Watch

The Watch is the intelligence agency of the Clans. Founded by Nicholas Kerensky to spy on the Clan Wolverine, the Watch originally answered to the ilKhan only. Later, and especially after the failed invasion of the Inner Sphere, the Clans began to understand the value of an intelligence service, so every Clan got an arm of the Watch. Still, since the Clans percieve spying as un-Clanlike, the Watch is considered weak even in comparison to SAFE.

Only members of the Warrior, Scientist, and the Technician Caste serve as the Watch operatives. Many warriors serving in the Watch are considered old and useless by the Clan standard, whose only other choice would be serving in a Solahma unit. This circumstances though actually help the efficiency of the Watch because of the additional experience of the warriors.

The command of the Watch arms of all Clans are their respective Loremasters, except for the Clan Fire Mandrill, where the command is shared with the ilChi, and the Clan Nova Cat where the Oathmaster Minoru Novacat is the current head of the Watch.

The current (3057) head of the All-Clan Watch is Kael Pershaw of Clan Jade Falcon since he is also the Loremaster of the Clans.

Clan Watch Commands

• Clan Blood Spirit: Loremaster Bayle Campbell
• Clan Cloud Cobra: Loremaster Eleni Riaz
• Clan Coyote: Loremaster Clarissa Jericho
• Clan Diamond Shark: Loremaster Semi Kalasa
• Clan Fire Mandrlll: Loremaster Drew Tanaga and ilChi Jas Keller
• Clan Ghost Bear: Loremaster Laune Tseng
• Clan Goliath Scorplon: Loremaster Kyrie Ben-Shimon
• Clan Hell's Horses: Loremaster Temuchin Amirault
• Clan Ice Hellion: Loremaster Jonas Cage
• Clan Jade Falcon: Loremaster Kael Pershaw
• Clan Snow Raven: Loremaster Klaus Harper
• Clan Star Adder: -Loremaster Dagmar Lahiri
• Clan Steel Viper: Loremaster Artrhur Stoklas
• Clan Wolf: Loremaster Katya Kerensky
• Clan Wolf (In Exlle): Loremaster Daphne Vickers
• Clan Nova Cat: Oathmaster Minoru Nova Cat

• Clan Jade Falcon: In 3060 Loremaster Kael Pershaw is head of their Watch. In 3064 Khan Marthe Pryde used the Jade Falcon Watch to steal information about pirate jump points of Lyran systems. This knowledge was used in the assault on Melissia. Although the Jade Falcon Watch is among the best of the Clans - due to a progressive Khan and the genius of Kael Pershaw - their distaste for covert operations leaves the Watch with mostly intelligence gathering and analysis work through conventional sources and scouting. Currently, lots of monitoring activity of the Jade Falcon Scientist Caste hints to some kind of an internal conflict.

• Clan Smoke Jaguar: Their Watch was fully aware of the growing Warship-programs of the Successor States and the re-fitted Warships of ComStar. But for unknown reasons, the warrior caste simply discarded this information. So, they were caught offhanded in 3060 when major Inner Sphere warship-forces showed up during Operation Bulldog and Operation Serpent.

• Clan Wolf: It was Clan Wolf, which used the Watch right from the start, it was Clan Wolf, which suggested sending Wolf's Dragoons to the Inner Sphere to report to the Watch. It surprises not, that Clan Wolf has got a strong Watch arm, second only to Clan Wolf-in-Exile. Hardened by years in the occupation zone, the Wolf Watch is experienced in information gathering, analysis and commando-style operations. Clan Wolf Watch especially tries to infiltrate the Clan Jade Falcon and the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces for military intelligence gathering. During the Jade Falcon incursion of 3064 Khan Phelan Kell of Clan Wolf-in-Exile recognized a Clan Wolf Watch agent and sent through him a message to Vlad Ward. The current head of the Wolf Clan Watch is Loremaster Katya Kerensky.

• Clan Wolf-in-Exile: During the Jade Falcon incursion of 3064, their Watch cooperated with the Lyran LIC and ComStar's ROM to deliver the best possible intelligence to the defenders of the Lyran Alliance. Since Khan Phelan Kell brought a sizable part of the already very able Clan Wolf watch to Arc-Royal and used his family contacts to augment it further, the Exile Wolf Watch is considered the strongest Watch agency and is schooled not only in intelligence gathering, but also counter-intelligence work and even commando missions. Loremaster Daphne Vickers is the head of Clan Wolf-in-Exile Watch.

Alterniv roots

Created on the decision of the Grand Council to spy on the Successor State, the former Intelser (founded 2980) are the predecessor organization to all Clan watches. For the Warden Clans it was a way to delay the Invasion with the reason, the enemy is unknown (strength,technology and so on) and a task force (Wolf Dragoons) must send to them undercover , with the mission for information gahtering. (see also Dragoon Compromise) The task force now konow as Wolfs Dragoons defected to the Inner Sphere with their own goal to protect it against their former brothers. The next decades the appparatus stand still and was reactivated during the Invasion as response to anti-clan activities on conquered worlds by guerillas forces (financed by Successor States).

Bibliography

• Betrayal of Ideals, Blaine Lee Pardoe, BattleCorps story
• Operation Audacity (novel)
• Sword and Fire (novel)
• Shadows of War (novel)
• Randall N. Bills et al, A Guide to Covert Ops. FanPro, 2004.