31st Century Warfare: Of Heroes, Mechs & Politics
The 31st century battlefield is not the friendliest place for non-power armored infantry. These giants, BattleMechs rule the battlefield, forming the main force of most combat units in the Inner Sphere. This is the world of BattleTech.
Coming from MechWarrior 4 and MechCommander as a nine year old kid, I had no appreciation for the vast world of BT. I was only concerned with "big robots go boom". When I became a teenager, replaying it gave me a fresh exploration of BT as seen in the vacuum of the scenarios presented in the two games. At 16, I started reading BattleTech through the MechWarrior Dark Ages novel (I know, it's not a popular timeline or plot for long time fans). From my reading and playing of the game, there is one clear distinct hallmark formula in BattleTech: betrayal, impossible odds and the price of victory.
Heroes
Grayson Death Carlyle
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| Picture from BattleTech the Game. |
The Gray Death Saga is one of the best representative for formula as one of the earliest series of novels in BattleTech. This is especially apparent on the first of the saga, "Decision at Thunder Rift" by William H. Keith Jr.
Grayson Death Carlyle's story starts on a remote outskirt planet of the Lyran Commonwealth, Trellwan. There he experiences betrayal when one of his father's lieutenants betrays the mercenaries which ends with Grayson barely surviving the massacre. From there we see the growth of the young brash son of a mercenary leader to a leader of the Gray Death Legion as he repeatedly beats the odds: capturing an enemy BattleMech with a single rocket launcher, escaping another betrayal and finally fending off an invasion by the Draconis Combine's Duke Hassid Ricol. .
Grayson is a bold and fearless leader, seen in his defense of Trellwan and beating the superior force of the invaders. After escaping death narrowly, he rallied the troops of Trellwan to fight the unthinkable: infantry against BattleMechs. His wits and bravery allowed him to successfully command the militia to outmaneuver and kill one of the enemy pilots and capturing the other. He further demonstrate his prowess in military matters by training the militia in anti-Mech combat as well as drills in combined arms combat to maximize the use of the captured Mechs with the militia's vehicles and infantry. As with most BattleTech heroes, he is a superb MechWarrior. Grayson also has a keen understanding of strategies, tactics and politics of the Inner Sphere. He assists a DropShip captain to escape the Trell star system and alert the Lyran Commonwealth of the conspiracy. Grayson knew that Duke Ricol needed the planet as a foothold to launch a sneak attack into the Commonwealth. Without this element of surprise, Trellwan has lost its value to the Duke and thus the Duke graciously stops the battle and leaves with his troops before the Commonwealth's troops arrive
Grayson will lead his Gray Death Legion on to fight impossible odds throughout the saga, ranging from fighting as insurgents in the jungles of the planet Verthandi (where they refit a DropShip to power itself through seawater) to allying with his nemesis, Duke Ricol, to ensure the survival of the Legion at Helm. Unfortunately, with any legend, there must be an end. Grayson will pass away from cancer after surviving an attempted assassination. His Legion will also cease to exist as a unit after the battle to defend the key weapons factory on the planet Hesperus II.
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| Picture from MechWarrior Online. The ShadowHawk Battlemech served as Grayson's main Mech during the beginning of his career as leader of the Legion. |
Justin Xiang Allard
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| Picture from BattleTech the Game. |
Another hero of BattleTech is Justin Xiang Allard, a leftenant in the Armed Forces of the Federated Sun. Justin is injured by a bandit (an important figure we will cover in a separate dive into the Warrior Trilogy) and is rendered unable to pilot BattleMechs ever again due to his arm being amputated. Worse, he is accused of crimes and dereliction of duty resulting in his injury and loss of materiel to the AFFS. This was representative of the bias he faced as he is of mixed heritage from both the Federated Suns and the neighboring Capellan Confederation. The only silver lining for Justin was new technology from the New Avalon Institute of Science (NAIS), a cybernetic arm with a cybernetic interface that allows him to pilot Mechs once more.
Justin is exiled and he leaves to Solaris V, the Game World where MechWarriors gather in gladiator style fights for the entertainment of everyone. However, even here, the fights of the different factions rears its head as Justin joins the gladiators under the Capellan flag. From there, he joins the Maskirovka, the Capellan intelligence agency, as an agent. Justin soon becomes the poster child of the ideal Capellan citizen, bringing merits to the Confederation through his knowledge of the AFFS and their secret military projects. He was also able to enter the inner circle of Chancellor Liao, the head of the Confederation and was also able to be well acquainted with the Chancellor's daughter, Candace Liao (spurring a romantic relationship).
At the end, his dedication to the Confederation was revealed as ruse. Justin, under the direction of Prince Hanse Davion, had been in a deep undercover operation in the Capellan Confederation. This was all revealed when the Kathil Uhlans, a Davion Mech regiment raided Sian, the capital of the Capellan Confederation. The raid succeeded in extracting Justin and fellow undercover agent, Alexei as well as Candace.
Justin demonstrates his loyalty and bravery to his country and family by sacrificing his time and reputation to go undercover and infiltrate the Capellan Confederation. He also shows a strong tenacity in the face of hardships. Even after having been told he can never pilot a BattleMech again, he perseveres in his rehabilitation. Further, he endures taunts and slanders by his fellow Federated Suns compatriots when he was undercover. His wits kept his identity from being exposed as he and Alexei worked continuously to undermine the Confederation's intelligence network as well as to curry favor from the Chancellor.
Justin continues to serve the Federated Suns as their head of intelligence after his father retires from the post. He served the post from 3039 till 3051, when an assassin hit succeeded on his life. His wife would continue their efforts to overthrow the Capellan Confederation.
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| Picture from MechWarrior Online. The Centurion named Yen Lo Wang is Justin Allard's most famous Mech. |
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| Picture from Sarna.net |
The last hero we will cover today will be Prince Victor Steiner-Davion, one of the most decorated characters in BattleTech (also a character that draws many criticism from fans). Young Prince Victor is the successor to both the houses of Steiner and Davion via his mother Archon Melissa Steiner and his father, Prince Hanse Davion. His parents realms have combined to form the superstate known as the Federated Commonwealth (FedCom).
Victor starts off as prodigious son sent to the outskirts of Steiner space (surprise, we revisit Trellwan). He was placed there alongside the border of the Draconis Combine away from the heavier skirmishes. This backfires due to the unexpected entry of the Clans into the Inner Sphere. The Clan Invasion ripped through Trellwan, destroying most of Victor's unit while his aide, Galen forces Victor to escape the planet. The event leaves a heavy mark on Victor as he stays up memorizing the names of his fallen comrades. Showing a strong tenacity, the traumatized young man also studied his enemies from retrieved battle footage. When Jamie Wolfe calls on the leaders on the Inner Sphere for a summit to unite against the invaders, Victor takes charge of leading the heirs of the various nations in their training though not at the pleasure of the heirs of the Combine and Confederation. Through their differences, he shows his ability to empathize and to see past prejudices to befriend Hohiro, heir of the Combine.
Victor would later become the leader of the military of the reborn Star League Defense Force, driving back one of the many clans from the Inner Sphere as well as leading a strike to the Clan Homeworld. He showed his understanding of their cultures and strategy in his declaration for a duel to establish an end to the current and future invasion.
While Victor was a strong warrior, he was not as strong as the other two in strategies. Victor's strength laid in his ability to build strong bonds and his ability to find talents such as Galen Cox who will become his chief intelligence officer and confidant as well as Kai Allard-Liao, the low self-esteemed son of Justin Allard.
Victor is by far one of the most storied character in BattleTech, being featured as the centerpiece or an important background character in many of the novels. His story is told through dozens of novels, ranging from his moments as a young commander till his death as a grizzled politician on Terra.
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| Picture from MechWarrior Online. The DireWolf BattleMech is one of the many Mechs piloted by Victor. |
That will be it for my coverage on a small portion of the heroes of BattleTech. This post is inspired by MechWarrior 5: Merceneries, now available on Steam (not a sponsored post). You can catch me streaming this game on occasions on my Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fenrixk17.
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