Clan Wolverine

The Wolverines were among the most vocal critics of Nicholas Kerensky's authoritarian rule over the Clans. Official Clan histories state that they were Annihilated for expousing anti-Clan sentiments, such as democracy and independence, but the reality is somewhat different. Many Clans were suffering internal strife at the time of the Clan Wolverine incident, and Nicholas saw that the Clans as a whole were on the brink of rebelling against his authority. The Wolverines served as both object lesson and common enemy against whom the other nineteen Clans could unite. There were also personal reasons for dissent between Khan Sarah McEvedy and Nicholas Kerensky - McEvedy was close to Nicholas' brother Andery Kerensky and suspected that Nicholas played a strong role in his death.

Clan Wolf carried out the Grand Council's sentence against Khan McEvedy and her Clan, but a later investigation strongly suggested that some individuals - predominantly civilians and second-line troops- had been able to flee. Officially attributed to bad book keeping, the whereabouts and disposition of any possible survivors remains unknown. Below is the full story of the events that led up to the Annihilation of Clan Wolverine.

Clan Totem

Clan Wolverine's namesake came from the Terran wolverine, a small predatory mammal, which was genetically engineered for the harsh conditions in Strana Mechty's tundra regions. On Strana Mechty, the wolverines grew in size and ferocity and were capable of taking on animals many times its size. The wolverine was noted for its unwillingness to back down from any challenge, a trait that Clan Wolverine's warriors eagerly adopted.

Operation Klondike

Together with Clan Snow Raven, Clan Wolverine was assigned to Northern Circe, where they had several bloody clashes with a martial society called Rasmussen Elite, warriors with skills that matched the skill of the early Clan warriors, but with a much worse equipment and organisation. Because of Rasmussen Elite warriors' prowess Khan McEvedy ordered coordinated tactics in contrast to the one-on-one engagements preferred by Nicholas Kerensky who later outlined these preferences into the rules of Zellbrigen. In this the Wolverine behaviour was close to the SLDF "total warfare" tactics.

After the Rasmussen Elite was annihilated, Clan Wolverine and Clan Snow Raven fought together against the armed forces of Kerensky Dominion, when their previous ally turned their enemy after both clans used Kerensky Dominion warriors as cannon fodder instead of equal partners. The Battle of Bitter Tears, as the battle against Kerensky Dominion troops has ben called, lasted three days, and left the Snow Raven ground forces in a somewhat ragged shape. Probably for this reason Khan McEvedy saw herself the senior officer at the final Northern Circe campaign - against the Davion-originated L'Isle des Aigles - a fact that would only add to the later discord between the two Clans. Snow Raven ground forces suffered heavy losses in the campaign, even losing their saKhan in the fighting. The Snow Raven Khan even suspected that the Wolverines deliberately under-represented L'Isle des Aigles forces, souring relations between the two Clans even more.

Rising To Power

The first rumblings of discontent came from a surprising source: Clan Jade Falcon. Many in their ranks were upset that Nicholas had chosen to join the Wolf Clan rather than the Falcons at the end of Operation Klondike. Disappointment made them question Nicholas' ideals (though not his methods), and for a time they walked a fine line between criticism and treason. Eventually the Falcon Khans cut out what they termed the "cancer" at their core. In July 2823, they purged dissident elements, in effect cutting off part of themselves so that the whole Clan would survive. The Falcons that emerged from what they called "The Culling" though weaker militarily, were totally committed to Kerensky's vision and were thenceforth counted among the most traditional-minded Clans. However, other Clans proved not so steadfast in their devotion to the ideals of Kerensky.

At that time, Clan Wolverine started to became the strongest of all clans due to the astute political maneuvering of their Khan Sarah McEvedy. She allowed inter-caste movement which led to a strong agricultural surplus and a very good economic performance. She also strongly pushed research, leading to new BattleMech models and enhanced weapons (for example the ER PPC, which was more effective and had longer range due to better focusing). As a result of the new 'Mechs and innovative practices in warrior training, Wolverine warriors started to win trials against other Clans even when seriously outnumbered.

All this led to fear and jealousy amongt the other Clans. Especially the Khan of Clan Widowmaker wanted to destroy Clan Wolverine at any price. He informed Nicholas Kerensky of the inter-caste movement, raised fear through facetious rumors of superior genetically engineered warriors produced by Clan Wolverine, and suggested that the ilKhan start to monitor Wolverine activities. Nicholas accepted the suggestion and formed the first Clan intelligence agency - the Watch, which answered only to the ilKhan - to spy on Clan Wolverine.

Wolverine Treachery

Most of what follows is recreated from Nicholas' journals. Unlike official Clan records, they were never purged of their references to the Not-Named Clan.

Nicholas feared (probably correctly) that his grip on the Clans was slipping, and flexed his muscles as ilKhan against the main opposition to his authority: Clan Wolverine. At Nicholas' urging, on 28 August, 2823, the Grand Council declared that the Brian cache on Circe which the Wolverines had used to supply their Touman, was no longer Wolverine property. The Council ordered them to share it with their neighbors, Clan Snow Raven. Violating the Clans' socialist principles, the Wolverines objected strenuously. The ensuing political battle raged for weeks. On 30 September, the the Council called for a vote (Wolverine saKhan cast his vote via HPG). The Wolverines' protest was rejected, whereupon they demanded a Trial of Refusal, as was their right under Clan law. The Trial was fought on 7 October; the Wolverines lost.

Another version of the story states that Clan Jade Falcon found a Brian Cache on Wolverine land and occupied it without warning. In addition to BattleMechs and ammunition, a number of naval class missiles with nuclear warheads were found. After Nicholas ordered Khan McEvedy to share the contents of the Cache with all other clans, she refused to share everything but the warheads. Two Clan Widowmaker warriors were the champions of the ilKhan at the following Trial of Refusal. The Wolverines lost the Trial, with Khan Sarah McEvedy heavily wounded and the saKhan killed in action.

The situation deteriorated further in the Grand Council chamber the next day after the Trial, as frayed tempers led to increasingly acrimonious exchanges. Wolverine Khan Sarah McEvedy hoped to win over other Clans to her cause; she knew that Nicholas' dictatorial actions worried several of her fellow Khans, especially since Nicholas himself had secretly admitted to her that he wanted to use her Clan as an object lesson. However, Nicholas was a canny politician and knew McEvedy's weaknesses. During a particularly blunt exchange, she insulted him directly, and by extension, the Clans themselves. With a few ill-chosen words, McEvedy destroyed her power base and any hope of undermining Kerensky's rule and liberalizing the clans. To make matter worse, when Nicholas called for a Trial of Grievance, McEvedy committed the ultimate sin: she declared the Wolverines independent of the Clans. In doing so, she gave Nicholas exactly what he wanted, an excuse to destroy his opposition.

Crossing The Line

Excerpt from Grand Council security tape; 8 October 2823

Kerensky [ilKhan]: My honorable friend, the Khan from Clan [CENSORED], continues to ignore the decisions of this body as verified by the recent Trial. I do not care that the cache is of the 331st Royal Division, her father's command. This body is agreed that the caches are a resource belonging to the Clans as a whole. In the old order, her paternal loyalty would be commended, but this not the old order. We are the Clans. We stand on our own merits, not those of our ancestors.

Sarah McEvedy [Wolverine]: Except you.

Kerensky [ilKhan]: I beg your pardon?

McEvedy: I said, except you. You seem perfectly happy to bask in your father's achievements. He was a visionary who sought justice and peace for all. You seek control.

Mitchell Loris [Mongoose]: Khan [CENSORED], you go too far.

McEvedy: Do I? I know many of you in this chamber found our ilKhan's actions to secure control of the Pentagon population offensive. The Star League did not believe in torture and brutality. Those are the tools of power hungry madmen. Is that what you have become, Nicholas Kerensky? A power hungry madman?

[Raised voices from all parties]

Kerensky: SILENCE! [CENSORED], Khan of Clan [CENSORED], I, Nicholas Kerensky, ilKhan of the Clans, do call for a Trial of Grievance. By our law, you may.....

McEvedy: Hang your laws. Does the truth hurt so much, Nicholas?

Kerensky: Fellow Khans, our colleague is clearly overwrought. I call for a vote of censure. Loremaster Ward, please....

McEvedy: Don't bother, Nicholas. I'll leave. In fact, we'll all leave. Clan [CENSORED] no longer recognizes the authority of the ilKhan or the Grand Council. From this point forward, we are an independent power. We decide our own fate, fairly and according to the morals and standards of the Star League.

Kerensky: You cannot do this.

McEvedy: I can and I have.

[McEvedy moves to leave.]

Kerensky: Arrest her!

[McEvedy draws her pistol; the Khans and security guards back off. A detachment of Wolverine troops arrives.]

McEvedy: If you want to face us, fine. But we will not hold back. Prepare to reap the whirlwind.

[McEvedy storms out]

Kerensky: My Khans we face a serious decision....

The Escape

Khan McEvedy escaped Strana Mechty and returned to Circe, where saKhan Franklin Hallis had already placed the Wolverine Touman on full alert. When Snow Raven forces, acting on their own initiative, probed the Wolverine border on 10 October, the Wolverines counter-attacked. They showed no mercy, and after a short battle sacked the Raven capital of Dehra Dun. They retreated in the face of Clan Mongoose and Nova Cat forces massing, but not before making an object lesson of the city. After driving all civilians from the area, they used a low yield nuclear weapon to destroy the Raven genetic repository. The message was simple and brutal: You have backed us into a corner, and we will do anything and everything to stop you. Cowed by this extreme act of defiance against Clan tradition, the Mongoose, Nova Cat and Snow Raven forces withdrew pending the Grand Council's final deliberations.

Certain other sources state that the Khan of Clan Widowmaker secretly ordered two saboteurs to place a nuclear warhead which was missing from the Brian cache in the city of Dehra Dun, blaming Khan McEvedy afterward.

With the destruction of the repository, the question of how to punish the Wolverines took a new turn. The Grand Council had voted on 8 October to censure McEvedy and the Wolverines, but had ultimately intended to bring them back into the Clan fold. Now they enacted the ultimate punishment. On 11 October, the Khans voted for the Annihilation of the entire Wolverine Clan. As sentence was passed, Nicholas delivered what became his most famous quote: "Those who break faith with the Unity shall go down into darkness." Over the next few days, the remaining nineteen Clans battled for the honor of destroying the rebels; eventually the contest came down to Clans Widowmaker and Wolf. However, in order to win the bidding, the Wolves were forced to go below the accepted cut down.

Khan McEvedy arrived back on Circe on 13 October and took charge of preparations for the impending assault. The Wolverine Khans suspected what Nicholas had planned, and saKhan Hallis deliberately absented himself from the Council for the fateful vote. Following McEvedy's orders, he was preparing for a third Exodus. McEvedy and Hallis both knew that the Wolverines would never be safe in Clan space. To ensure their Clan's survival, they scattered small units throughout the Pentagon worlds and the Kerensky Cluster, collecting material from supply cashes and preparing to flee. The Ghost Bears spotted one such unit, but kept the information secret for decades.

Wolf Clan forces began their assault on 25 October, repelling a Wolverine counter attack on their landing zone. They fought the rebels on land, in the air and in space. The battle raged for two days, and though outnumbered, the Wolves prevailed. A running battle ensued as the Wolverines attempted to flee Clan space. Many vessels on both sides were destroyed, but after nineteen days the Wolves were victorious. Almost eighty percent of the Wolf force died; there were no Wolverine survivors. Nicholas Kerensky killed Hallis in a brutal, three hour duel on Circe. No trace was ever found of McEvedy. For the next two months, the Wolf force systematically destroyed the Wolverines' holdings, demolishing buildings and forcibly sterilizing their civilian castes. All sibkos containing Wolverine genes were terminated according to an edict passed by Nicholas Kerensky. This went even so far, that in January 2839 more than 100 Ghost Bear Warriors - and at that time it was not a small part of the whole Ghost Bear touman - with their genes tainted by an isorla Wolverine geneticist with Wolverine DNA were forced by Khan Hans Jorgensson to commit suicide.

Despite these measures, on 22 January of 2824, the Wolf Loremaster presented a troubling report to the Grand Council. A census of Wolverines' population and equipment showed numerous discrepancies. While most of the Wolverine front-line troops had been accounted for on Circe, many of the second-line warriors appeared to be missing, along with most of the 331st Division's equipment from the disputed Brian cache. Similarly, there were fewer civilians than expected. Officially, the discrepancies were put down to bad book keeping. In reality, however, the Grand Council suspected that a sizable portion of the Wolverines had escaped, probably to the Inner Sphere.

It is rumored that the remnants of Clan Wolverine, that escaped, were the mysterious "Minnesota Tribe" that attacked Kuritan space in 2825 though this remains unverified.

To this day, the Clans refer to the former Clan Wolverine as the "Not-Named Clan".

Bloodnames

Aamodt

Abrosimova

Artemev

Benedict

Bostick

Bremman

Brentjes

Buckler

Callahan

Charikov

Clemence

Dobrev

Ebon

Fallstaff

Frater

Gao

Hallis

Hammerick

Hennesy

Hollister

Jeannet

Kharlan

Kosh

Kumar

Mann

Matsunaka

McEvedy

Merino

Mroczkiewicz

Nikishina

Prigioni

Qiuqi

Rayson

Robertson

Sebrle

Sergent

Sobral

Thomlinson

Whitfield

Xi

References

• Betrayal of Ideals, Blaine Lee Pardoe, BattleCorps story
• Beas, Herbert A. II et al, Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents. Catalyst Game Labs, 2008.
• Beas, Herbert A. II, Randall N. Bills, Historical: Operation Klondike. Catalyst Game Labs, 2010.

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