Adders even have positions, called Adjutants, who represent lower-ranking and unblooded warriors and the lower castes to the Khans.

Military

Main article: Clan Star Adder Touman


Bloodnames

Founding Bloodnames:[9]
Ajete Amoyan Andersen Ashby Banacek
Cannon Cathis Connery da Silva Daniels
DeMarque Earle Gaiba Gena Graves
Guidice Hatton Irons Jamal Kingston
Lahiri LeFabre Meytani Mikhaylov Mikino
N’Buta Nguyi Nix Ockenden Paik
Pershaw Phoushath Reller Starskiy Talasko
Topi Truscott Turgidson Valério Yabune
Exclusive Bloodnames Post-Operation REVIVAL:
General MechWarriors Elementals Aerospace Pilots ProtoMech Pilots
Banacek LeFabre Cannon Gena
Guidice N’Buta Holliday# Lahiri
Talasko Truscott McMillan# Paik
Turgidson Lamongue# Columbo#
Gastopiv# Linn# Moreau#
Hutchinson# Van Houten# Nga#
Marghar#
Polczyk#
Exclusive Bloodnames Post-Wars of Reaving:[10]
General MechWarriors Elementals Aerospace Pilots ProtoMech Pilots
Banacek Andrews*& Cannon Columbo# Columbo*#
Breen*& LeFabre Holliday# Gena Nga*#
Guidice Linn*# Opriq*& Lahiri*
Hutchinson# Truscott Paik
Marghar#
Talasko*
Turgidson
Zalman&
Shared Bloodnames Post-Wars of Reaving:[10]
(Column titles signify the other Clans with which the Bloodnames are shared)
Escorpión Imperio Clan Cloud Cobra Clan Coyote Clan Stone Lion
Grimani Daniels* Grimani Koga
Hoskins* Masters Koga Masters
N’Buta Mikino*
Wick Moreau
Winson* Winson*

* This signifies a Bloodname with a Bloodcount of five or less active Bloodrights
# This signifies an Absorbed Clan Burrock Bloodname
& This signifies an Absorbed Clan Steel Viper Bloodname

Inter-Clan Relations

The Star Adders have few foes. The Blood Spirits have transferred their feud with the Burrocks to the Star Adders, which the Adders return for the Blood Spirit intervention in the Burrock Absorption. The Fire Mandrills, allies of the Blood Spirits and also enemies of the Burrocks, have done much the same. The Fire Mandrills' fractious nature compared to the Star Adder belief in unity makes the Mandrills one of the few Clans the Star Adders disdain. The Coyotes still hold a grudge with the Adders for the actions of Carson Graves. The Star Adders had poor relations with Clan Smoke Jaguar stemming from the Adders' assaults on Clan Mongoose, reclaiming Star Adder territory just before the Mongoose Absorption.

The Star Adders are allies with Clan Cloud Cobra, which was strengthened by the Star Adders willingness to observe Clan Burrock's pledge to help garrison Cloud Cobra's Tanite world holdings. The Diamond Sharks are friendly rivals with the Adders and are respected. The Star Adders had excellent relations with the Snow Ravens, but their newly enhanced warship fleet has made the Ravens nervous and soured that relationship, though it is believed that it will improve in the future.

During the various Trials of Possession that raged after the removal of the Nova Cats, Ghost Bears, and Smoke Jaguars, the Star Adders managed to expand their enclave on Hoard, battling the Ice Hellions, Wolves, and Hell's Horses. The Adders also expanded their enclave on Brim.

The Star Adders control ten worlds in Clan space, two of them exclusively. Their capital is Sheridan. The Burrock capital was Albion.

Rulers

Khans

saKhans

Loremasters

Era Specific Data

3062

Star Adder Demographics
Affiliation: Crusader
Population (Clan Space): 108,695,000 (3060)
Population growth rate: 2.4 percent (62/38)
Self-Sufficiency Index: 94 percent

Clan Space Worlds:
Albion (100 percent)
Arcadia (38 percent)
Brim (27 percent)
Dagda (22 percent)
Hoard (39 percent)
Huntress (16 percent)
Marshall (13 percent)
Priori (48 percent)
Sheridan (100 percent)
Tathis (20 percent)
Capital: Sheridan

Leaders:
Khan: Cassius N'Buta
saKhan: Tabitha Paik
Loremaster: Dagmar Lahiri
Scientist-General: Bas (Meitner)
Merchant Factor: Sylvian
Master Technician: Armand
Senior Laborer: Francis

Military:
Clusters: 52
WarShips: 28


3085

Clan Space Worlds:
Arcadia (100 percent)
Dagda (100 percent)
Gatekeeper (100 percent)
Hoard (100 percent)
Huntress (30 percent)
Londerholm (10 percent)
Sheridan (100 percent)
Strato Domingo (60 percent)
Tamaron (25 percent)
Tathis (20 percent)
Tiber (75 percent)
Capital: Hoard

Leaders: [38]
Khan: Hannibal Banacek
saKhan: Wyatt Talasko
Loremaster: Sepha Paik

Military:
WarShips: 13

References

  1. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 249
  2. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 166
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 110
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 111
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 112
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Era Digest: Golden Century, p. 7-8
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 113
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 42
  9. ↑ Historical: Operation KLONDIKE, p. 37, "Origins of the Bloodnames: The Clans' Founders
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Wars of Reaving, p. 194, "Bloodnames of the Homeworld Clans"
  11. ↑ Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 49, 51
  12. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 111
  13. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 111
  14. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 112
  15. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 122
  16. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 124
  17. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 113
  18. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 113
  19. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 114, 120
  20. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 189
  21. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 50
  22. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 150, 189
  23. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 150
  24. ↑ Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 49, 51
  25. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 111
  26. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 111
  27. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 113
  28. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 113
  29. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 120
  30. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 120
  31. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 120
  32. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 50
  33. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 81
  34. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 183
  35. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 150
  36. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 166
  37. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 166
  38. ↑ The Wars of Reaving, p. 166

Bibliography

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