CLAN WOLVERINE and History leading to the "MINNESOTA TRIBE": The Wolverine Wolverines were introduced to the forests of Strana Mechty, where they flourished, growing in size and ferocity. They were admired by warriors because they stood their ground against any intruder, no matter what its size or strength. The Wolverine Clan is the Not-Named Clan, which was annihilated. Clan Wolverine short summary Nicholas Kerensky's new society, with its formalized rules of combat, was not completely accepted by all his followers. In 2823, Clan Wolverine rejected a Grand Council decision on the division of equipment found in a Brian Cache in Wolverine territory, claiming that the cache belonged to Clan Wolverine alone. They invoked a Trial of Refusal and lost. They did not accept the ruling, but shocked the rest of the Clans by declaring Clan Wolverine totally independent. IlKhan Nicholas Kerensky declared that Clan Wolverine had become "tainted by the old ways of lust for power." He urged the Grand Council to vote for a Trial of Annihilation against the rebellious Clan. The resulting vote was swift and unanimous, and Clans Wolf and Widowmaker won the honor of annihilating Wolverine. Wolf and Widowmaker took the opportunity of the Trial of Annihilation to expand their prestige, each at the cost of the other. The long-time rivalry between these two Clans was fierce and bitter. The bidding between the two Clans for the honor of destroying Clan Wolverine turned the bitterness into hate. The Wolf Clan version of The Remembrance states that Clan Widowmaker deliberately drove the bidding down to dangerous levels, then withdrew, leaving the warriors of Clan Wolf facing the majority of Clan Wolverine at very poor odds. Clan Widowmaker was pleased when Clan Wolf suffered major losses in the battle, but their hatred was fanned higher by Clan Wolf's eventual triumph over Clan Wolverine. The warriors of Clan Wolverine were dead, and the Grand Council moved to purge its tainted ways from Clan society. The Wolverine Bloodnames were eliminated from the gene pool, all Wolverine lower-caste citizens were sterilized, and all mention of Clan Wolverine was removed from Clan documents. Rumors among the Clans say that some Clan Wolverine warriors escaped and fled the Clan worlds. It is probably no coincidence that the "Minnesota Tribe" that attacked the perimeter of the Combine struck in 2825, a year after the annihilation of Clan Wolverine. This tribe was reported as using brand-new 'Mechs, fighting in ways alien to the Inner Sphere. Tensions between Clans Widowmaker and Wolf escalated into a bitterly fought battle that would mark the end of an era for the Clans. Warriors from Widowmaker claimed Wolf had cheated in its victory that annihilated the Wolverines. Clan Wolf responded by accusing Clan Widowmaker of misusing the bidding system to deliberately place Wolf warriors in hopeless situations. This animosity lasted through a decade marked by vicious Trials of Possession that often skirted the limits of the Grand Council's rules of combat. 331st Royal BattleMech Division History
With the formation of the Star League, Ian Cameron needed a military that would unite the Great Houses together. He called for the member States to contribute in both material and manpower to this new endeavor. In a few short years the Star League Defense Forces were born. Those units that were posted to a military region in one of the Great Houses came from the military academies there and then in return helped train new combat personnel for the House they were assigned to. A few units are of Terran Hegemony descent and were designated by the Royal unit identification. One of the first of these Royal units was the 331st. The unit was formed in the state of Minnesota in the old geopolitical domain of North America and was outfitted with equipment on the world of Mars, in the Sol System. When a unit was formed on Terra, itself they also had the distinction of carrying the place of their formation in their name. After being outfitted with Mechs and other assets the 331st was posted to the Lyran Commonwealth. It was at first an uneasy posting with both the Lyrans and the SLDF units getting used to each other. It wasn’t until the war games that were held every year between the SLDF and the House units that a true sense of trust and cooperation began. The SLDF units were unprepared for the resistance put up by the Periphery States in the first open rebellion and had not included infantry assets into their table of organization. During the fighting most of the SLDF became demoralized and suffered mass desertions and the 331st was not immune from this. Lt. General Michaelson refused to shoot the deserters after they were recaptured, in violation of the Code of Military Justice, and allowed them to return the units home base. The reasoning he gave that a commander doesn’t abandon his troops in difficult times. This may have stripped the unit to the bare bones, but it also fostered a special bond between the members of the 331st. This attitude became a tradition after Lt. General Michaelson retired. At his retirement speech to the members of the unit he stated that it was a commander’s responsibility to do the best for his men. When the 331st landed on New Vandenberg the unit was unprepared at the fierceness of the fighting put up by the periphery units on the planet. For the first few months of the campaign the 331st suffered high casualty rates due to the periphery units reliance upon standard ground units. These ground units would launch guerilla attacks on territory that had been taken by the 331st and other SLDF units. As the fighting grew on through the years the 331st was eventually rotated back to Zollikofen and began the long process of rebuilding the severely mauled unit. The rebuilding took them several years and with Lt. General Michaelson overseeing it he made the newest member felt welcomed. Most of the replacements were hard cases and misfits, but Lt. General Michaelson made them his own. The 331st was known for taking in special hard cases and turning them around into excellent mechwarriors and leaders. Combined with the special bond this allowed the 331st to achieve objectives that were normally classified as suicidal. The 331st had the most awards of any unit, during Operation Mailed Fist, for valor and heroism. The unit also gained the unofficial name of “Michaelson’s Special Cases.” The next commander was Lt. General Michaelson’s hand-picked successor, Lt. General Hallis. Hallis increased the standards in the unit and would go into a military court to fight on the behalf of troops that had been accused of desertion. This was at a great cost to his career and retired from the unit with honors. Star League Defense Forces high command posted a new commander to the unit, instead of allowing the retiring commander to pick his successor, to shore up the discipline they thought was lacking in the unit. Lt. General Greer entered with a big fanfare, in 2641, and told the troops that if they continued in their dubious leaves they would serve jail time and possibly execution. His policies rapidly caused the unit moral to plummet. Gone were the carefree days of doing what they wanted as long as they did their duty. The unit suffered greatly under the boot heel of this tyrant, who would have soldiers imprisoned for even the slightest offense. After a few years SLDF High Command noticed the affect this had on the unit’s ratings and quickly remedied the situation by appointing Lt. General Davis as commander. The unit’s morale and ratings quickly improved, because Davis was commander of the 7th Royal Hussar Regiment during the tenure of Hallis. After being appointed Lt. General Davis stormed the base’s stockade and quickly took it over. He freed every member of the 331st that had been imprisoned by General Greer. This action cemented General Davis as the commander of the 331st and earned him the nickname of ‘Father Abe’ in reference to Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves. The 331st thrived under his command and in 2650 sent the most instructors to the SLDF Academy at Naglering. During the Usurper War this allowed the SLDF units in House Steiner territory to operate with full cooperation from the Lyrans. The Lyrans would wait out the war, unfortunately, to see how the winds of change would affect them. After General Davis had retired the SLDF high command allowed him to pick his successor and he appointed the commander of the 156th Royal Light Horse Regiment, Colonel Foster. General Foster continued to build upon the training started by General Hallis. When the Gunslinger Program was started, several of the mechwarriors in the training command, were selected as trainers for this new program. In 2700, the SLDF forces began to allow members of the LCAF to serve in an exchange program designed to foster a sense of good will between the Star League and House Steiner. The program was an overwhelming success due to the supportive nature of House Steiner. The planet hopping done by the SLDF in all three task forces was time consuming and destroyed many units wholesale. Fortunately, because of the standards set down by General Hallis the 331st was prepared for the planetary assaults and were able to minimize their losses. For ten long years the 331st fought and died on Terran Hegemony worlds in Task Force: Commonwealth. The unit was hit hard as it progressed into Sol’s system and finally had to stop on Mars. When the unit stopped they had suffered 60% casualties and put them into Non-combat effective status. The unit rotated back to Zaprudy for refit and rest. The refitting took about three years and to get the new members up to par. By the time when General Kerensky called for the Exodus the unit was back on line and fully ready for combat. The V Corps, that did survive the years of fighting during the Usurper War, had answered the call and boarded dropships to leave the Inner Sphere. Lt. General Thomas McEvedy kept the morale of the unit high despite the pressure cooker of being in space for so many years. During the Prinz Eugene incident Lt. General McEvedy fought on behalf of those that were of sergeant or below in rank that they shouldn’t be executed for mutiny. He reasoned that they were only following the orders of their superiors and shouldn’t be held accountable for the officers that hatched the revolt. General Kerensky relented on the execution of the personnel. In 2786, the V Corps set down on Circe and began to make a life for themselves. The first few years were difficult for them, but they flourished. Life was hard and with most of the soldiers serving in a militia role due to General Kerensky’s edict on limiting the military. The V Corps chose as their section of the planet two small islands near the second largest continent. With the outbreak of the Exodus Civil on Eden and the other planets in the Pentagon Worlds the V Corps prepared for the worst. General McEvedy was assassinated during the middle years of the conflict by a Kuritan covert operations team. The unit became demoralized and mothballed the equipment into a Brian Cache that contained a Star League Memory Core and a mech production facility. The V Corps tried to remain out of the conflict and removed themselves to the vast deserts for protection. When the Civil War continued to escalate the V Corps found that it was very hard for them to be left alone by the other units. The Kuritan units pursued them relentlessly and V Corps would continually perform fighting withdrawals. This was done to preserve the equipment and resources that were necessary for survival. In 2816, V Corps and the 331st, had relocated to the harsh deserts and often had to endure the hells horses that had been released. This provided them with a source of food. They had found a system of underground caverns near the center of the desert and had built cities from the equipment that remained. Clan Wolverine (Annihilated by Clan Wolf in 2823) The Wolverines were among the most vocal critics of Nicholas Kerensky's authoritarian rule over the Clans. Official Clan history states that they were annihilated for espousing 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. Clan Wolf carried out the Grand Council's sentence against Khan Sarah 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 put down to bad book keeping, the whereabouts and disposition of any survivors remains unknown. Excerpt from Lore Masters' Office on Strana Mechty, Grand Lore Master Breen, February 2823, Clan Press. The conditions were horrible, but they persevered through the difficult times. When Nicholas Kerensky and his Clans returned in 2821 to the Pentagon Worlds the V Corps had maintained their population. Out of all the units that remained in the Pentagon Worlds only the V Corps had shown any substantial growth. Clan Wolverine landed on Circe because Khan McEvedy had known that her father was on that world. Clan Wolverine’s forces established contact with the V Corps and the 331st in the vast deserts on the smaller continent. The 331st acting commander Brevet General Julias informed the Khan of her father’s death. Sarah went into mourning and when she returned to her forces they attacked the Kuritans with a vengeance. The 331st and V Corps turned over all personnel and equipment to Khan McEvedy adding to the strength of the Wolverine Touman. The enraged Wolverines assaulted Kuritan fortifications time and again. The fighting was brutal and costly on the Wolverines, but Khan McEvedy’s father was avenged. At the conclusion of the campaign the Wolverines returned to the initial colonies that the V Corps had built before the Exodus Civil War. Unlike, the rest of the Clans that had encouraged the mass executions and beatings only Clan Wolverine had resisted it. Democracy was what Khan McEvedy advocated and it brought her into conflict, many times, with the Grand Council. She resisted the changes that Nicholas proposed. If a change that violated the Star League principles she held so dear, she would simply ignore it. Nicholas and she faced off many times in the Grand Council and she resisted the socialism that Nicholas wanted. Clan Wolverine opened up the Brian Cache that had been sealed years earlier by General McEvedy, to rebuild the Wolverine Touman. This action was found out by the Snow Raven’s Khan and brought this to IlKhan Kerensky’s attention. Khan McEvedy and saKhan Franklin Hallis could see trouble brewing on the horizon. With the growing support for Nicholas’s cries for justice under Clan Law, they knew that they had little chance of survival if they remained in Clan space. With the possibility of the Inner Sphere being in a state of full scale war so, they prepared to move most of the Clan to the other side of the Inner Sphere to create a buffer between themselves and the Clans. Crossing The Line ----excerpt from the Grand Council security tape; 8 October 2823. Kerensky[ilKahn): My honorable friend the Khan from Clan Wolverine continues to ignore the decisions of this body, as verified by the recent trial. I do not care that the cache is that 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 is not the old order. We are the Clans. We stand on our own merits, not those of our ancestors.
Khan McEvedy secured ships from Clan Sea Fox and negotiated with Clan Widowmaker to help with the bidding process to bring it down below the accepted cut-down. She promised them the cities that Clan Wolverine held. Clan Wolverine’s front line forces were placed on full alert and prepared to meet the forces of Clan Wolf. The battles between the two forces were savage and brutal, but Clan Wolverine was fighting for it’s very survival. During the initial attacks, Wolf aerospace fighters strafed the Wolverine lines and support facilities. The Wolf forces had to contend with the anti-air batteries and the Wolverine aerospace assets. The first assault was bloody with both sides losing large amounts of men and fighters. In the second wave the Wolf ground forces landed, under the watchful of eyes of the Grand Council. They made early progress once they had secured beach heads near the Wolverine forces. As the Wolf forces got organized the Wolverines smashed into their lines. Under withering fire from the Wolf dropships and Mechs the Wolverines quickly withdrew. They knew they couldn’t survive the sheer volume of firepower for very long. The Wolverine forces withdrew to deep forests and proceeded to fight a guerilla campaign. They attacked quickly at the Wolf forces, often drawing them into ambushes that were costly. Eventually, the Wolf command knew that they couldn’t win if they were continually forced into ambushes. Wolf commanders were issued orders not to follow a small force of Mechs, but rather to hold their ground. Try as the Wolverine commanders could they couldn’t draw the Wolf forces into the deep forests. Wolf forces moved towards the cities and enclaves of Clan Wolverine and the Wolverines had to move out of the forests to protect them. This was a fatal mistake and the bulk of the Wolverine forces were relentlessly attacked. No quarter was given and none was asked. Casualties mounted as the Wolf forces assaulted the right flank and rolled it back into the center of the Wolverine line. Wolverine forces tried to surrender, but the Wolves would destroy the ones that did. Colonel De Vega ordered a retreat as the Wolf forces smashed through the left flank and met in the center of the Wolverine line. Without anywhere to turn the Wolverines fought to the last man. As Colonel De Vega’s Marauder was destroyed as the last of the Wolverine dropships lifted off. 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 counterattacked. 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 “barbaric” action, the Mongoose, Nova Cat, and Snow Raven forces withdrew pending the Grand Council’s final deliberations. With the destruction of the repository, the question of how to punish the Wolverines took a new twist. 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 to 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 the preparations of the impending assault. The Wolverine Khans suspected was Nicholas 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 caches 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, beating off a Wolverine counterattack 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 sibko’s containing Wolverine genes were terminated. 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 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 record keeping. In reality, however, the Grand Council suspected a sizable portion of the Wolverines had escaped, probably to the Inner Sphere. (Excerpted from the private journals of Nicholas Kerensky and correlated against the Star League Defense Forces historical database from the Former Clan Wolverine.) Franklin Hallis called a Trial of Grievance against Nicholas Kerensky to prevent the destruction of the Wolverine people and holdings. In a duel that lasted over three hours Franklin Hallis fell to the ground, his mech a smoldering ruin. Nicholas delivered the coup de grace by crushing the saKhan’s cockpit. Wolf forces moved into the Wolverine cities and destroyed them leaving nothing behind. Those that were forced to stay behind were sterilized or killed. The unborn in the iron wombs were murdered without having done anything wrong. Everything that was associated with the Clan Wolverine was removed from the Clans. Companies of second line troops were sent on raiding missions throughout the Pentagon Worlds and most of them fell to the wrath of the Clans. Only those that raided Ghost Bear survived. The supplies garnered would mean the difference between life and death of the fleet. The second line forces moved in quickly and met heavy resistance from the other Clans on the raids. Unfortunately, Wolverine troops were often out numbered by the defenders. With Wolverine aerospace assets tied up with the fighting on Circe. The companies were torn up without their usual aerospace assets to do preparatory attacks on the positions. The best and brightest, out of each caste, boarded the ships along with the remaining second line troops. Many families were torn apart and it was a very sad day for the Clan. The best and brightest were protected while the front line forces paid for the freedom of the rest of the Clan with their lives. As the last transport lifted of a Circe, Khan McEvedy fell into mourning. Gone were the dreams of Aleksandr’s grand Star League in Exile and replaced with a military junta. She vowed that this wouldn’t happen a second time and wrote an outline of the new government that would be needed. Her people alone followed the teachings of Aleksandr and was ashamed at what happened to his son. The Third Exodus Prior to the Trial of Annihilation, Khan McEvedy oversaw the loading of the dropships and jumpships with all the equipment and personnel they could manage in such a short time. With the final dropships docked to the jumpships she issued the order to leave the Pentagon Worlds once and for all. Franklin Hallis and those in the front line units sacrificed their lives, so the rest of the Clan could survive. As the fleet left, Sarah wept openly on the bridge of the flagship. She thought about how Aleksandr’s and the Cameron ideals were so casually cast aside in the mad pursuit of power. Many people suffered after the Clans returned from Strana Mechty, including those that had to be left behind. The fleet was comprised of numerous commercial, cargo, liner, and warships. With most of her family dead she decided that they should be remembered and she created the Heroes Award. Her children the only family she had left as her husband had died in the fighting. He used her Mech to decoy the Wolf forces. When the forces under his command were attacked by the Keshik of the Wolf forces, no mercy was given to them, they died to a man. During the long trip back to the Inner Sphere she had reorganized the Clan back to standard Star League structure and reorganized the military as well. She changed her title from Khan of Clan Wolverine to First Lady of the Star League in Exile. She and the military command, along with those teachers of history, hammered out a new government based upon the principles of the Terran Hegemony. As the refugees neared the Inner Sphere they entered the Salvation System and found the remnants of the 326th BattleMech Division and the 13th Infantry Division. After a couple of days of talks between First Lady McEvedy and General Smith, of the 326th, they decided it would be in the best interests of both groups to join forces. Freedom’s Price I sat on the bridge of the Freedom and I thought about all the sacrifices people had made, so that way The Cameron Dream could live. Over the course of my lifetime I saw the Star League fall, the long trip to safety from the Great Houses, and the corruption of everything that Aleksandr had stood for. I stood against his son many times in the Grand Council and tried to remind them all of our ideals. When the rest of the Clans reveled in the executions and the beatings with a sick sense of delight, we alone remained out of it. The sacrifices in the pursuit of freedom can sometimes be a heavy price to pay and sometimes the price can be too much to bear. I remembered my husband, Gregory, and I imagined what hell he and my command Keshik were in. The minutes seemed like an eternity with all that was on my mind. Around me a tech is yelling that a live feed, from my Marauder, was coming in. I saw Gregory fighting for his very life against overwhelming odds. I could feel the heat and taste his fear in his struggle to buy all of us time. In the last few moments of the battle I saw the mech stagger under the intense fire and I could just see Gregory fighting the controls to remain upright. In the last few moments a Wolf Warhammer approached the downed mech, slowly raising its PPCs. My mind screamed eject Greg, eject and then the screen went blank. Everyone around me just stopped or was it time, I’m not too sure. I could feel the tears well in my eyes and I fought hard to contain myself. I brought up the video feed from Franklin’s mech and saw Nicholas reaching with his mech’s hands towards Frank’s cockpit. The feed went dead. So much sacrifice, so much death. My mind wandered back to my father, General McEvedy, and how the Usurper War had changed him. He loved me I know, but he was distant and was weighed down with all the people that had died under his command. I could feel him saying to me, “Sarah, don’t lock your emotions up and hide them. You can cry now and your troops won’t think any less of you.” I had ordered a tech to bring up Terra onto the vid screen next to my command chair, my voice choked with emotion I watched the planet rotate in the screen and I could just imagine the wind, the smell, and the sounds of nature. Its beauty was breathtaking and hid the ravages of war. It reminded me of how we can survive and we will overcome to carry the flag of freedom proudly. Finally, my emotions won and the tears flowed freely down my face. My son, Jason, climbs into my lap and asks, “Mommy where’s daddy at? Why are you crying?” I tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t form. My thoughts raced as to what to tell him. A random thought of Gregory popped into my mind and suddenly it became too much to bear. I grabbed him and held him as if my life depended on it. My tears touching his and our tears flowed down his cheek. “My beautiful son, your father died so we could live. Remember that freedom is never free, but a heavy price to pay.” Jason nodded like he understood at his mature age of 5, pretending to be grown up. A small smile struggled through the dark thoughts I held. Our daughter, Elizabeth, was down in my stateroom asleep and I thought about how she would never see her daddy again. She would probably never remember him because she was only 2 at the time. Someone is yelling for me to do something about the Clan Wolf warships approaching. I barely could issue the command to jump and my throat conspired against me to prevent us from leaving. After we jumped, I told the captain that I was heading to my stateroom and not to be disturbed. I could see the pain on his face and I realized that he didn’t have time to rescue his wife and kids. I could imagine what the Wolves would do to them and I could feel them die by their evil hands. “I have to be strong,” I reminded myself as I headed down the corridors. I could feel each and every one’s loss as I walked the long trek down. It seemed like an eternity to get there as I held Jason in my loving arms. I opened the door and stepped into the room. I put Jason down and looked at the pictures of us as a family. Every memory seemed to amplify the emotions in me ten fold. I couldn’t stand it anymore and fell to the carpeting sobbing. Jason grabbed my head and just held me like my father used to do. He caressed my forehead, lovingly, and told me not to worry he would take care of us. I grabbed him and held him, because I was afraid he would be gone like everyone else I loved. [Excerpted from First Lady Sarah McEvedy’s private journal.] The Draconis Combine's first contact with the "Minnesota Tribe" 2825:- The appearance of the "Minnesota Tribe", hitting the worlds of Trondheim, Svelvika, Richmond and Jarett in the Draconis Combine. The Tribe took stores and materièl from the worlds, and freed political prisoners from Richmond, then vanished without a trace at Valentina near the Outworlds Alliance / Combine border (We knew that prison was there... the Combine had been keeping people that did not fit into their social structure there for centuries. We did what was needed, freeing thousands of innocent victims of a dictatorial government. We will show the Combine and the rest of the Inner Sphere the power and glory of the True Star League! Freedom and democracy are our strengths, not the weaknesses that madman Nicholas Kerensky thought them) - from an extrapolated timeline of the Clan Wolverine created for the First Circuit by ROM Precentor Jonathan Applegate, Minnesota Tribe Investigations, Archive File 222-821, ComStar Archives Who Were Those Masked Men? (COMSTAR)Our operatives on Richmond managed to penetrate the Combine's investigation team studying the attacks by the so-called Minnesota Tribe. The only concrete evidence recovered thus far has been the body of one of the MechWarriors of the Tribe. The pilot was using a Lancelot BattleMech of exceptionally high quality. Of great interest was the MechWarrior's uniform. The collant suit was an enhanced version of an SLDF prototype that had yet to reach production when Kerensky's Exodus jumped from the Inner Sphere. Naturally, our agent sabotaged the suit so that its design would not fall into Combine hands. Though the warrior carried no personal effects, his suit displayed two interesting patches. One was the outline of the former North American state of Minnesota, with the numbers "331" faintly stitched on it. Our archives indicate that the number and the symbol are similar to those used by the SLDF's 331st Royal BattleMech Division (The North American Division) that left the Inner Sphere with General Kerensky. The resemblance is strong but the symbols are not identical, indicating that the patch was new rather than an old one reworked. The second patch was also revealing. It depicted a Terran Wolverine, white in color, with bloodied fangs. Our searches have revealed no correlation or connection to the designation of any known military unit meaning that it is new or reorganized unit. We conclude that this unit is indeed a surviving element of Kerensky's Exodus. Though we cannot substantiate this with physical evidence, the above items recovered point to a strong connection with the Exodus fleet. It can also be assumed that this unit has an existing technological and manufacturing base. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to determine either the current location or the destination of these raiders. -From a summary report to the First Circuit by ROM Precentor Emilio Travis, Minnesota Tribe Investigations, Archive File 222-802, ComStar Archives The Minnesota Tribe and the Chahar Profit In late 2825, the Minnesota Tribe made its first appearance in the Draconis Combine with a raid on the world of Svelvik. This previously unknown 'Mech unit of nearly regimental strength showed considerable skill in beating the planet's meager garrison troops. Refusing any communications, they simply took what they needed, and then left Svelvik without further bloodshed. What intrigued Jinjiro most in the reports of this unknown unit were that their impeccably maintained 'Mechs were freshly painted in Regular Army colors. It was Zabu who first noticed that the regimental patch was an outline of Minnesota, a geo-political domain in the North American region of Terra. What Jinjiro also learned from reports was that the regiment was apparently escorting a fleet of cargo, commercial, and liner JumpShips. This fleet, with their escorts, apparently had some definite destination and was using uninhabited star systems to reach it at a steady pace. The mystery group, by now known as the Minnesota Tribe, next attacked Trondheim. Because it was a prefecture capital, the 20th Rasalhague Regulars were stationed there. The ensuring battle was striking for the way the mystery 'Mechs dealt with the Kurita 'Mechs in strict Regular Army formations and tactics. Once again, the mystery group refused all attempts at communication, to the point that pilots of destroyed Tribe 'Mechs killed themselves to avoid capture. The mystery fleet then jumped from the system, apparently headed for some uninhabited star system near Trondheim. By now, the Kuritans believed that the Minnesota Tribe had to be a Regular Army unit, though they were not listed in any Regular Army order of battle. The possibility that the Minnesota Tribe might be an advance scout group raised the spector of the return of a very angry General Kerensky or his successor. This made Jinjiro decidedly nervous. With much trepidation, he ordered the Rasalhague and Pesht districts to the highest state of alert. He also moved troops within these districts forward to the Periphery borders. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Tribe struck Jarett, again taking what they needed before moving on. This time the Tribe thwarted efforts to stop them when a large group of their AeroSpace Fighters intercepted and kept two battalions of Kurita 'Mechs out of the battle. While House Kurita's attention was turned toward the Minnesota Tribe, the Lyran Commonwealth military took the Combine completely by surprise with a lighting raid on the Draconis Combine. What prompted the raid was the Combine's earlier capture of the Commonwealth freighter named the Chahar Profit. A grain ship destined for the starving population of the Steiner world of Chandler, the ship made a mis-jump that put it above Darius and under the guns of Kurita fighters. To win back the freighter and to rescue its crew, Archon Marcus of the Lyran Commonwealth brought together the remaining members of the famed Stealth 'Mech regiment. With all of house Kurita's attention diverted toward the Periphery, the Stealth rescue mission worked like a charm, much to the embarrassment of the DCMS. The Minnesota Tribe made one last attack against an inhabited Kurita world. About a week after the Steiner forces succeeded in rescuing the Chahar Profit, the Minnesota Tribe regiment hit the Kurita world of Richmond with a vengeance. Though it was inconceivable that the tribe could have known about the large prison and slave camps on the planet, their 'Mechs went straight for them. After easily overpowering the guards, they were soon freeing the many thousands of prisoners. Several DropShips then landed in the midst of the prison complexes to load up and transport all the freed prisoners offworld before the Kurita 'Mechs could arrive on the scene. Though no one realized it for quite awhile, the liberation of the prisoners and Unproductive on Richmond was the last time the Minnesota Tribe was seen in the Inner Sphere. Both the Minnesota Tribe and the debacle of the Chahar Profit rescue took a heavy toll on the Kuritans' ability to control the thinking of their people. Though the government did its best to suppress accounts of the Minnesota Tribe, stories did spread, particularly through the lower classes. Like a vision of avenging angels, the Tribe had swept down to free political prisoners and members of the lower class. The fact that everyone believed they were a Regular Army unit only added to their aura of offering divine assistance to the righteous and the poor. These stories soon combined with accounts of the Commonwealth's rescue of the Chahar Profit. Like a slow virus, the dogma that the Draconis Combine was destined to rule the Inner Sphere began to show signs of erosion from within. |