[OOC] Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

[AndyC]

A government in collapse. A world up for grabs. Millions of lives in the balance. And a mountain of cash for those brave, skilled, or crazy enough to take it. The work is usually difficult, often dirty, and always dangerous. If being a mercenary was easy, everyone would do it.

E P I S O D E I : B O R N T O L O S E

P R E M I S E:

The year is 3030, and Gawain’s Green Knights, a small mercenary command operating in the contentious Andurien region of the Inner Sphere, have found themselves in a situation. Originally under contract with the Capellan Confederation, they had been hired for garrison duty on the backwater border world of Espia, keeping the peace while the regular Capellan forces moved off-world to fight their hated enemies in the Federated Suns. It should have been easy money, chasing off bandits and looking good for photo opportunities while the local governor signed over fat stacks of cash until the regulars returned from the fighting.

Unfortunately for the Green Knights, things didn’t turn out that way. The Capellan Confederation lost their fight with the Federated Suns, and lost badly. While reeling from their disastrous war, the Capellan government withdrew its support from several border worlds, leaving Espia to twist in the wind. This resulted in protests, protests which became riots, riots which became a military coup. The new regime managed to seize most of the world’s military and economic assets….including the Green Knights’ Dropship, and the several million C-Bills the mercenaries were promised. Despite the local military seizing power, things continued to spiral out of control, erupting into a full-on civil war.

Now Gawain’s Green Knights are stuck without an employer, without a paycheck, and without a way off-planet. Between fanatical Capellan loyalists, opportunistic agents of the neighboring Free Worlds League, and radical Independents, the world is embroiled in a civil war which threatens to leave the entire planet in ruins. In the middle of this, Colonel Gaius Wayne and his band of mercenaries have to find a way out, either by finding the right client and rallying around their cause, or by grabbing enough loot in the chaos to pay for passage out of the system.

Whether they choose to fight for a higher cause, for the downtrodden caught up in the crossfire like them, for the money, or for each other, the only way out for the Green Knights is to fight their way through it. What remains to be seen is if they’ll still manage to get the money they were owed….or if any of them will be alive to spend it.

---

A B O U T T H E G A M E:

Disposable Heroes is an episodic sci-fi military roleplaying game set in the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe. Players will not need to be familiar with the wider lore of the setting in order to play, as the majority of the action will take place on a single locale (for this episode, the planet Espia), and details of the various factions and the broader history of the setting will be explained if and when they become relevant.

The GM and AGM, playing the roles of Colonel Gaius Wayne and of the opposing forces, will provide mission objectives and general orders, as well as describe enemy actions and give the occasional nudge to keep the plot moving. In general, these orders will be very hands-off, allowing the players more or less free rein over how they carry these missions out. In addition, the GMs will play the role of referee, enforcing the usual Guild rules and mitigating any conflicts that may arise, and determining how much the general lore is allowed to stretch and bend without breaking it.

---

A B O U T T H E S E T T I N G:

The Battletech universe is equal parts action-packed heroic pulp fiction, gritty hard-nosed war drama, grand sweeping space opera, and cloak-and-dagger political thriller. While the larger interstellar factions of the 31st Century are usually morally gray, each side has plenty of genuine heroes and villains to go around, and the conflict of characters is often just as important as the clash between Great Houses and their awesome mechanized armies.

The primary factions in the setting at large are the five Successor States, each ruled by a noble Great House which espouses an old-world culture: the Federated Suns (House Davion, primarily English), the Draconis Combine (House Kurita, primarily Japanese), the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner, primarily German), the Capellan Confederation (House Liao, primarily Chinese), and the Free Worlds League (House Marik, primarily Austro-Hungarian). Collectively, the Successor States and the worlds they occupy are known as the Inner Sphere. These states are mono-cultural, but multi-ethnic, meaning that a citizen of the Draconis Combine, for instance, could be of Asian descent or white or black or Middle Eastern or any number of other ethnicities, but would always be expected to speak and read/write Japanese and understand the tenets of traditional Japanese culture out of loyalty to the ruling Kurita family.

In between these huge interstellar empires and their constant battles are a number of smaller states known as the Periphery, shadowy organizations such as ComStar (who own the only existing technology allowing for interstellar communications), and countless mercenary companies that do whatever jobs these larger powers are willing to pay for. Mercenary commands can range from massive professional armies with enough skill and firepower to rival a Great House, to solo freelancers or tiny outfits that are little more than a pirate band with delusions of legitimacy.

After hundreds of years of unrestrained total warfare, the massive armies of the Great Houses have dwindled, the apocalyptic fleets of Warships have faded into distant memory, and both political expediency and strained resources have limited most conflict to the terrestrial battlefield. And in this theater of small-scale land-based combat, the Battlemech is king. As such, Mechwarriors are often held up as the new knights of the 31st Century, since they wield tremendous power that takes incredible skill and years of experience to master. Mechwarriors often have bombastic personalities, are prone to competitiveness, and will develop rivalries that can last lifetimes (lifetimes that are, just as often as not, cut spectacularly short),

The tone, aesthetic, and technology level of the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe can best be described as “mud and lasers.” Fantastical technology like faster-than-light travel and 20-meter-tall Battlemechs exist and are the focal points of most stories, but other common sci-fi staples such as aliens, nano-machines, and artificial intelligence either don’t exist at all, have been lost due to centuries of brutal warfare, or are simply too expensive and impractical to use. Computers are often bulky and slow, data is stored and carried in physical media like floppy discs and tapes, and hacking an enemy computer requires you to physically plug into it since the 31st Century equivalent of the internet is primitive and basic. In short, it’s the future, but it’s the 80s future.

TL;DR: take the hot-shot fighter pilots from Top Gun, the lo-fi cassette-futurism of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and the Machiavelian intrigue of Game of Thrones, and you’ve more or less got Mechwarrior.

For a more detailed dive into the lore of the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe, see the Lore Primer here.

---

R U L E S

• All official announcements and discussion will be made in the OOC thread. To avoid an overabundance of chatter, basic chat will be done in our Discord channel, which you can find here.
• This game is managed by two Gamemasters, @AndyC as the primary GM and @Pilatus as AGM. Any questions regarding rulings should be directed to them, but their say is final.
• In addition to the typical GM duties of accepting/declining character applications, resolving disputes, and answering questions regarding the game, the GMs will also be playing the roles of the Commanding Officer, the Opposing Forces, and other prominent NPCs. While the Commanding Officer will give general orders (i.e. “disable the enemy’s airfield”), the players will have total discretion as to how they go about it.
• Players have the option to play up to two characters, providing different roles (a Mechwarrior, an aerospace pilot, an infantry commander, etc).
• When creating your character, bear in mind the name of the game: ‘Disposable Heroes.’ While we encourage creating a compelling character, tropes that reek of ‘main character syndrome’ will likely not be accepted. I.e. no Chosen Ones, long-lost heirs of the Star League, or secret Clanners. In addition, while Mechwarrior can have its share of grim and grit, brooding loners are discouraged; this is meant to be a cooperative game, so make sure your character can function as part of a team.
• Explicit lore details in your character’s backstory are nice, but not required. If you are playing an ex-pirate, for example, you do not need to spend hours poring over Sarna to find the exact pirate band.
• If you do wish to incorporate more specific lore details into your character, I’ve created a Lore Primer for people who are unfamiliar with the setting. The Primer can be read here.
• When choosing your ‘Mech or vehicle, it must be one that is in regular service in the Inner Sphere by the year 3030. Extinct LosTech ‘Mechs, futuristic Clan ‘Mechs, and custom jobs are not allowed. In addition, for the early portion of the game, Assault ‘Mechs are off the table– the idea of the Green Knights being rag-tag underdogs falls through if everyone is stomping around in an Atlas.
• If you are unfamiliar with the various Battlemechs and other combat vehicles available, I have compiled a list of the most common and popular vehicles of the era as part of the Character Generator, which can be found here.
• Writing expectations for this roleplay are at least two well-developed paragraphs as a minimum per post, with three to five being the preferred standard. Fancy formatting like colored text and adding pictures is nice, but not required.
• During 'Mech combat, keep the results of your attacks open-ended (i.e. "Bob shoots his Large Laser at the enemy 'Mech," rather than "Bob's Large Laser blasts off the enemy 'Mech's head.") To capture the chaotic nature of combat (and the chance-heavy nature of Battletech itself), some elements of combat are going to be left to chance, as described below.
• You are required to post at least once per character within a fourteen (14) day period. There will be a post-check-in, once per week performed by the GMs in order to ensure the IC is moving consistently. Extensions will be given in extenuating circumstances. Please recognize your limitations before joining the RP; if you are unable to post once every two weeks, then it's highly likely that you do not have enough time to keep up with the RP. In the event that you do miss the deadline, your character will be listed as 'inactive'. After a further week of inactivity, your character will be expelled, and dealt with as necessary in the IC, whether killed or used as needed and then discarded. This whole process is simply easier if you just let the GM know if you're unable to keep up or simply have lost interest in the RP. If you find yourself in a plot with another player and they disappear, do your best to move on without them and quickly finish the arc to the best of your ability, or ask for the help of a GM.

---

M E C H A N I C S

Battletech is infamous for being a very rules-heavy, dice-dependent game, and while the GM is not going to require players to know these rules, 'Mech-on-'Mech combat is going to incorporate some dice for flavor. These are meant to be a tool for the storytelling, to replicate the chaotic nature of 'Mech combat, but the narrative will not be beholden to dice-rolling. We are not going to expect you to write out a post describing what you want to do, then say "you miss because the dice say no, lol."

Instead, dice mechanics will determine things like where on an enemy 'Mech your attack hit, or how many missiles in your salvo connect with the target. This is why the rules ask for you to keep combat posts open-ended; the GMs will read the players' posts to see what they are intending to do, will then determine the results, and post them as part of the opposing force's response. (i.e. Player: "Bob shoots at the enemy 'Mech with his Large Laser." GM: [rolls 2d6, with a result of 8, and consults the Hit Location table] "The Laser hits the 'Mech in the Left Torso") You'll always succeed at the thing you set out to do; the dice-- and the GMs' interpretation of them-- will just determine how much you succeed at it.

The enemy characters, however, will be determined by dice rolls entirely, hitting and missing as the rolls declare. The only instance where this will be overridden is in the case of lethal damage-- because this is a Casual game, the GMs will not kill a PC without the player's express permission.

---

C H A R A C T E R A P P L I C A T I O N

If you wish to either roll for your options or see a list of examples for inspiration, see the Character Generator here. You are allowed to pick options that are not on this list, provided they are within the limits described in the Rules.

For a detailed primer on the lore of the setting, click here.

Character Name:
Self-explanatory

Callsign:
What nickname does your character go by in combat?

Character Archetype:
Describe your character’s “high concept” in one phrase (ex: Hotshot pilot, Grizzled Veteran, Disgraced Hero, etc)

Character’s Guiding Motto:
What are the words your character lives by, that informs their actions and decisions? (ex: “Mind over muscle,” “Let God sort ‘em out”)

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
What character trait or element of their past keeps getting your character into
trouble? (ex: Short temper, Can’t resist a chance to show off)

Character’s Expertise:
Other than piloting their vehicle of choice, what are the three other main things your character brings to the team? (ex: Cyberwarfare, Knowledge of History, Negotiation) These are not the only things your character can do, but the things they do best.

Nationality/Allegiance:
In what nation was your character born? Are they a proud loyalist, an indifferent independent, a disillusioned expatriate, etc?

Background:
What kind of life did your character lead? Have they seen combat before? How long have they been with the Green Knights?

Battlemech or Vehicle:
What hardware does your character bring into battle?

[AndyC]

M I S S I O N P R O F I L E

The situation on Espia is, to use a bit of ancient Terran military slang, FUBAR. Seven days ago, Gawain’s Green Knights were forced out of the capital city of Balya Gora by the Crimson Fists, their Dropships captured by the Espian Guard and much of the civilian contingent taken hostage. Since then, the Knights that escaped the coup have regrouped in the Eunsan mountains, establishing a new headquarters hidden from enemy eyes as Colonel Wayne and his mercs plan their next move. They need to recover from the blow they’ve been dealt, get back on their feet, free their people, and get some payback on the Crimson Fists.

Primary Mission Objectives

SUPPLIES

With no access to their DropShip and no support from the locals, supplies for the Green Knights are critically low. Ammunition is the most immediate concern, as each autocannon and missile launcher has precious few shots before their magazines run dry. However, it won’t be long before food, drinkable water, first aid supplies, clothes, and a number of other necessities become an issue as well. If the Green Knights are going to have any chance of survival, their first order of business is going to be securing supplies. Some of these issues can be solved by making deals with the locals, but ammunition, armor, and spare parts will have to be taken directly from the enemy.

FORT TIE SHAN

A maximum security prison camp built originally for Capellan prisoners of war, Fort Tie Shan (“Iron Mountain”) is a veritable fortress built to withstand assaults from Battlemechs. Apart from walls of ferrocrete several feet thick, the prison is a veritable killing ground of turrets and minefields. Currently, the families and civilian contingent of Gawain’s Green Knights are being held at Fort Tie Shan. While the Espian Guard has made no threat to begin executing them yet, Colonel Wayne has seen this sort of situation before, and knows it’s only a matter of time.

Belaya Zvezda Spaceport

The only functioning spaceport on Espia, the NPDRE has kept Belaya Zvezda under tight control since the coup. In addition to holding the No Leaf Clover and the Dittohead in lockdown, the runways also allow the Espian Guard to fly a wing of Meteor Strike Fighters, maintaining air superiority. Shutting down the Meteors will be key to winning the ground war, and liberating the DropShips is the only way the Green Knights can get off-planet.

AIR DEFENSE NETWORK

Meant to repel a planetary invasion, the CCAF had constructed a network of long-range surface-to-air missiles across the continent, allowing them to fire on incoming (or outgoing) spacecraft from hundreds of kilometers away. Even if the Green Knights manage to liberate the spaceport and free their people, as long as the air defense network is online, those SAMs will blast the Clover and the Dittohead out of the sky. The Air Defense Network has its headquarters on the far side of the planet, in the East Seungli continent.

P R I M A R Y M I S S I O N O B J E C T I V E S

• Secure supplies and ammunition for survival
• Liberate civilians from Fort Tie Shan
• Disable Air Defense Network
• Recapture the No Leaf Clover and Dittohead

---

SECONDARY POINTS OF INTEREST

Points of Interest

AQUA VITAE WATER PURIFICATION PLANTS

Espia’s oceans are extremely salty, to the point where there is no naturally-occurring fresh water. When the world was colonized, terraformers constructed massive offshore desalination plants to provide colonists with drinkable water. In the centuries since, these plants became privatized and are owned by the Aqua Vitae Corporation, whose board members have become fantastically rich. The NPDRE have declared the Aqua Vitae platforms to be government property under the new regime, but AVC board members have refused, and many are under suspicion of supporting the Free People’s Movement. In most ways that matter, whoever controls the desalination plants controls Espia.

AQUA VITAE WATER PIPELINES

While most of the population lives in cities by the massive offshore desalination platforms, AVC pumps millions of gallons of drinkable water through immensely long pipelines to various sites further inland. Destroying one of the pipelines or disrupting the flow of usable water could potentially kill thousands, even millions, in a matter of days.

NEODYMIUM MINES

Neodymium is a rare-earth mineral found in magnets and used in advanced electronics, such as the ones the Capellan Confederation uses in their Raven Battlemech. With the discovery of the Helm Memory Core and the recovery of schematics for a myriad of powerful electronic devices, Neodymium has drastically gone up in demand; a cargo hold full of the mineral could potentially be worth millions of C-Bills to the right buyer.

HPG STATION

Hyperpulse Generators are the only effective means of interstellar communications; before its invention, nations would have to wait weeks or months for courier ships to transport messages back and forth between worlds. When an HPG uplink goes dark, worlds and entire systems are often lost to the rest of the Inner Sphere at large, sometimes cut off from outside contact for centuries. The capital city of Balya Gora has a functioning HPG station just south of the city, and a ComStar Adept overseeing its operation. Because HPGs are still irreplaceable even after the recovery of the Helm Memory Core, attacking or damaging one is considered a crime against humanity, and ComStar tends to have a very long memory when it comes to remembering anyone who messes with their things.

S E C O N D A R Y M I S S I O N O B J E C T I V E S

• Protect or secure the Aqua Vitae water purification platforms and pipelines
• Secure valuable cargo from the Neodymium mines
• Prevent damage to the Balya Gora HPG Station

[AndyC]

C O M M A N D I N T E L

Gawain's Green Knights

Gawain’s Green Knights

Founded in 3018 during the closing years of the Third Succession War, Gawain’s Green Knights is a small mercenary command owned and operated by Colonel Gaius Wayne. Originally envisioned as a pirate-hunting outfit, The Green Knights were composed mostly of light and medium Battlemechs, backed by a small handful of fast-moving hovercraft and helicopters to run down and dispatch raiders along the Rimward Frontier. While small and unremarkable, they quickly established their reputation as efficient and reliable mercenaries.

In 3022, the Green Knights had been working for the Aurigan Coalition, protecting worlds owned by House Arano when their rival family, House Espinosa, staged a coup. Now caught up in what would spiral into the Restoration War, Colonel Wayne led the Green Knights into fast and deadly fighting against Espinosa’s troops. After three years of hard campaigning and heavy losses, House Arano was restored to the throne, and Gawain’s Green Knights given accolades for their accomplishments. Despite being offered a knighthood by High Lady Kamea Arano, Colonel Wayne declined, opting instead to venture back into the Frontier worlds and rebuild the Green Knights.

Over the next three years, the Green Knights recruited new members, gaining experience fighting border skirmishes for the Magistracy of Canopus and the Free Worlds League. While under contract for House Marik, they encountered particularly vicious fighting against the Marian Hegemony, a brutal raider kingdom. While they fulfilled their contract, Gaius Wayne lost his left arm in the fighting, rendering him unable to pilot his Mech. In the aftermath, the Green Knights took time to heal their wounds, signing on for what they believed to be an easy contract: garrison duty for the Capellan Confederation.

Operating at full strength, Gawain’s Green Knights consist of two Lances of four Battlemechs apiece, and another lance of armored vehicles, three platoons of infantry, and a small handful of aerial units for support. This puts their roster of combat personnel at just under a hundred people, but when including the crew of their Dropships, the technicians and astechs, medics, cooks, logistical support, administrative staff, and all of their spouses and children, the number of people under Colonel Wayne’s care is nearly five times that amount.

DropShips

The primary DropShip of the Green Knights is a Union-class DropShip called the No Leaf Clover. Effectively a mobile fortress, it is capable of carrying up to a full combat company of Mechs, vehicles, and personnel. Bristling with particle cannons, ballistic autocannons, and long-range missiles, the Clover can be a substantial force-multiplier on the battlefield. However, because it is also the Green Knights’ primary headquarters and home, Colonel Wayne would never risk it unless absolutely necessary, choosing to field it defensively as a base of operations. The captain of the No Leaf Clover is the hard-drinking and smart-mouthed Captain Sally Roth.

Since the Green Knights have no land-hold and no quarters on usual mercenary hub worlds like Galatea, they have to bring their civilian contingent along with them, typically landing their ship as far from the front lines as possible. The civilians travel in the Dittohead, a smaller but still substantially-armored Mule-class freighter captained by the perpetually irritable Captain Reggie Myrick.

Currently, both DropShips have been claimed by the New People’s Democratic Public of Espia, and their captains and crews are being detained by the state.

L O C A L I N T E L

Espia

ESPIA

XY COORDINATES: -16.91, -389.694 (Andurien Commonality)
GRAVITY: 0.96 G
ORBITAL CYCLE: 2.7 Standard Years
ROTATION CYCLE: 34 Standard Hours
POPULATION: ~10,283,000
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The New People’s Democratic Republic of Espia
RULER AS OF JANUARY 3030: Premier Hyun-Woo Federov

A relatively forgotten system in the Andurien region of the Capellan Confederation, Espia is a verdant, Terra-like planet with two primary land masses (East and West Seungli) divided by the vast Vyzov Ocean. Over 80% of the planet is covered in extremely salty water, with no natural freshwater to be found, making it difficult for the world’s inhabitants to expand too far inland away from the massive desalination plants along the coasts. Its most interesting natural resources are large deposits of neodymium, a rare-earth element used in advanced electronics, such as those found in the CCAF’s new Raven Battlemech.

Espia’s population– ethnically a mix of Korean, Slavic, and Polynesian–had never felt any particular loyalty to Capellan Confederation, having long ago lost faith in the capabilities of the ‘Celestial Wisdom’ of House Liao, but had never had the capability to effectively secede. A small garrison force from the CCAF remained on planet to prevent uprisings, primarily infantry and conventional armored vehicles, bolstered by Battlemech support from mercenaries such as Gawain’s Green Knights. With the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War, CCAF forces abandoned Espia for the front lines, leaving the Green Knights the only forces on planet nominally affiliated with the Confederation. When news of the Capellans’ defeat reached Espia, the already dissatisfied population broke out into open rebellion.

Gawain’s Green Knights did their best to maintain the peace, but with Colonel Gaius Wayne refusing to open fire on civilians, there was little that a Battlemech company could do without committing outright war crimes. The local Espian Guard denounced the mercenaries as weak, and declared a coup against the government they had allegedly sworn to protect. To everyone’s surprise, the Espian Guard was backed by a full company of Battlemechs that had never been seen on-planet before. Now outnumbered and outgunned, the Green Knights were forced out of the capitol city of Balya Gora, cut off from their Dropship and most of their supplies, and regrouped in the nearby Eunsan mountain range.

Local Factions

The New People’s Democratic Republic of Espia

Established by the Espian Guard in the wake of the coup, the New People’s Democratic Republic of Espia is in fact an authoritarian dictatorship, where the acting government leader, Premier Hyun-Woo Federov, is little more than a figurehead and a puppet for the military commander, General Grigori Konala. The NPDRE has nationalized all major industries, seizing the assets of the upper class and relegating the lower-class citizens to little better than state-owned slave labor. While little more than a militia by the standards of a Great House, the Espian Guard is fairly potent for the standards of a planetary defense force, with fortified locations and missile sites over most of the world’s valuable locations.

The Crimson Fists

When the Espian Guard began their coup, the surprised everyone with the reveal of an entire company of twelve top-of-the-line Battlemechs, which they dubbed ‘The Crimson Fists.’ For a backwater border world, twelve Mechs is a substantial amount of firepower, more than the Green Knights could effectively engage in a stand-up fight. The NPDRE has kept the identities of the Crimson Fists a tightly-wrapped secret, but comms chatter has identified their commanding officer, call sign “Crimson King,” as the pilot of an 80-ton Battlemaster.

Espian Free People’s Movement

In response to the coup and the brutal tactics of the NPDRE, various insurgent groups began to appear, quickly organizing into the Free People’s Movement. A hodgepodge of cells ranging from student protestors to Espian Guard defectors, the Free People’s Movement fights to topple the NPDRE government, which it sees as illegitimate and corrupt. They claim no public leadership, though Councilor Ben Kahale, one of the planet’s wealthiest private individuals, has been accused to collaborating with the insurgents.

The Free People’s Army

A decentralized collection of militia groups, the FPA are fighting a losing battle, but one they consider worth fighting. Unable to match the Espian Guards or the Crimson Fists head-on, the FPA survives using hit-and-run tactics. Primarily consisting of volunteer infantry, the Free People’s Army also has a few light armored vehicles, and a handful of cobbled-together “Frankenmechs” made of civilian IndustrialMechs with a few guns and plates of armor bolted on.

The Heavenly Sword

While the Free People’s Movement can be said to be either an organization of freedom fighters or a destabilizing terrorist group, depending on whom you ask, the same cannot be said of the Heavenly Sword. A group of fanatical Capellan loyalists, the Sword are definitively and openly terrorists, committing heinous acts against military and civilian targets alike with the goal of forcing the government to swear fealty to House Liao. With no organized military force to speak of, the Heavenly Sword resorts to using suicide attacks, bombings, shootings, and other acts of random violence to terrify the population. Both the NPDRE and the Free People’s Movement have denounced the Heavenly Sword, but are too caught up in fighting each other to deal with them.

[Abstract Proxy]

Woo, let's go!

Canopian ex-Pirate with a Raven-3L coming right up.

[Th3King0fChaos]

LET'S GOOO!!!!

[Starlance]

Checking in, Archer driver in the works.

[Bork Lazer]

Character Sheet

Character Name: Aroxty Sameve

Callsign: Steel Rain

Character Archetype: Consummate Professional

Character’s Guiding Motto: " Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

Character’s Fatal Flaw: Egoistical

Character’s Expertise: Engineering, Stealth, Strategy

Nationality/Allegiance: Free World Leagues / Disillusioned Expatriate

Background: Born in a middle class merchant family, Aroxty's dreams of pursuing academic study in LosTech archaeology were dashed by the civil war bringing strife to the Free Worlds League. Initially conscripted as an infantry, Aroxty eventually rose up to the ranks to becoming a tank commander in charge of his very own crew of oddballs, misfits (and cannibals). Upon conclusion of the civil war in 3015 and with nowhere else left to go, Aroxty and his crew left the Free World Leagues and pursued mercenary work until they came into contact with Gawain's Green Knights.

Vehicle: " Merry-Go-Round" - Von Luckner MBT

[AndyC]

Biiiig taaaaaank.....

[Letter Bee]

Character Name:
Raven Rivers

Callsign:
'Family Man'

Character Archetype:
Loving Father

Character’s Guiding Motto:
"For my Family... Everything."

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
His love for his wife and children can be used to sway him to actions which do not benefit the group.

Character’s Expertise:
Well-read - Raven loves reading, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, or even cookbooks. Even trashy romance novels get a read sometimes, even if only so that he can laugh at how bad they are.

Knife Enthusiast - Raven loves collecting knives, and using them for hunting, cooking, and the occassional combat scenario even more.

A Real Man can Cook - Raven can cook almost anything edible and make it delectable with the right techniques and seasonings, including bushmeat, despite the diseases it carries.

Nationality/Allegiance:
Federated Suns/Loyal

Background:
Raven was born in a well-to-do world in Federated Suns territory, to a 'High Church' Protestant pastor and his wife. Joining the nearest Military Academy in hopes of one day finding the chance to pilot a fabled Mech, Raven was barely able to pass the test to be trusted a basic Phoenix Hawk Mech, and even then only because a cache of several units of those were discovered around his class' graduation. Nevertheless, he managed to make it as an average Mech Pilot, although he did not have the experience needed to earn the title of 'Mechwarrior'. Marrying a civilian just before the battle of Mallory's World at 2013, he fought beside Gaius Wayne and ended up forming plans to be 'honorably discharged' from service so that he can join the latter's planned mercenary company.

He, his wife, and their son (who was four when the Gawain Green Knigts were formally founded), accompanied their leader on various campaigns, although one spotted certain 'problematic tendencies' when his family was threatened; he was angrier, followed orders only to the letter and didn't give any more effort, and basically made it clear that if they were not safe, he would regard it as the fault of those charged with keeping them such. Nevertheless, he fought well enough, and his family was safe most times, that these tendencies were passed over, espcially when the Gawain Green Knights settled down to 'garrison duty'.

Then disaster struck when the Capellan Confederation lost the Fourth Succession War and the planet they were garrisoning rebelled and promptly set up its own authoritarian regime, and siezed the Green Knights' Dropships, including the one containing his wife and son. This caused him to spiral down into despair, and he genuinely pondered sending a covert message to the new Espian regime offering to betray his comrades in exchange for the lives of his family. However, this plan was derailed by his son covertly sending a message saying that he'd managed to escape the Espians' ship just as it was siezed, and he was now with the Free People's Movement.

Relieved at this news, yet knowing that his wife was still in harms' way, Raven dedicated himself to the coming fight once more, the question of divided loyalties laid to rest... For now.

Battlemech or Vehicle:
Shadow Hawk

[Abstract Proxy]

Main Character:

MechWarrior Ziska

Character Name:
Born Tereza Aranda, but as far as anyone in the Green Knights knows, her name is Emma Ziska.

Callsign:
Alleycat

Character Archetype:
Reformed Gangster Pirate

Character’s Guiding Motto:
Speed is life. C-Bills are C-Bills and a job is a job. Don't make things complicated, just go fast.

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Ziska is always looking for trouble.

Expanded Personality Section

A reformed pirate with a string of bad habits, Ziska is an adrenaline junkie and trouble maker in equal measure. Convinced that there is little to life other than living another day and managing to have another drink, Ziska tries her best to be the life of the lengthy party that she considers her life to be.

A hedonist through and through, Ziska is exceedingly friendly, social, and full of mischief. She is charming even, when the mood strikes her, and more than a little gifted when it comes to ballroom dancing. Surprisingly, Ziska is remarkably kind for a recently reformed pirate, even to the freshest faces in Gawain’s Green Knights, be they an Astech, Technician, Infantry Soldier, Tanker, MechWarrior, or Aerojock. Despite or perhaps because of her aristocratic origins, she makes little distinction between social origins.

Although Ziska is tight-lipped when it comes to her past, there are hints in her speech, in her knowledge and in her bearing of an aristocratic upbringing. She has an obvious military background and carries herself both during combat, and in the moments when it counts, in the manner of a professional officer. Despite her clearly military education, reflecting the time honored traditions of the the Magistracy of Canopus, Ziska is an exceedingly unorthodox MechWarrior. She is a master of ambushes, lightening quick strikes, and unconventional tactics in all forms.

Ziska lives fast, drinks faster, cheerfully eats, and pilots all her mechs at full throttle. Tonnage matters little to Ziska, but she refuses to go anything but dangerously fast. When deployed on a mission, Ziska loses much of her playful charm and shifts into a far grimmer version of her off duty self. It is no secret among the Green Knights that Ziska is well-versed in asymmetric warfare and other less than honorable tactics.

When engaging her enemies, there is something predatory about Ziska. She watches, she waits, and she plans with an uncharacteristic and unexpected patience...stalking larger mechs as if she is hunting large prey. Moving through the battlefield, she wastes little energy, moving with a marked efficiently, and striking at just the right moment. Having fought her way across the edge of the Inner Sphere in one desperate battle after another, Ziska possesses an intuitive sense of timing, a sixth sense for when to move, when to attack, and when to run.

A product of two very distinct military traditions, as an officer, Ziska alternates between kindness and cruelty as needed. She leads with the cold, practiced focus of a conventional military officer, comfortable with the brutal realities of the 31st century battlefield and with a constant eye on the prize. However, Ziska has clearly learned from her time operating as a member of a roving pirate band. She is willing to listen to others, especially her subordinates, and tolerates a surprising amount of democracy in combat operations. The agency that she offers comes with a heavy price and Ziska expects nothing but the best from those around her. Ziska has few qualms about raising her voice when angered and employing precise threats. More alarmingly to some of the other officers in the Green Knights, while far from unnecessarily violent, Ziska appears to have few reservations when it comes to the level of violence required to accomplish a mission.

For her many gifts as a MechWarrior and officer, Ziska has the personality of a domesticated feline, lazying about the DropShip when off duty, and managing to do only exactly as much administrative work as is required of her.

Character’s Expertise:
Reconnaissance, Tactics, and Criminal Expertise (Pirate)

Nationality/Allegiance:
Ziska is a Canopian noble living in self-imposed exile. Despite her origins she holds no particular allegiance to the Magistracy of Canopus.

Background:
Mysterious in all matters personal, Emma Ziska is a capable MechWarrior, respected for her talents piloting a BattleMech and her abilities as an officer in Gawain’s Green Knights. Far from sullen, she speaks freely, but rarely seems to say much of any truth or depth about herself.

Shaped by her ever changing answers, there are many stories about Ziska that circulate through Gawain’s Green Knights. Some old hands say she's a former pirate. They see cold eyes, quick hands, and the familiar, confident swagger of a scoundrel. Fresher faces, particularly those from the Periphery, mention the infamous Canopian Pleasure circuses, and the Canopian mercenaries that accompany them. Ziska knows many things about the galaxy. She has many tales to tell and amusing adventures to share. Wayne himself seems uncertain about Ziska's past and seems content to let the matter lie, lest he lose a talented MechWarrior to unnecessary politics or red tape.

Unsurprisingly, Ziska offers no clear answers when directly asked about any criminal acts she may have engaged in or questionable contracts she may have once signed. With a shrug of her shoulders and a mischievous smile, she simply dances around any serious questions about "complicated" matters like piracy.

---

Jealously guarded Magistracy of Canopus records, if acquired and carefully examined, indicate that Tereza Aranda was born on August 10th, 3005, in the city of Crimson, on Canopus IV, the planetary capital of the Magistracy of Canopus, to noblewoman Sarah Aranda and her husband Thomas. A well-respected family belonging to the Frone faction of the Canopian nobility, the Aranda family were among the few remaining descendants of the original founders of the Magistracy of Canopus.

Steeped in tradition and privilege, Tereza, the third of five children and the youngest of three daughters, was carefully groomed for a life intended to culminate in a leading position at the very top of the Magistracy Armed Forces (MAF). For a displaced Periphery pirate, Ziska thus possesses a remarkably first-rate education, carefully curated talents, and welcome social graces.

---

Pragmatic as only the citizens of the Periphery can be, Aranda's parents saw that she followed the usual pipeline intended to usher Canopian youths towards a successful, useful future. She was raised surrounded by diligent servants, serious tutors, and dedicated security forces.

Growing into an uneasy youth, Aranda completed her compulsory education with exceptional grades. Guided by a rotating collection of exhausted tutors, she received grades that did not fully reflect her lack of discipline outside of the select few topics that interested her. Still, it was clear that she had a sharp mind, and given her parentage, at the age of fifteen, Aranda was quickly shepherded into the MechWarrior training program on Canopus IV.

Her family name and the careful politics of her parents, paired with a natural aptitude for all things involving stompy robots, ensured that Aranda was quickly selected as an officer candidate. Thus, instead of being sent off to a Militia Defense or training battalion Aranda was delivered to Raventhir's Iron Hand, first regiment of the Magistracy Royal Guards, the most prestigious unit in all of the Magistracy of Canopus and the very unit tasked with protecting the Magistrix herself. Posted as a military aide-de-camp under Major Vernyce Alkobar, she received "on-the-job" training in all the finer aspects of warfare, military leadership, and the social life demanded of any serious officer. Knowledge deemed critical to thriving in the upper echelons of the MAF.

By the age of seventeen, Aranda had earned the rank of Banner Sergeant in the Magistracy Armed Forces. Well pleased with her achievements and eying a suitable future marriage following continued success, her parents purchased a commission as an Ensign for Tereza in the 1st Canopian Light Horse of the legendary Chasseurs á Cheval brigade soon after her seventeenth birthday. A storied regiment, famed for their bravery and success in battle, to the Canopians, the 1st Canopian Light Horse represented the very tip of the spear of the MAF.

In the years that followed, officially Aranda spent several years fighting pirates, killing Free Worlds League mercenaries raiding Canopian space, and keeping Marian Hegemony troops honest through the judicious application of firepower. Unofficially, along with the rest of her unit, Aranda participated in a number of clandestine raids targeting nearby Free Worlds League controlled planets. Proving herself in battle after battle and operation after operation, Aranda seemed poised for a proper promotion.

However, he culmination of what should have been a most carefully cultivated career was smashed to pieces under unclear circumstances. A band of pirates were subdued. A planet was liberated. Aranda was put up for a medal. There was a disagreement. Strong words were spoken. Alcohol was suspected to be involved. There were rumors of worse, far less palatable vices. In the days that followed, Aranda had a storied falling out with her commanding officer, a disagreement that still echoes in the memories of the 1st Canopian Light Horse. No less than five BattleMechs were heavily damaged in the brawl that ensued and some fourteen vehicles were damaged to varying degrees. Several venerable BattleMechs were left as complete write-offs, reduced to mere salvage and spare parts. With her entire company confined to quarters, Aranda, in an uncharacteristic rage, resigned her commission while still nominally under arrest. According to her commanding officer, Aranda then feigned illness, attacked one of the soldiers guarding her, stole a Heavy Gyrojet Gun, took an Astech hostage, and escaped the base pursued by four infantry squads. The soldiers that served under her tell a different story, suggesting that Aranda simply bribed the soldier guarding her and calmly walked off the base occupied by the 1st Canopian Light Horse.

A lengthy investigation by the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry (MIM) resulted in few clear findings and the ranking officer in charge of compiling the logged report could only speculate that Aranda had probably signed up with a passing mercenary company. After all, it was hardly the first time that a Canopian noblewoman had vanished into the deep periphery before anything could be done to stop her. It was widely expected by all involved that Aranda, like many a wayward noble scion before her would eventually, inevitably, come crawling back to the Magistracy of Canopus when she had exhausted the limited funds available to her.

---

Following the conclusion of the MIM investigation, records concerning Aranda are spotty, if not entirely nonexistent. A precious few reported sightings of Aranda manage to reach all the way back to Crimson, Canopus IV, and the Magistracy of Canopus. However, identification proved inconclusive, information arrived corrupted, and nothing much of value was learned. The Aranda family reluctantly accepted that they had lost a daughter. Life in the Periphery moved on, as it always did. Most people chose to forget. In the end, not even the operatives of the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry prove able to satisfactorily divine the whereabouts of the rogue Canopian noble.

However, files logged deep within ComStar databanks indicate that a suspected pirate, Emma Ziska, appeared in the Periphery during the early 3020s. Loose ties to the pirate kingdom of Tortuga were mentioned by confidential informants, but never conclusively proven. Working her way through a number of mercenary companies in questionable standing with ComStar's Mercenary Review Board (MRB), Ziska somehow established herself as a reputable MechWarrior. Anyone with knowledge of the sometimes shady dealings of the Mercenary review board, would perhaps rightly suspect that Ziska greased the right palms, sweet-talked the right ComStar Acolytes, and simply purchased the right digital documents to avoid any greater scrutiny.

With little fanfare, Ziska eventually arrived on Galatea, nominally to find more honest mercenary work with a reputable mercenary company. Armed with a positively glowing recommendation from one ComStar Precentor Alexander Wanyika, she was snapped up in record time by Colonel Gaius Wayne of the rising mercenary outfit Gawain’s Green Knights. Despite occasional problems related to her distinct disinterest in proper decorum, procedure, and avoiding trouble, Ziska has somehow managed to remain gainfully employed as a member of the Green Knights for almost three years now.

Battlemech or Vehicle:
Ziska currently pilots a Raven light mech (RVN-3L) that she has most certainly acquired through dubious means.

RVN-3L Supplementary Info

Asset Appearance: Ziska's RVN-3L is nondescript, painted with colors and camouflage patterns according to regional and seasonal requirement of the environment that the Green Knights are operating in. Below the cockpit, Ziska painted a black cat with an arched back and raised up fur that matches the fabric patch sewn onto her cooling vest.

Asset Weaponry:
A souped up Raven crammed full of tech from the recently discovered Helm Memory Core, Ziska's RVN-3L carries a small, but respectable weapons array chiefly oriented towards providing her lance with vital information through battlefield reconnaissance.

Clocking in at a mere 35 tons thanks to the use of weight saving Hellespont Lite Ferro-Fibrous armor, the RVN-3L is a sleek looking mech that is in many ways more reminiscent of a Light Aerospace Fighters fighter than a BattleMech. A Hermes 210 XL Engine provides the RVN-3L with a respectable cruising speed of 64.8 km/h and a max speed 97.2 km/h. This combination of good armoring and speed allow the RVN-3L to survive unavoidable combat encounters until reinforcements can arrive.

Although the RVN-3L is intended to operate as a recon or electronic warfare asset rather than as a front-line combatant, the light mech is equipped with two Ceres Arms Medium Lasers mounted in the Right Arm and one Harpoon-6 SRM-6 mounted in the Right Torso. One ton of CASE-Protected SRM-6 ammunition, allows fifteen shots, and can be used to cause critical damage to vulnerable internal components of an enemy unit once the armor has been breached.

Carrying the most cutting-edge electronic warfare equipment in the Inner Sphere, courtesy of the scientists at Apple Churchill, the RVN-3L is a peerless master of electronic warfare and reconnaissance. Conceived to be a force multiplier by the desperate Capellan Confederation during the Third Succession War, the RVN-3L blankets friendly units with electronic jamming using a a Ceres Metals Model 666 communication system equipped with an advanced Guardian ECM Suite.

The Apple Churchill 442x Target Acquisition Gear mounted in the Right Torso and the Apple Churchill Guiding Light Narc Missile Beacon in the Left Arm, allow the RVN-3L to provide targeting support for friendly forces. The RVN-3L carries two tons of CASE-protected NARC Missile Beacon ammunition in the Left Torso, allowing twenty four shots before resupplying is required. Critically, for a reconnaissance BattleMech the Hellespont Interrogator Beagle Active Probe mounted in the Center Torso helps to rapidly detect and classify other battlefield units whether they are camouflaged or even shut down. To ensure the accurate delivery of lasers, SRMs, and Narc Beacons the RVN-3L comes equipped with a highly accurate C-Apple Churchill target tracking system. Finally, eleven heat sinks ensure that the RVN-3L is a cool BattleMech to pilot, even when it is firing an Alpha Strike.

Beyond standard SRM ammunition, Ziska utilizes SRM inferno ammunition to set enemies on fire. Although she uses inferno rounds chiefly to overwhelm the heat dissipation system of enemy mechs, in a pinch the SRM inferno rounds can be used to devastating effect against combat vehicles, battle armor into flaming, and conventional infantry platoons.

Appearance:
Average in height, Ziska has the athletic build expected of many a MechWarrior and professional soldier. She has a dusky complexion with brown eyes and long, curly dark hair that has a habit of straightening from the heat of her BattleMech's cockpit. She has no tattoos and despite having suffered equally from across the wide range of injuries inherent to plying a trade as a system traveling soldier for hire, she has no particularly noticeable scars.

Comfortable in the shadows, Ziska moves with a catlike dexterity and is known for being alarmingly quiet. She has a habit of prowling the decks of the Green Knight's DropShip in search of minor amusements to occupy her time, especially during the lengthy transit time between contracts. More than one unfortunate Green Knight has been scared half to death by the sudden, unexpected appearance of the MechWarrior, often in places where her presence is exceedingly hard to logically explain.

A casual dresser with a military flair, Ziska wears a rotating collection of combat uniforms. Largely military fatigues of a recent Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF) make, her outfits consist of a jacket, trousers and shirt or T-shirt.

Ziska is also inordinately fond of lounging around in the classic flame-resistant coveralls favored by mechanics all across the Inner Sphere and she keeps several pairs that she has permanently 'borrowed' from her Astechs and Technician. Most of the coveralls she wears appear to have been manufactured for the Federated Suns Navy (FSN) and Lyran Commonwealth Navy (LCN).

As a seasoned MechWarrior when piloting her BattleMech Ziska wears the familiar garb of a MechWarrior. Well-worn combat boots, tattered shorts, a breezy tank top, and fire resistant gloves.

Ziska's pride and joy is a heavily customized neurohelmet that she claims to have won over a game of poker in a deep periphery backwater tavern that she couldn't possibly reveal, not without having to kill someone, maybe a couple of people even. Lighter than the usual bulky neurohelmet that a MechWarrior relies on, Ziska's helmet is painted midnight black and has her call sign written in swirling red letters on both sides. Her Cooling Vest is standard, but sports a sewn on patch depicting a black cat with an arched back and raised up fur. Due to the cramped nature of a BattleMech cockpit, Ziska keeps her sidearm in a chest holster attached to her Cooling Vest.

Picture from Green Knights' Personnel Files

Equipment:
Adopting a loose military dress, Ziska carries a Calaveri 10mm Auto-Pistol in a holster on her right hip. A sleek, small black pistol, it is an ideal sidearm for a MechWarrior often operating inside of a cramped BattleMech cockpit.

As a final insurance policy should her BattleMech be disabled, Ziska has tucked a Mauser and Gray Firearms M-75 personal defense weapon beneath her ejection seat. A rugged design, the M-75 is a modular and compact PDW chambered for a respectable 6.5×25mm round. A bargain purchase, the M-75 comes standard with a detachable low power optic, wire folding stock, grip safety, threaded barrel, and hollow foregrip which can be used to hold a spare magazine.

As a reminder of home, Ziska keeps a Ceres Arms Slasher Combat Knife. Originating from the Capellan Confederation, the SCK is a double-edged, forged out of high quality nickel steel knife. Balanced for throwing, the SCK has a hollow, rough steel grip complete with a removable cap. Designed for export markets, the knife was popular in the Periphery, selling well in the Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordant. Although Ziska chiefly uses it to cut fruit, the knife is equally useful for acts of violence when situations demand it.

Bonus Music:
youtube.com/watch?v=bz3Yw3XbsVQ

Supporting/Miscellaneous Characters:

Ziska's MechTech and AsTechs

MechTech Benedito Davids

Name: Benedito Davids
Nickname/Callsign: Smiley
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Crew Position: MechTech
Rank: Sergeant
Nationality: Marian Hegemony (Horatius)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

A veteran pirate and reluctant participant in both the Third and Fourth Succession War, Benedito Davids, is the MechTech responsible for keeping Ziska's BattleMech running in good order.

Born in the Periphery, Davids is a native of Horatius, a medium sized planet of the Marian Hegemony, known largely for a faltering arms manufacturing facility. Raised on dreams of a burgeoning empire destined for greatness, once, once Davids would admit he truly believed in the words of a modern-day Caesar. Davids will fight. Davids will kill. Davids will do a number of things that a more 'civilized' technician will baulk at doing. However, not for ideals, not for dreams, and not for hopeful promises. No, Davids works for C-bills or hard currency, nothing more and nothing less.

The son of a bandit, the son of a long line of bandits, Davids views the Inner Sphere, Periphery, and surrounding space with none of the optimism of his younger colleagues. Thanks to the actions of the Imperator himself, Marius O'Reilly, and the particulars of growing up in a Bandit Kingdom, Davids is intimately familiar with how grim life in the 31st Century can be.

A quick hand with any tool practically since he could walk, Davids followed the expected path of any enterprising youth in the Marian Hegemony and joined up with a Marian pirate crew. The "starfarers" as they called themselves were a mixed lot. They were gentleman thieves, cutthroat murders, failed nobles, and impoverished farmers. Wretched scum to most of the Inner Sphere, Davids recalls with some pride that they had morals enough among themselves. The band of pirates had few illusions of what life was really like or where it would lead them.

Working as an Astech to a grizzled pirate mech tech, Davids learned to patch BattleMechs together with minimal parts, little time, and few workable tools. Even know, years later, few mech techs are as ingenious as Davids when it comes to figuring out how to jury-rig a BattleMech or salvage parts from a burned out husk. With the retirement of his mentor, Davids eventually secured a place as a full mech tech. Claiming a share and half of all plunder the pirates acquired, Davids did well, and sent substantial funds back to his family in the Marian Hegemony.

Carrying a growing reputation among the roving pirates of the Marian Hegemony, Davids was offered an intriguing opportunity to join the crew of a Marian privateer, the legendary or equal parts infamous, John van Rheenen, more often known as Twice-Hanged John. No mere pirate, Twice-Hanged John was commanded resources far beyond a lowly pirate and was rumored to be held in great esteem by the Imperator.

Serving under Twice-Hanged John, Davids raided across the Periphery, crossing swords with the Magistracy Armed Forces more times than he could count, and managing to live with only some moderate bruising. Branching out, the pirates launched a series of raids targeting the Free Worlds League. While successful at first, following a strong military response from the Free Worlds League military, Davids found himself fighting a losing battle against forces of the Free Worlds League Military. Captured by the 2nd Marik Militia, nicknamed The Fates, Davids found himself a prisoner of the FWL, along with some fifty other pirates.

Desperate for competent MechTechs as a result of an unfortunate air lock malfunction, the Mariks presented Davids with a rare proposition. Deeply pragmatic, the commanding officer of the Ridge Riders, the main strike unit of the Fates, Lieutenant Colonel Barton "Black Bart" Burton offered Davids a pardon if he joined the Ridge Raiders and the 2nd Marik Militia as a MechTech. Happy to avoid the hangman's noose, in contrast to the majority of the survivors of Twice-Hanged John's crew, Davids accepted without a second thought. After all, all pirates understand the value of survival.

Attached to the Ridge Riders, Davids participated in the disastrous raid on the Lyran world of Algorab in 3020. Certain the fates had once again betrayed him, he watched over half of the 2nd Marik Militia perish on Algorab V. In the end only the Ridge Riders and Second's command staff made it off planet alive. Three years of bitter rebuilding followed. The 2nd Marik Militia were now reduced to two full companies of green recruits and a recon battalion with barely more experience to count on.

When the unit was transferred to the Capellan front in 3024, Davids could see the doom the unit was destined for and he deserted as soon as the unit made planetfall. Adopting a civilian identity, Davids worked his way through a string of dubious mercenary companies and made his way to Galatea. There he was personally hired by Ziska, who claimed the now grizzled mech tech as her senior mech technician.

Personality:

Davids is a taciturn MechTech, prone to long bouts of melancholy. A man of many memories and obvious regrets, he is a soul certain of his own damnation. Unlike many a scoundrel racing headfirst towards their own death in hopes of redemption, Davids is instead merely resigned to the fact that most of the people in the Inner Sphere would prefer to see him hanged if they knew his full past.

He is shaped by most of a lifetime of piracy, more than two decades spent raiding planets scattered across the stars. A harsh disciplinarian, Davids is unafraid to use carefully employed brutality and even in his middle years he is a leader convinced of the importance of absolute obedience. Aware of the consequences of failure, he endeavors to run a tight ship. Calm, cool, and capable of great violence, should it be needed, he is a quietly intimidating figure on the DropShip. Like Ziska, there is a touch of the famed wilderness of the Periphery on him and the pair easily fall into the unspoken, sometimes strange, and decidedly unfamiliar (to most of the crew) habits of Periphery pirates.

Woe be it to anyone found in dereliction of their duty, regardless of rank, as Davids has little patience when faced with behavior that threatens the current venture. Although he is generally satisfied with Ziska and her conduct, he is known to engage in loud screaming matches with his nominal superior when he determines she is becoming too relaxed, which is often.

For reasons unclear to anyone but Ziska herself, given how little Davids appears to smile, Ziska has generously bestowed the nickname of Smiley to Davids.

Astech Anica Kesi

Name: Anica Kesi
Nickname/Callsign: Witchcraft
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Crew Position: Astech (Assistant Technician)
Rank: Corporal
Nationality: New Delphi Compact (New Delphi)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

Anica Kesi, beyond her role as a MechTech, is Ziska's most trusted confident, friend, and reluctant companion in most of the adventurous, usually completely inadvisable plots that are carried out by the MechWarrior.

Born in the Deep Periphery, within the confines of the enigmatic New Delphi Compact, Kesi lived an idyllic pastoral life. Outside of the recurring ravages of the Delphian Curse, an infamous virus spread throughout the New Delphi Compact, that is. A scholar at heart, Kesi's parents were geneticists, like many Delphians, working at the Virus Research and Immunization Institute (VRII) in order to discover a cure for the Delphian Curse.

Raised in the anachronistic New Delphi Compact, Kesi's early life was not that different from an agriculture life spent on Terra in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Technology was limited, outside of the domains of medicine, government, and space travel, where the Delphians had managed to achieve and in some cases surpass the level attained by the Inner Sphere in the twenty-sixth century. Lacking even HPG technology, in stark contrast to the Inner Sphere and even Periphery, the New Delphi Compact had just enough technology to keep it functioning. Built around principles of pacifism and limited government, Kesi experienced little of warfare or the politics that dominate the rest of humanity.

Surrounded by green fields, forests, and fresh air, Kesi learned precious little about the broader galaxy. Like other Delphians, her family had little money, often bartering for goods with their neighbors. Only when she accompanied her parents to the planetary capital of Athenae did she use money.

A strong student, Kesi predictably attended the New Delphi University, where she graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. Easily employed following her graduation, Kesi enjoyed a burgeoning career maintaining and sometimes designing machinery in a textile factory.

However, despite her professional success Kesi began to despair of the insulated society of the New Delphi Compact. She longed to see more. She dreamed of traveling. She began to horde information. She collected rumors. She listened to stories. She spent her evenings and nights learning about the Periphery. About the Inner Sphere. About the Great Houses. And about the MechWarriors.

Convincing the Senior Councilor of New Delphi of the need for more recent information about the Inner Sphere and particularly technology, Kesi managed to secure funding to buy passage to way to Federated Suns controlled spaced on a passing interstellar freight ship bound for the Inner Sphere.

Once there, Kesi quickly signed up with a small time mercenary company engaged by the Federated Suns. In the span of a few years, she traveled widely. Seeing as much of the Inner Sphere as she could. However, she rarely stayed in one place or with one company for long, desiring a full experience of the Inner Sphere. Always, however, always she found herself returning to the realms controlled by the Federated Suns.

As she worked, she traveled, and as she traveled she learned. She worked her way up from a lowly technician relegated to fixing simple mechanical devices. She fixed weapons. She fixed light vehicles, then tanks, and then aircraft that traveled beyond the speed of sound. Eventually she began to fix BattleMechs. Despite her humble technological origins, Kesi impressed the MechTechs left to train her with her grasp of the mechanical. She knew little of computers, it was true, but she learned at a breakneck pace. More importantly, she listened, she listened well, and she seemed to understand the underlying concepts that were critical for a functioning BattleMech.

Eventually, signing up with a modest mercenary company, called Herbert's Heroes, Kesi found herself traveling to the the frontiers of the Federated Suns. Assigned to garrison duty on Bartrock, Herbert's Heroes were tasked with defending the small, desolate planet from increasingly frequent pirate raids. Largely unsettled and uncivilized, Bartrock was important to the Federated Suns only for the rich ore and mineral deposits that had been recently discovered.

Months unfolded uneventfully. The aforementioned pirates did not make an appearance. The mercenary company rested and waited with increasing boredom. While her colleagues grumbled, Kesi spent time exploring the wilds of Bartrock. She found the desert pleasing. Harsh as it was, she found it beautiful, peaceful in a haunting way that filled her heart with bittersweet feelings.

Kesi was camping in the desert when the pirates finally struck. She heard garbled communications. She heard fighting. She heard desperate screams over the comms. She saw smoke on the horizon, but she did not falter. She walked faster towards the battle. She arrived too late. She found herself alone.

She had been left behind. The mercenary company had fled. The civilian miners around were ashen faced. They had all been left behind in the chaotic scramble to escape off planet. Some five hundred souls. Kesi among them. The pirates were smiling. Laughing even. Some of the miners fought back. Many of them died. Kesi didn't resist. She didn't see much point. Brought before the pirate leaders, Kesi was claimed as booty by Ziska. Kesi held onto little hope concerning her own fate, even the isolated citizens of the New Delphi Compact knew about pirates. They knew what pirates did. They had heard about the unmentionable crimes that pirates inflicted on their captives.

Hopes of tolerable perpetual servitude under Ziska were quickly exceeded, when the eccentric pirate promptly freed her and offered to retain Kesi as one of her personal MechTechs. Certain that professional employment underneath a pirate MechWarrior was vastly superior to enslavement, Kesi happily accepted, abruptly silencing any internal thoughts she had about the ethics of piracy.

Personality:
Kesi is as focused and meticulous as one might hope, if not always expect, a MechTech to be. She appears capable of fixing anything, no matter how ancient or debilitated, channeling an understanding of technology far older by centuries than most of what is considered current in the Inner Sphere. Compared to many a MechTech, Kesi operates more by feeling and by hand than by computer or inflexible logic. When asked, Kesi jokingly says that she always tries to speak to the metal that she is working on, to understand what it is feeling and what it really wants.

A true peacemaker, Kesi is friendly, talking easily with almost anyone, and there is something remarkably reassuring about the young MechTech, an unstated certainty that somehow, improbably things will work out in the end. Still something of a stranger to the Inner Sphere, Kesi keeps a paper journal on her person at all times, within which she diligently records her many observations about the galaxy outside of the New Delphi Compact. Employing ancient methods, Kesi makes sure to post "packages", copies of her journal, to the New Delphi Compact via couriers when she is able.

Unsurprisingly, given her liberation from what promised to be a length time as an enslaved MechTech for a band of pirates, Kesi's loyalty towards Ziska is unflinching. However, while she tolerates Ziska's less than stellar habits, like Davids Kesi is completely unafraid to challenge the MechWarrior when she deems it necessary. Ziska for all her many personal faults, is exceedingly willing to at least listen to her advice, if not always to follow it.

Astech Asuga Sunther

Name: Asuga Sunther
Nickname/Callsign: Nuts and Bolts
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Crew Position: Astech (Assistant Technician)
Rank: Corporal
Nationality: Federated Suns (Chakachamna)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

The man, the myth, the MechTech prodigy, Sunther is nowhere near where he expected to find himself if you had asked him years ago.

Born and raised on New Avalon, Sunther grew up with an obvious series of goals in mind. Attending the New Avalon of Institute Science. Graduating the New Avalon Institute of Science. Serving with distinction in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. Retiring with full benefits. Accepting a posting at the New Avalon Institute of Science. And finally conducting research which would revolutionize BattleMechs across the Inner Sphere.

Ambitious as this plan was, at first, Sunther appeared to be checking off the expected boxes every step of the way. He graduated at the top of his class from a small, prohibitively expensive private school. He was accepted to, attended, and graduated from the College of Engineering at the New Avalon Institute of Science.

With a veritable pile of accolades and recommendations in hand, Sunther then secured a position as an Astech with the Davion Heavy Guards. Mentored by some of the finest MechTechs found within the AFFS, Sunther thrived and was advanced to the rank of a fully qualified MechTech. Stationed on New Avalon, working under commanding officer, Field Marshal Ran Felsner, Sunther relished his times as part of the Davion Heavy Guards. The prestige of serving in one of the companies of the Davion Brigade of Guards was intoxicating to the young technician and he enjoyed the admiration of many of his friends and family.

With his growing success, troubles, unwelcome troubles appeared for Sunther. Issues arose. Sunther felt a growing sense of dread. Anxiety assailed him. Private doubts began to nag at him. He struggled to sleep. He forgot to eat. He couldn't ask for help. He didn't know who to talk too. He soldiered on. He tried. He tried harder. He buried his feelings. Minutes turned to days, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, but the dark clouds continued to follow him.

And then Sunther made a mistake. He made a serious mistake. An improper solder, a poorly repaired actuator. A small mistake, but a serious one. Enough of a mistake to send an Atlas falling to the ground. Sunther's superiors were understanding, kind even, but they had no choice. His performance had been suffering for some months. The Davion Heavy Guards had standards, they had expectations to live up to, unnecessary risks could not be afforded, no matter how painful it was for them to lose one of their own.

Drummed out of the AFFS with a medical discharge, Sunther knew one thing. He could not return home. He couldn't face his parents. He couldn't see his friends. He couldn't explain. He didn't want to. Leveraging a rehearsed story, Sunther talked his way onto a mercenary company chiefly by virtue of his NAIS training.

Sunther remembers little of the year that followed. He worked hard. He thought little past maintaining and repairing the BattleMechs in front of him. When the contract ended, he elected to sign up with a new mercenary company, finding little value in fresh friendships. Following this pattern for some years, Sunther eventually met Ziska or rather found himself lost to Ziska in the course of a brawl. As Sunther tells it, the MechWarrior he was working for, challenged Ziska to settle matters honorably in a back alley brawl, following unfounded, according to Ziska accusations of cheating. Possessing little in terms of remaining C-bills, the MechWarrior offered Ziska his chief MechTech, paid for a year of his services, for a chance at redemption.

Surprising no one, Ziska accepted, but less clear is how she managed to emerge the victor of the storied fist fight. However, despite the nature of their meeting and his apprehensions about working for her, Sunther discovered that he quite enjoyed his time working underneath the outlandish MechWarrior. As a result, despite competing offers, Sunther has remained with Gawain’s Green Knights for some years now.

Personality:

Serious and prone to bouts of melancholic anxiety, Sunther remains an exceptionally gifted MechTech despite his personal issues. Clearly most comfortable around Ziska and her other mech technicians, Sunther is more than a bit reserved. He is slow to warm to others, maintaining a polite demeanor, but showing little interest in broadening his social network.

Full of doubts and professional regrets, Sunther is painfully unsure of himself in all contexts outside of those related to BattleMechs. There is something sadly desperate about Sunther. He is a man searching for an identity, a new person to become, and a new way to define the very core of his being.

Astech Virginia Kan

Name: Virginia Kan
Nickname/Callsign: Mouse
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Crew Position: Astech (Assistant Technician)
Rank: Corporal
Nationality: Capellan Confederation (Prix)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

Capellan born, Virginia Kan hails from the stormy planet of Prix. Far from wealthy, she grew up with the sparse but adequate resources offered to all Capellans. The third of four children, she spent much of her childhood following around her father, a technician responsible specializing on Capellan armored vehicles. Learning from the oil covered man and following in his example, Kan in turn spent most of her youth working on the IndustrialMechs critical to agriculture in the Capellan Federation.

With an eye on citizenship and the many benefits it entailed, at the age of 13, Kan served a stint with the Capellan Armed Forces. Two years in the Prix Home Guard was enough to earn her citizenship. Thrust into an unfolding miasma of border skirmishes between Great Houses and opportunistic pirates, Kan was ungenerous introduced to the full gamut of violence possible in the Inner Sphere.

Taking little joy in suffering, Kan still found military life appealing and inspired by the advice of some of the older MechTechs, she sought out a career as a mercenary mech technician once she had received her citizenship. The freedom to pick her contracts and higher pay proving to be more to her liking, compared to the sparse lifestyle afforded to the technicians serving as part of a militia unit of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces.

Personality:

Even keeled, Kan possesses a generous temperament. She is decidedly non-judgemental and few things that occur in Gawain’s Green Knights appear to bother her.

Although she is reliable, many see her a bit of a free spirit, and more than one Green Knight has reacted with confusion when seeing her dancing alone in the lounge of the DropShip at odd hours. Unbothered by such hasty opinions, Kan is confident in her own choices and beliefs, happily marching to the beat of her own drum. Extremely flexible, she simply seems to go along with the flow of things as they unfold.

Astech Magnus Licht

Name: Magnus Licht
Nickname/Callsign: Snarl
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Crew Position: Astech (Assistant Technician)
Rank: Corporal
Nationality: Lyran Commonwealth (Wotan)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

An aspiring MechTech, grinding away as an Astech, Magnus Licht is a brash young man working under the careful supervision of Ziska's MechTech Davids.

The prodigal son of a wealthy family long established on the planet of Wotan, located at the very edges of the Lyran Commonwealth, Magnus is a man living his life based on singularly based on his own aspirations. A great disappointment to his parents, particularly his father, who had hoped that Magnus would adhere to family tradition and pursue a career in interstellar banking. Disowned, uncommonly for a Lyran, if the stereotype about classism and "Social Generals" is to be believed, Licht has advanced through his own merit and hard work, rather than through any of his social connections or those of his family.

Surviving the basic four month boot camps held by the LCAF to train Lyran citizens for war, Licht found himself tapped for additional training in BattleMech maintenance. Working with his hands, to the great chagrin of his parents, Licht found that there was a life outside of checking spreadsheets to account for c-bills. Despite the loud protests of his father, Magnus happily accepted an offer from the LCAF to attend the War College of Buena. His refusal to accept a purchased posting on Wotan in an administrative position is according to Magnus the reasons for his disownment.

An oasis of meritocracy, free from the classism that had afflicted the Lyran Commonwealth, the War College of Buena was a non-nonsense academy dedicated to pragmatic education of all students. Acknowledged as the finest academy for technicians in the Lyran Commonwealth, the War College of Buena impressed Licht from the moment he arrived. Although he did not receive any great degree of combat training, as part of the technical staff, Licht learned to maintain everything from small arms, electrical equipment, combat vehicles, and even BattleMechs. In line with the stated goals of the academy, by the time he graduated Licht was proficient in several technical fields relevant to BattleMechs.

Where others faltered, Licht excelled in the mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging environment of the War College of Buena. While many of his classmates, chafed under the hard, authoritarian instructors at the College, Licht seemed to only do better when faced with the endlessly critical opinions of the College staff. Even the notoriously rough treatment of the underclassman leveled by upperclassman did little to stifle Licht's motivations.

Spending some six months maintaining the BattleMechs of the Buena Training Battalion following live-fire exercises and a number of anti-pirate missions along the Periphery border, Licht received high praise from his instructors regarding his performance in the field.

Graduation from the War College of Buena, presented Licht with a unique set of opportunities. Ultimately, wary of the reputation of the LCAF as a bastion of Social Generals, Licht elected to pursue a career as a mech technician in a mercenary company. Relying on old connections, Davids somehow managed to convince Licht to accept a contract with Gawain’s Green Knights despite several other competitive offers submitted to the Astech.

Personality:

Young, ambitious, and not just a little bit proud, Magnus is force of technical opinion. He believes that his opinions or thoughts are almost always valuable and he speaks his mind freely, regardless of the rank of those around him or the prevalent mood. To his own determent, he remains largely unconcerned about the feelings of others, and he is known to deliver scathing critique if he finds quality, especially of any technical work lacking.

Beneath a prickly exterior, Magnus has a somewhat lesser known creative side. A noted musician in his youth, in social situations Magnus can be counted on to strum up a quick tune on his acoustic guitar or to sing a song to lighten the mood.

Astech Yuliana Minhas

Name: Yuliana Minhas
Nickname/Callsign:
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Crew Position: Astech (Assistant Technician)
Rank: Corporal
Nationality: Oberon Confederation (Drask's Den)

Appearance:

Gawain’s Green Knights Personnel File

Biographical History:

The youngest member of Ziska's technician team, Minhas appears to be perpetually to catch up to the more experienced technicians surrounding her. However, beneath her inexperience and youth, are the bones of a very talented technician, and given time it seems likely that Minhas will become a truly exceptional MechTech.

Hailing from the Oberon Confederation, Yuliana proudly proclaims herself to be from a civilized, very civilized former Bandit Kingdom. According to her, Drask's Den is like any other aspiring Inner Sphere planet, full of people simply striving for a better life.

Growing up in the Oberon Confederation, Minhas is the modern example of what can be achieved by the citizens of a Bandit Kingdom that is once again approaching the lofty aspirations attained by the Circinus Federation many centuries ago. Namely a viable nation-state supported chiefly by interstellar trade and only partly, most subtly by piracy. With such soaring ambitions in mind and with the tried example of the Periphery states to follow, the benevolent King of the Oberon Confederation even instituted an educational system shortly after Yuliana's birth.

Benefiting from such social developments, an unexpected degree of stability, and influx of MechTechs seeking fresh starts away from Inner Sphere that all coincided with her early years, Yuliana received not just a basic education but training as a proper technician.

Possessing her own ambitions, Yuliana was not content to stay in the Oberon Confederation, and as soon as she could call herself an Astech, she left for the Periphery, and then Inner Sphere. Arriving on Galatea, the young Astech somehow managed to convince Ziska to hire her after engaging in what Davids has tersely described as "several hours of constant begging, crying, and pathetic mewling."

Personality:
Cheerful, Yuliana is a deeply curious young woman. She talks quickly, moves quicker, and seems to be constantly be operating as if her blood is largely composed of stimulants of one sort or another.

Happy by nature, Yuliana is unnecessarily optimistic, at least according to Ziska, and for someone born to the descendants of bandits, she has lived a remarkably charmed life.

Ziska's Cat - General Kerensky

Name:Alexander Kerensky
Age: 2
Gender: Female
Species: Felis catus
Crew Position: Unofficial Official Ship Cat
Rank: Commanding General of the Star League
Nationality: Lyran

Appearance:

An adorable calico cat, with a coat of soft, glossy fur, and surprisingly sharp claws reserved for those that offend her. Being a cat, Kerensky wears only a tasteful leather collar adorned with a small metal tag listing her name, mercenary affiliation, and Star League rank.

Personality:

The exceedingly proud, mostly benevolent ruler of the No Leaf Clover, the DropShip maintained for her by Gawain’s Green Knights. Kerensky is fond of napping, pets, scritches, and the occasional belly rub. Convinced of her own supremacy and divine right to command the mercenaries Colonel Wayne has assembled for her benefit, Kerensky does not respond well to her unspoken orders being refused. Mercifully, Kerensky is quite adorable and the vast majority of her power is used only in the pursuit of snacks or cuddles.

Biographical History:

General Kerensky is confusingly, given her namesake, a female calico cat that Ziska saw fit to adopt from some derelict Steiner planet. In an impressively irreverent act, bordering on tasteless according to some ComStar adjacent mercenaries, Ziska has named her cat after the famed Star League general and hero, Alexander Kerensky. Sauntering throughout the No Leaf Clover at all hours of the day or night, regardless of the status of any doors, Kerensky manages an impressive fiefdom centering largely on the mech hanger and Ziska's private quarters. The bane of many an Astech, MechTech, or unrelated Technician, Kerensky appears certain, quite certain, that she is in fact in charge of the entire operation, and reacts poorly to any suggestions or actions that would imply otherwise.

Unfortunately for the rest of the Green Knights, any complaints delivered to Ziska regarding the conduct of her cat are simply responded to with a well-practiced sigh, a half-hearted shake of her head, and a comment on the fickle nature of all generals.

[Letter Bee]

Character Name:
Andrew Rivers

Callsign:
"Hope-1"

Character Archetype:
Wannabe Guile Hero

Character’s Guiding Motto:
"I'm precocious!"

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Arrogance - Andrew has always considered himself smarter, stronger, and better than most everybody else; he will defer to the adults in order to get closer to what he wants, but he considers himself 'exceptional' to dangerous levels, and bridles when called out on his flaws.

Character’s Expertise:
Military Brat - Andrew has picked up a lot from spending most of his life in a mercenary company, including intense physical training, knowledge of dozens of types of guns and vehicles, and even basic tactics and strategy. This has fed his arrogance.

Well-read - Like his father, Andrew loves reading, although his preference is epic fantasy, preferably with protagonists close to his age (16). This has given him a large pool of general knowledge, but even he knows that that isn't the same as understanding.

Sneaky - Andrew is good at sneaking around; helps that he grew up around the watchful eyes of various mercenaries. From stealing cookies and sweets to bugging Ziska to take him along with him whenever she went out to the city (and even trying to sneak himself in what vehicle she was using at one point), Andrew has the makings of a troublemaker.

Nationality/Allegiance:
Federated Suns/No Loyalty

Background:
Andrew was born just before the formation of the Gawain Green Knights, and was four years of age when it was founded. He was raised in a loving household and family, his life sarcosanct by the rules against harming civilians. Spoiled a little by his father, Andrew learned to push the boundaries of every rules he was given without quite crossing them. Regarding himself as of prodigious intelligence (whether he was or not), Andrew soon assumed a leadership position among the children of the Green Knights' civilian contingent, making sure his lead was followed. This would have led him to devolve into a bully, had not his father caught wind of it and gave Andrew a kind but stern talking-to and involved himself more in the boy's life.

The death of one of his closest friends, Frederica, during the campaign against the Marian Hegemony further reminded him of his limits; the civilian dropship had not been attacked directly, but supplies of vital medicine had been cut off by Hegemony just as his friend caught a waterborne disease due to a broken water purifier failing to filter out the bacteria. He associated with the other kids less after that, and instead sought out Emma Ziska, one of his father's teammates. His mother disapproved of him trying to associate with her, and this caused one or two arguments before his father made peace between the both of them.

To this day, he didn't know if Ziska had been annoyed by his' constant attempts to learn from her or be her friend, but he remembers that he liked her cat.

When the halcyon days ended with the Capellan Federation withdrawing from the Espian System and Epsia itself prepared to break away, Andrew began preparing for the worst; the civilian ship they were in was very vulnerable to seizure and he had noticed that. So when the new regime, the 'New (Un)Democratic People's Republic' declared itself, Andrew took a pistol and a motor scooter and snuck off the ship, leaving behind only a note saying, "Mom, sneaking off; going to try and join Dad".

This part was a lie. Andrew knew that there had been relatively peaceful student protests going on in the capital's 'Planetary College' and so snuck off there in order to find a protest leader, preferably one with links to a deeper underground movement, who can take him in. Alternatively, should the new enemy begin violent suppression of the protests, he could follow those who escaped as any burgeoning 'resistance movement' took them in.

The latter happened, and he was promptly inducted into the 'Free People's Army' as a partisan after making several admittedly extravagant promises of 'Green Knight' support for the FPA...

Battlemech or Vehicle:
N/A; Andrew is an infantry guerilla.

[Pilatus]

Reya Wyatt

Name: Reya Wyatt
Nickname/Callsign: None really, sometimes goes by ‘Rey’ for short.
Age: 25
Gender: Female

Position: Weapons Engineer - Primarily Beams (Pulse, Standard & PPC)

Nationality: Draconis Combine - Tabayama Prefecture

Reya

Biographical History:

The outlying borders of Draconis territory make for a picturesque mix of wide open woodlands and mountainous expanses across the inhabited Earth-like worlds of the Tabayama Prefecture. Mining and agriculture are the primary functions of the populace in respect to the Combine economy and there is little chance of upward movement aside from being within the nobility of the interstellar trade bureaucracy. For generations the line of Wyatt heirs governed the movement of raw materials and assets far enough away not to draw the inquisitive eyes of the capital and still profitable and efficient enough to go relatively unnoticed. It was a careful equilibrium for Denton Wyatt, the same patient dance explained by his father and the same one he only practiced explaining to his daughter. Her younger brother would be the rightful successor to the Administration when he was older.

There had been female heirs before, but it was not the preferred in the Way and the arrival of Reya’s younger brother brought about some repose for Denton, however there was no denying that Reya was much different than her contemporaries. She was bored by politics, trade and customs, having few real friends, while her mind placed her easily at the top of her classes. The word “prodigy” was used regularly by her instructors in relation to her studies and it was obvious that even the most exacting curriculums afforded to Combine nobility were of little difficulty for her. If only such a mind had fallen to a male heir.. was the quiet sentiment among the local circles of nobility. If nothing else, the prospects of high-level university training at the prestigious Imperial Institution of Technology closer to the capital were essentially a guarantee and the thought of marrying her off to one of the ministry families seemed almost a waste of her abilities. It was an unexpected problem.

For Reya, there was no real enjoyment in the life of nobility. It was merely all she had ever known. If something was needed, there was a servant to take care of it. From meals, to wardrobe, to social outings- everything fell into place nicely, the same as it had for generations. As she grew older and became more self-aware of her status and much higher than average aptitude, the world of her family, their mountain feudal compound and their noble social caste became increasingly small and unchallenging. Granted there were some ideas and beliefs in the traditions she found naturally appealing, she knew the socially focused day to day life of her mother in politics supporting her father was not for her and that university would be the only other admissible path. The arrangements were made and she was accepted into the most difficult curriculum: beam weaponry and particle physics.

In some ways university was more rigorous in that for the first time in her life, she had true competition for head of the class with most of her classmates also coming from various noble backgrounds. However, from a social standpoint, the rigid structures were much the same as being back home. There were the same servants and monitors that took care of handling every small detail so that all focus could be set upon studies, only the faces were different. For the first time in her life, Reya began to feel a pang of actual revulsion towards her own nobility. Though she knew that failure or quitting were sentiments that could not even be remotely entertained, she could at least, for the time at hand, use her father’s own strategy of doing well enough to go purposefully unnoticed and she set her mind to things she enjoyed: hands on work; placing consistently at the head of lab practices, but always holding her efforts back in academics, spending her time looking for something that would take her out of the caste systems, even if just for a little while when she graduated.

The expeditionary forces always had need of capable engineers out in the distant periphery and with the increases in pirate activities the monetary reward was getting substantial for anyone willing to risk their neck on the frontier. Unfortunately, she knew no commander would likely take on a high-ranking nobleman’s daughter knowing the level of reprisals should any harm come to her. Any hope of adventure or freedom was going to have to come from outside the regular channels, somewhere where plausible deniability was going to have to be the criteria rather than the exception.

With even base-level astechs being highly desired, picking up a Combine trained engineer for a song was too good a deal to pass up, but there was a catch: The girl was going to have to set herself up and sell any prying eyes on joining something no less than just another private expeditionary force on the level, something she seemed, for some reason, to have wholly planned and was surprisingly efficient. It was an odd situation at first, something like seeing a piece of fine china set in place at an underground pub, but Reya became a regular fixture and something like a filter to new members of the crew. Her work was always top-notch, but finding people willing to put up with her eccentricities usually was a good sign that they were worth their salt. She demanded little, did her job, and once the defensive layers could be navigated, was as loyal a crewmember as could be asked.

At present, Reya has been with Colonel Wayne for about two years as an invested partner in the company. Occasionally she has to carefully deflect probing questions from her parents, particularly her mother wondering why she hasn’t married, but with her father’s main focus divided between raising up her brother in the trade bureaucracy while continuing to perform the job to Combine standards himself, it has been fairly easy for her to continue on without gathering a lot of unwanted attention. She has access to a tremendous amount of her family’s wealth and connections, but only draws from it in amounts inconspicuous enough to go unnoticed by the myriad of servants, bureaucrats and underlings that manage the multiple layers of her family’s accounting practices. With the current revolution on Espia, she has been forced to pull more and more to keep the company afloat while the Green Knights have been cut off from their contracted revenue stream.

Personality:

Despite the setting, it is very difficult for Reya to not exude the airs of her upbringing to newcomers to the squad. She can be vain, aloof, immature and egotistical. Attributes for which she is fairly self-aware and actually enjoys to some extent particularly in situations where she is confident that her understanding is the highest in the room. Conversely, she wants to be liked and trusted by others and tries to use her work rather than her status to gain that appreciation from others without having to overtly work for it socially.

Apropos, she is very hands-on and detail oriented in her engineering projects. Nothing is ever viewed as whole, only parts working together in a system that has the potential for improvement. Her tendency to over-analyze and master the peculiars of various weaponry can sometimes slow her down in the mires of perfectionism and she likewise becomes very attached to her projects. A mechwarrior returning with a heavily damaged unit, even through no fault of their own, will often receive a piercingly disapproving glare upon return.

Reya doesn’t view her investment in the Knights as a “job” or even that much of a lucrative business maneuver. Being with the company checks a number of personal yearnings for rebellion, adventurism and challenge. She’s not a warrior by any stretch, however, over time she has simply found herself more at home with her company of mechwarriors and technicians than she ever really felt in the sterile and composed backdrop of nobility.

Assets:
A bright orange sportbike that she uses to get around when they are at port.
A myriad of tools, diagnostic equipment and their associated storage.
A few worker drones and a large stereo system- tends to listen to music at deafening levels while she works.

[AndyC]

Sameve, Ziska, the Rivers family, and Reya are all APPROVED.

[Starlance]

Marit Saarinen

Appearance

Height: 188 cm (6’2”)

Weight: 80 kg (176 lbs)

Callsign: Giggles

Age: 21

Archetype: Rookie out to prove herself.

Guiding Motto: Deeds, not words.

Fatal Flaw: Brutal honesty: Marit will say whatever's on her mind without a care and usually without being asked.

Expertise:

• Artillery.
• Sensor Operations.
• Negotiation.

Nationality: Rasalhague, Draconis Combine. No allegiance.

Bio:
Marit was born into the Sons of Kalev, a mercenary company in good standing with the MRB mostly staffed by personnel of Rasalhague origin, operating on behalf of House Davion. A daughter of one of the Sons’ MechWarriors, Idun Lindgren, and a mission control officer, Joakim Saarinen, she fits the definition of a “mercenary brat” to the letter. Living among mercenaries on their dropship, the Kalevala, from day one and expected to eventually inherit the C1 Catapult passed down the generations of the Lindgren family, she’d been learning about BattleMechs and their operation since she was six. She first drove a BattleMech on her own at 15, saddling a clapped-out Locust the Sons used for training under her mother’s tutelage. She took part in her first mission when she was 20. A band of supposed pirates raiding a rmeote military depot, the Sons retroactively coming to suspect they were in fact Taurians belonging to one noble or another, turned out to be much more effective than anticipated, leading to a sudden shortage of pilots and combat-ready BattleMechs. Marit was put into a mostly-restored Dervish the Sons dragged out of a lake they dropped it into a few months beforehand, even though it was missing its left arm and the SRM launchers weren’t working when she deployed, but who needs that anyway with two tons of missiles and two LRM 10 launchers?

What followed was a month of rebuilding damaged ‘Mechs and hiring new MechWarriors, followed by a fairly standard few months for a rookie mercenary MechWarrior, until fortune smiled upon the Sons of Kalev and the Saarinen family in 3029, when Idun’s Lance managed to beat the brakes off a lone Marauder that wandered into it as it tried to reinforce its friends that were getting pummeled by the Sons. As one of the most experienced MechWarriors of the company and the one whose leadership led to its capture, it was decided it would become Idun Saarinen’s new ‘Mech. This event bumped up the date Marit would inherit the Catapult from “At some point in the future.” to “Whenever we get the Marauder running again.” meaning the pressure was now on to prove that she could be trusted with it. Eager to prove herself - in what in hindsight may have been a pretty stupid decision - Marit decided to leave the Sons of Kalev for a while to strike out on her own and signed on with Gaiwan's Green Knights. Babysitting a backwater Capellan world - whatever her displeasure at aiding the Confederation - should've been easy paycheck. Oh, how the tables can turn…

Personality:
Marit is a free spirit, eternally chipper, chatty, upbeat and completely lacking a brain to mouth filter. Notorious joker with a penchant for singing on the job and distaste for hot weather. With the Rasalhague people's placing high value on family connection, be it between actual family or a fighting unit, Marit treats the whole mercenary company as such, manifesting itself in a tendency to be on everyone's good side, handle internal conflicts peacefully and deescalate where tempers have already flared.

An inexperienced MechWarrior comfortable in the fire support role - though she’d be the first to admit a trained monkey could drive a LRM carrier - trying to live up to her ancestors, she can sometimes try a little too hard to prove she belongs, often to the amusement of more experienced MechWarriors, and in some instances to the detriment of the mission.

BattleMech

Class: Archer-2R

Type: Heavy (70 t)

Appearance: For the duration of its stay on Espia, the Archer is painted an old camo pattern from centuries ago with low-vis Green Knights insignia on the shoulders and above the cockpit.

Equipment: At some point in the past, the 'Mech's usual dual LRM 20 launchers were replaced with a combination of an LRM 15 launcher and two LRM 10 launchers in the right and left torso respectively, using the three tons saved to add three heatsinks (engine and each leg).

As part of the SERE kit, Marit has a semi-automatic shotgun loaded with slugs plus a bandolier with 16 spare ones strapped to the side of her ejection seat.

[AndyC]

Looks good for the most part, though I'm a bit confused about why Marit's backstory mentions inheriting a Catapult, but has her piloting an Archer.

[Starlance]

Inheriting a Catapult when her mother transitions to the Marauder. In the meantime, she wants to prove she can be trusted with it and won't screw up on day 1 and and ruin the 'Mech that has been passed down the family for generations. Trying to "earn it" so to speak.

That, and I thought rare 'Mechs had to be rolled for.

[AndyC]

Gotcha. In that case, Marit is APPROVED.

[wikkit]

Character Sheet, Sauerkraut Flavored

Oversized Character Image

As depicted wearing the military uniform of her noble house, which is what she's going to wear in most occasions. On the shorter side.

Character Name: Duchess Ingrid Daschke

Callsign: Ramrod, assigned to her by the others. She thinks it means "ramrod straight" but it just refers to the size of the stick up her ass.

Age: 30

Character Archetype: Stuffy Noblewoman

Character’s Guiding Motto: "Fachwissen ist der Grundstein des Rittertums!" (lit. Expertise is the cornerstone of Chivalry! There's a very long and boring story about how this came to be the family's motto as a result of their actions during the Age of War. It's in German because they take their familial LARPing very seriously.)

Character’s Fatal Flaw: Complete unwillingness to bend princples. Acting the part of a proud knight is important in every single action and interaction, even if there's no honor left to defend.

Character’s Expertise: Decorum, Swordfighting, Diplomacy.

Nationality/Allegiance: Lyran/House Daschke (defunct)

Background: House Daschke effectively no longer exists. When it did exist, from the early 26th century until about two years ago, it was a minor noble house ruling over the small Lyran Commonwealth planet of Poulsbo on the Marik border alongside the (comparatively) more famous House Astra. Despite their relative obscurity, the planet's proximity to FWL space meant that it did see action often during the Succession Wars and proved itself at least somewhat useful to Lyran national interests. As the second-in-line to the family title, she still insisted on being trained to the same degree that the heir presumptive, her elder sister did. She excelled...but that didn't do anything to affect her position in the family at all. She was committed, however - even if that meant she'd be stuck as retainer to her sister for the remainder of her natural life, she wanted to see House Daschke proliferate and expand.

House Daschke did not proliferate and expand, mostly because it was successfully scattered to the four winds after a sudden and unexpected betrayal by House Astra. To condense centuries of political intrigue into one sentence, the other nobles of Poulsbo saw House Daschke as being far too sycophantic toward the interests of House Steiner in opposition towards the near-independence minded nature of Poulsbo's population. The events of the takeover were confusing at best, and at the end of it, Ingrid was left running for the hills and presumed herself to be the sole living member of House Daschke - thus, Duchess apparent.

So far were these hills that she managed to end up at the complete opposite end of the Free Worlds League. Most of her ancestral funds had been spent in a failed attempt to regain Poulsbo with no progress made and little else to show, so she basically just threw herself at the first mercenary command that would take her - Gawain's Green Knights, joining within the last year.

Vehicle: An OSR-2C Ostroc given the edgy pet name of Susser Todd, the pride of the Daschke family line. Previously well-maintained through prior generations despite the 'mech's relative rarity, it's probably in worse condition now that Ingrid's been piloting it without the support of a noble house.

[AndyC]

I like it. Ramrod is APPROVED.

[AndyC]

All right, grunts, meet the boss!

Character: Col Gaius Wayne

Gawain

Character Name:
Colonel Gaius Anthony Wayne

Callsign:
Gawain

Character Archetype:
Battle-Hardened Idealist

Character’s Guiding Motto:
"We do the job, and we do it right."

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Savior complex. Gaius believes that it is his job to save everyone all the time, which leads to him hesitating when it comes to making the hard call.

Character’s Expertise:
Leadership: Gaius has plenty of experience in command, and knows how to get the best use out of those who work for him.
Tactics (Short-Term): Gaius has memorized the AFFS field manual and put it to good use for years, always ready to use the right plan for the right job, at least for the immediate situation.
History Knowledge: Gaius has the benefit of a formal education and is an avid reader in his downtime, which means he can recount the history of the Inner Sphere and its triumphs and tragedies better than most.

Nationality/Allegiance:
Federated Suns (House Davion), politically indifferent expatriate

Background:
Gaius Anthony Wayne was born in 2979, on the planet of Fairfax, a world near the frontlines of the Draconis March in the Federated Suns. He was born into a privileged life; the Wayne family had made their fortunes over a thousand years ago as industrialists on Terra, and generations of prudent investments and solid leadership had allowed them to remain comfortably wealthy for centuries. He had grown up hearing stories of his heroic ancestors, mostly Mechwarriors loyal to House Davion, crusading for freedom and justice against the corruption and tyranny of the other Great Houses. Gaius was an avid student of history, though his interpretation of that history was often romanticized. Like his father, grandfather, and so forth, he was a firm believer in the Lorix Creed, a chivalrous philosophy that professed the idea that a Mechwarrior was the pinnacle of what a warrior should be, and that their highest duty was loyalty to the people under their protection and to the state they served.

During his teenage years, Gaius prepared for training in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, believing it was his duty and his destiny to serve House Davion to the best of his abilities. At sixteen he enrolled in the prestigious Albion Military Academy, and graduated with honors in the year 3000 at 21. His marks were solid enough to land him command of a lance in the Robinson Rangers, where he gained experience in border skirmishes against the Draconis Combine. When one of his commanding officers repeatedly misspoke his name by mashing his first and last names together, Gaius Wayne was given the callsign 'Gawain.' By 3010, he had been promoted to the rank of Captain, commanding a Battlemech company in heavy fighting against his hated Kurita foes. Now into his thirties, Gawain was a seasoned veteran, and a die-hard believer in the just and righteous cause of Davion.

In 3013, the Robinson Rangers were deployed as part of a larger Davion force to defend the agricultural planet Mallory's World from a Kurita invasion. While Gaius had seen plenty of short skirmishes and brushfire battles thus far, this was his first taste of long, heavy combat. Three grueling months of scorched-earth warfare left huge swaths of the verdant planet in ruins, and Gaius watched many of his longtime friends and comrades cut down by the Draconis Combine's guns. Still, Gawain persevered, driven by the inspiring image of his First Prince, the gallant Ian Davion himself, who led the fighting on the front lines against the elite Yorinaga Kurita...

...right until the moment Yorinaga cored out the Prince's Atlas and shot him dead.

Watching the head of state, the very embodiment of the Federated Suns and everything it stood for, die in front of him shook Gaius Wayne to his very core. All of the romance of Davion's 'Sword of Freedom,' the high-minded idealism of the Lorix Creed, counted for nothing in the face of enemy firepower. Just as his faith was drained, he saw it kindled again when Yorinaga Kurita attempted to claim Ian Davion's corpse as a trophy, only to have it stolen out from under him.

It wasn't a loyal Davion warrior who preserved the body of the First Prince, who embarrassed the dreaded Yorinaga, and who turned a crushing defeat into a victory that day. It was a band of mercenaries-- in particular, a hitherto unsung command known as the Kell Hounds, who had long been dismissed as 'rich kids playing soldier' that stepped up and cemented their reputation as heroes, and soon after, legends. Gaius had always turned up his nose at mercs, seeing them as money-grubbing contract killers little better than pirates, but on Mallory's World, he saw them in a different light. They weren't blinded by flags and fanfare, by patriotism and politics. In every way that mattered, they could be the ideal warrior personified, could uphold the image of the Mechwarrior purely through grit, skill, and loyalty only to each other and to the job.

Shortly after his time on Mallory's World, Gaius Wayne requested and received his honorable discharge from the AFFS. Spending the vast majority of the Wayne family fortune, he made his way to the mercenary hub world of Galatea, founded a small command of his own, Gawain's Green Knights. He brought with him some of his comrades from Mallory's World, such as Raven Rivers, and began looking for work as a Mech lance for hire. Within a year, he met Captain Sally Roth, owner of the DropShip No Leaf Clover, and the two became business partners. Since naval tradition declared that a force cannot have two Captains on the same ship, Gaius accepted the role of Colonel.

Gaius's relationship with Sally was...complicated, but mutually beneficial. Where he was strict, she was freewheeling. Where he was taciturn, she was brash. Where he was tactful and diplomatic, she was blunt and direct. In most situations, Gaius would see the options they had available and their consequences, while Sally would push him to make the hard decisions. As the command grew from a lance to a company, many saw Colonel Wayne and Captain Roth as the 'mom and dad' of the command. For years, rumors have circulated among the Knights of a torrid romance between Gaius and Sally, though according to both of them, anything between them is strictly professional.

By 3022, the Green Knights had established themselves as reliable pirate-hunters out on the Rimward Frontier, and were working for the Aurigan Coalition during the outbreak of the Restoration War. Gaius led the Green Knights through three years of bitter fighting against Directorate forces, as well as meddling House warriors who had heard rumors of LosTech caches being found in the region. While the Green Knights lost several Mechwarriors during the war, they also gained others, and ended up coming out ahead when House Arano was restored to power. Gaius was offered a knighthood for his efforts, but declined for reasons he has never disclosed.

After the war, Gaius returned to pirate-hunting, signing a contract with the Free Worlds League to protect their border worlds. From 3025 to 3028, he took the Green Knights on campaigns into the Periphery, primarily against the ruthless raiders and slavers of the Marian Hegemony. During one particularly nasty encounter, a shell from an enemy AC-10 caught his Battlemaster in the head, breaching the cockpit. The shrapnel from the breach mangled his left arm, and in the aftermath, Gaius had to have the arm amputated at the elbow.

The loss of his arm devastated Gaius; while he had enough C-Bills stored away to have a high-end prosthetic replace the limb, the cybernetic implants needed for fine motor control would interfere with the Neurohelmet needed to control a Battlemech. Even attempting to operate in a simulator pod caused headaches, dizziness, and nosebleeds; to pilot an actual 'Mech for more than a few minutes would cause irreparable, possibly fatal brain damage. After a lifetime of chasing the ideals of the Lorix Creed, his time as a Mechwarrior was well and truly over.

After the heavy fighting in the Restoration War and the Marian campaign, Colonel Wayne felt the need for some down time, both for the Green Knights to recover and rebuild, and for himself to adjust to his new role as a hands-off commander. Signing a contract with the Capellan Confederation for easy garrison duty, he believed, would give everyone plenty of time to heal their wounds. The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War, the CCAF's calamitous defeat, and the chaos breaking loose on Espia, however, has taken that recovery time away.

Now Gaius, still feeling as though he is half the man he once was, has to lead his warriors through a treacherous and desperate situation, knowing full-well his orders could get them all killed, and he has no way to save them if things go wrong.

Battlemech or Vehicle:

Mobile HQ

SLDI Mobile Headquarters, 'Gawain Actual'

Designed by the Star League for coordinating large-scale planetary operations, Mobile HQs boasted sophisticated communications equipment and tactical computer systems, allowing a crew to effectively command battalions across an entire planet. When linked to satellites, drone networks, and even far-away JumpShips, a fully-functional Mobile HQ with a capable crew can turn the course of a battle, or even an entire war.

Unfortunately, the loss of advanced technology caused by the Succession Wars has led most of the surviving chassis, such as Gawain Actual, to undergo significant downgrades. The holographic map table, for example, is long-gone, requiring the Green Knights to rely on conventional maps. The fusion power plant has been replaced with an internal combustion engine, making Gawain Actual reliant on fuel, and reducing its power output--for its comms arrays to function effectively, the vehicle must come to a complete stop, making it vulnerable to enemy fire. And without a satellite network to link up to, the Mobile HQ's range is greatly diminished. It is, however, still more than capable of coordinating a single company, which at the moment is all the Green Knights need.

Gawain Actual is armed with a single turret-mounted Medium Laser, allowing it only nominal defensive capabilities. The vast majority of its mass is taken up by its TharHes HQ CommSet and Diplan IX Sidesweeper target tracking system, which combine to provide accurate intel from dozens of friendly units at once. In addition to a driver, the Mobile HQ also requires a gunner for the turret-mounted laser, three comms officers to operate the CommSet, and a commander to issue orders.

Battlemaster BLR-1G (Mothballed)

Battlemaster BLR-1G, "Galatine"

Named after the magic sword of the mythical Sir Gawain, Galatine is a standard 1G model Battlemaster that has been handed down through the Wayne family for nearly two hundred years. While it doesn't boast the withering firepower of the Awesome or the sheer terrifying presence of the Atlas, the Battlemaster is a versatile and robust 'Mech that sees regular service throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery alike. Its single Donal Particle Projector Cannon gives it middling-at-best long-range firepower, but it is devastating at short to medium range, carrying six Martell Medium Lasers, a Holly Six-Pack SRM Launcher, and a pair of Sperry-Browning .50 caliber Machine Guns.

Colonel Wayne piloted Galatine for a solid twenty-five years, for the Federated Suns and as a freelance mercenary, until the loss of his left arm left him unable to pilot a Battlemech. While he can no longer drive his ancestral 'Mech, he can't bring himself to part with it either, thus the Battlemaster has sat in the Green Knights' storage bay for three years, slowly gathering dust and occasionally being stripped of weapons and armor for active 'Mechs. Galatine, though still functional, is a shell of what it used to be...much like Gaius himself.

Currently, Galatine is aboard the No Leaf Clover, in the custody of the Espian Guards. Its cockpit is Neural-locked, making it impossible to override without an expert hacker to keep it from melting a potential hijacker's brain, but the mere fact that his 'Mech is in enemy hands drives Colonel Wayne up the wall, regardless of whether he can even pilot it anymore.

Supporting Characters:

The Colonel's Cast

Captain Sally Roth

A born spacer, Sally Roth inherited command of the No Leaf Clover from her parents at a young age, and she has spent a lifetime learning the hard lessons of life in the Periphery. She is brash, smart-mouthed, quick to act, and highly protective of her ship and crew. Sally will more often than not be the first to call Colonel Wayne to task if she thinks he's in the wrong...and the first to shut down anyone else speaking ill of him. Any rumors of an illicit affair between herself and the Colonel are usually met with a month's worth of latrine duty for anyone caught spreading them.

Deck Chief Solomon "Sol" Aadil

A veritable "walking TRO," Sol memorized every Technical Readout available. Studying 'Mech Engineering at the New Avalon Institute of Science, he lost the shirt off his back (as well as his arm and leg) searching for LosTech during the Restoration War, and found himself in need of a job around the same time Colonel Wayne needed a new chief technician. Since then, Chief Aadil has become a tireless leader of the Techs and AsTechs under his supervision, his thin and somewhat mousy frame belying a lion's temper and a razor-sharp wit. Many Techs fear a tongue-lashing from the Chief more than they fear enemy fire. Despite this, Sol encourages the crew to play as hard as they work, personally refereeing the 'Scrap Yard,' the weekly off-the-books fighting ring in the Vehicle Bay that the Captain and Colonel pretend not to know about.

Master Sergeant Roger Dalton

The commander of the Green Knights' infantry platoons, Master Sergeant Dalton embodies the phrase "beware the old man in a profession where men die young." A tough old bastard originally from the Taurian Concordat, Dalton has survived three decades of combat, eight bullets, and three divorces. He is gruff and irascible, and has a grim sense of gallows humor, but can always be depended on to lead his team through hell and get them out on the other side, even if he has to drag them kicking and screaming. Dalton's First Knights Foot Platoon, better known to the other Knights as "The Buckshot Boys," almost exclusively favor shotguns over assault rifles as their primary weapon.

Communications Crew: Stephanie Lyons, Marcus Higgins, and Zack Windham

The three officers that operate the Comms suite in the Green Knights' mobile HQ, collectively known as "The GDK" (or "Those God-Damned Kids," as the Colonel refers to them), Lieutenant Lyons and Cadets Higgins and Windham would never be caught dead with each other if it weren't for the fact that they function so well as a team. Lieutenant Lyons is uptight and quotes regulations as if they were holy scripture, Higgins is little more than a walking libido, and Windham seems to think he's on the set of the latest Immortal Warrior. When they are not bickering or picking at each other, they somehow manage to come together to make the Mobile HQ's equipment sing.