Theodore Osis

Theodore Osis (born 28?? - died ????) was the Khan of Clan Smoke Jaguar during the early Golden Century. He held power in an era that would see his Clan Absorb the contentious Clan Mongoose, holding onto the Khanship for an unspecified amount of time afterward.

Biography

Nothing is known of Osis' life prior to his ascension to the post of Khan. Details of his reign outside of battlefield tales and his Grand Council accomplishments are virtually non-existent. He was likely a powerful warrior who commanded the respect and fear of his Clan.

Mongoose Attacks Again

In 2868, Clan Mongoose would assault the Smoke Jaguar holdings on the world of Atreus in the Kerensky Cluster. Simultaneously the Mongooses found themselves under a massive attack by their old enemies, Clan Star Adder. After losing ground on both fronts - especially to the Star Adders who had years in which to plot their revenge before executing the plan - Khan Walter Martindale of the Mongooses took a facetious complaint to the Grand Council to buy time for his struggling Clan. In it he accused the Smoke Jaguars of starting a wasteful conflict, and demand their censure. The final nail in his Clan's coffin would be his use of the words of Nicholas and Aleksandr Kerensky to bolster his argument to the assembled body of Khans.

Jaguar Defeats Mongoose

Smoke Jaguar Khan Theodore Osis reacted in outrage at this gross abuse of Clan law, not to mention Martindale's utterance of the words of The Great Kerenskys, words that Osis and many other Khans regarded as sacred. To hear them used to hide from combat was too much for most Clansmen to endure. Osis and all of the other Khans present recognized the ploy for the stalling that it was. When he demanded the right for his Clan to Absorb the Mongooses, it was unanimously approved by a Grand Council that had seen more than enough political maneuvering from Mongoose Khans in the past or the present.

The Jaguars moved against the Mongoose fleet first, destroying the bulk of it over Circe while sustaining heavy losses to their own fleet. Mongoose losses included their flagship, the BattleShip Quicksilver Mongoose. Next came attacks on their colonies on Atreus and Kirin. The former fell after a steady grinding struggle, while the later was a longer conflict that nearly gave the Mongoose warriors hope. The battle at Kirin saw the remainder of their navy and the lion's share of their remaining Aerospace Fighters destroyed at great cost to the Jaguars. But the Mongoose forces fell, and with them, their colonies. The Mongoose Clan did strike back when and where it could, fighting as well as possible within its conflicted leadership and organization. Their skilled Aerospace forces would take as many Jaguars with them as they could before the Mongoose fleet was completely destroyed. Finally, back on Circe, the Jaguars were temporally halted by the massed defenses of the island stronghold of Fianna.

The problem was solved by Orbital Bombardment, a weapon the Jaguars would not shy away from using again, later in their history. This action would kill Mongoose Khan Walter Martindale, a fact that technically could have ended the trial there, but would not be known until later. In one final attack, the cream of the Mongoose Touman ambushed the advancing Jaguars who were led by Khan Theodore Osis personally. The Mongoose saKhan Alanah Knox led her Keshik against the Jaguar flanks, as they poured against the final Mongoose defenses at the city of Tara. The few accounts existing tell of the Mongoose warriors taking out more Jaguars than their own numbers, though the only detailed account is from a source by Mongoose Loremaster, Giovanni Mercedes after years of Jaguar subjugation. The final Aerospace Fighters made their appearance in support of the force of Mongoose 'Mechs. But it was too late. Soon, the struggle was over, and another Clan was no more.

Aftermath of War

The Smoke Jaguars would claim all of the former Clan Mongoose worlds and materials. Boasting that the Jaguars "would never use the tainted genes of these schemers" in their eugenics program, Khan Osis would leave their genetic heritages to waste away. Years later, Clan Cloud Cobra, led by Khan Josef Mannix, would bid for and win a great many of the Mongoose Aerospace Fighter Pilot legacies, activating them for immediate use in their Clan's eugenics program. This would anger Smoke Jaguar Khan Osis, but neither he nor his Clan were in a true position to do anything to defend legacies that they had publicly scorned.

Of more immediate nature was a conflict with Clan Star Adder. The Adders had been prosecuting their own war of revenge on the Mongooses, finishing their attacks just as the Trial of Absorption began. Khan Theodore Osis accused Khan Tomas Banacek of depriving his Smoke Jaguars of what he called their "full measure of victory". He would go so far as to demand punishment for the Adders from the Grand Council, in spite of the fact that he knew of their attacks before he asked for the rights to Mongoose Absorption. He then told Khan Banacek that he waited for the chance to slay him with honor, a threat that was as likely to be as much boast as it was substance.

Legacy

Khan Theodore Osis was born to a Bloodname House of strong MechWarriors with a tradition of leadership within their Clan handed down from their founder, Franklin Osis. Theodore Osis' reign as Khan of Clan Smoke Jaguar would see vast gains of territory along with associated materials and resources through the Absorption of Clan Mongoose.

But what could have helped to make his Clan stronger in the future, he cast aside - namely, the many genetic legacies of skilled but misused Mongoose warriors. Another blemish to his legacy would be the fact that after this victory, most of the other Clans would quietly note that the Jaguar's might was based solely on their martial prowess and little else. This view would come back to haunt them one day when Task Force Serpent traveled the Exodus Road all the way to Clan Space on their mission to annihilate the Smoke Jaguars on Huntress. No other Clan interfered in the solemn matter of their destruction at the hands of a reborn Star League.

Bibliography

• Era Digest: Golden Century
• Field Manual: Crusader Clans
• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• Invading Clans