Decision at Thunder Rift
Sarna News
| |
| Decision at Thunder Rift | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Novel |
| Author | William H. Keith, Jr. |
| Pages | 374 (original) 288 (reprint) |
| Cover Artwork | Jim Holloway (original) Bruce Jensen (reprint) |
| Illustrations | David Dietrick Duane Loose |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | FASA (original) Roc Books (reprint) |
| First published | June 1986 (original) September 1992 (reprint) |
| ISBN-10 | 0451451848 |
| Content | |
| Era | Succession Wars era |
| Timeline | 3024 |
| Series | Saga of the Gray Death Legion |
| Followed by | Mercenary's Star |
Decision at Thunder Rift, by William H. Keith, Jr., is the first book of the Saga of the Gray Death Legion, and the first novel to be published for Battletech. It tells the story of the young Grayson Death Carlyle and the events that led to the founding of his famous mercenary unit.
The novel was made available on BattleCorps on 26 October 2010 as a PDF file (text only, without cover, pictures, or any other interior artwork except for the usual BattleCorps frame graphics). The PDF copy includes a disclaimer stating that it was created from a pre-final edition text that might differ from the printed version and that canon-wise, the print edition trumps the PDF edition.
Contents
From the back cover (1986 edition)
| “ | "Thirty meters tall, 70 tons of quick-striding death and destruction, the armored war machines called BattleMechs are the fighting arms of the crumbling star empire locked in the horror of the Succession Wars. Their pilots are MechWarriors, 31st-Century knights riding armored machines powerful enough to take a city apart."
Grayson Death Carlyle had been training to be a MechWarrior since he was 10 years old, but his graduation came sooner than expected. With his friends and family dead and his father's regiment destroyed, young Grayson finds himself stranded on a world turned hostile. And now he must learn the hardest lesson of all: it takes more than a BattleMech to make a MechWarrior... To claim the title of MechWarrior all he has to do is capture one of those giant killing machines by himself... If it doesn't kill him first. |
” |
From the back cover (1992 edition)
| “ | 30 years before the Clan invasion, the crumbling empires of the Inner Sphere were locked in the horror of the Third Succession War. The great Houses, whose territories spanned the stars, used BattleMechs to smash each other into rubble...
Grayson Death Carlyle had been training to be a MechWarrior since he was 10 years old, but his graduation came sooner than expected. With his friends and family dead and his father's regiment destroyed, young Grayson finds himself stranded on a world turned hostile. And now he must learn the hardest lesson of all: it takes more than a BattleMech to make a MechWarrior... To claim the title of MechWarrior all he has to do is capture one of those giant killing machines by himself... If it doesn't kill him first. |
” |
Summary
Formation of the Gray Death Legion from population of Trellwan, a planet near the periphery in the Lyran Commonwealth. Grayson's father and teachers are killed in an invasion by DC forces, made to look like an attack by the bandit king of Oberon. Grayson foils the plan eventually, and in the end leaves the planet with his new forces. 1st appearance of Duke Ricol.
Featured characters
Featured places
- Trell I
- Tharkad (mentioned as the Lyran capital world)
- Luthien (mentioned as the Combine capital world)
- Oberon VI (mentioned as the capital world of Hendrik Grimm III's bandit kingdom)
- Drune II (mentioned as the site of a Lyran base)
- Drovahchein II (mentioned as the capital of the Erit Cluster and home of House Mailai)
- Chekaar (mentioned as part of Duke Ricol's duchy)
- Sigurd (mentioned as Lori Kalmar's homeworld and part of Hendrik Grimm III's bandit kingdom)
Featured BattleTech
- Crusader
- Griffin
- Locust
- Marauder
- Phoenix Hawk
- Rifleman
- Shadow Hawk
- Stinger
- Wasp
- Wolverine
- Warrior Attack Helicopter
- Karnov UR Transport Helicopter
- Union Dropship
Notes
- The book is often (falsely) listed as the second novel published, switching places with The Sword and the Dagger, presumably because the latter is a standalone novel that may have been commissioned earlier yet took longer to complete and because Decision at Thunder Rift formed a trilogy together with the third and fourth novel in the classic BattleTech line.
- On 26 October 2010, the novel was made available on BattleCorps as a PDF file (text only, without the cover, pictures or any other artwork except the usual BattleCorps frame graphics). The PDF copy includes a disclaimer stating that it was created from a pre-final edition text that might differ from the printed version and that canon-wise, the print edition trumps the PDF edition.
Covers
Original 1986 cover. Art by Jim Holloway.
1992 reprint. Art by Bruce Jensen.
1999 German edition. Art by Jim Holloway.
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