Othar

Othar
Personal
Born	3114
Affiliation	Wolf Empire
Profile
Rank	Star Colonel
Title(s)	Viceroy of the Wolf Empire
Profession	MechWarrior

Othar was a Star Colonel in the Wolf Empire touman and the highest-ranking officer left in the Empire when Khan Alaric Ward and nearly all of Clan Wolf's warriors invaded Terra in 3151.

History

Dark Age Era

Othar was a trueborn of Bloodhouse Shaw, and his warrior career began with an auspicious omen: just before passing his Trial of Position in Tamar, the HPG generator of planet gone offline. It was one of the Blackout attacks. However, he fought well, defeating three opponents and becoming Star Captain. His first assignment was a garrison Cluster.

Holders of the Shaw Bloodname marveled at his performance and expected the young ristar to shoot up through the ranks, but that did not happen. To Bloodhouse Shaw's dismay, Othar's career remained mediocre, never rising higher than Star Colonel. Despite his codex demonstrating a solid but unimpressive combat record, he never received a Bloodname nomination, and never won a Bloodname. He was relegated to a provisional garrison Cluster. When Wolf Khan Alaric Ward took nearly the entire Wolf touman to Terra, Othar was left behind, the only high-ranking officer in all the Wolf Empire, so he assumed command of it by himself.

ilClan Era

On 4 June 3151, on Gienah, Othar received a message from Terra announcing the Wolves' victory in the Battle of Terra, with his Clan becoming the ilClan. The same day, Othar, along with his friend, the solahma trainer Star Captain Ricard, assisted in the first Trial of Position of a Wolf warrior of the ilClan. The young Radu achieved three victories, obtaining the rank of Star Captain.

On 18 June, Othar asked to see Radu in his office. There, he informed both Radu and Ricard of the victory on Terra. Ricard felt excited, but Radu was more angry and depressed for having lost his chance to fight on Terra. However, Othar gave him immediate work: he took Radu to see the Wolf Merchant Factor and informed the youngster of his plan to raise new Clusters to defend the Empire, with Radu commanding the first one. The young Star Captain protested, saying Othar was usurping the ilKhan's authority, but Othar would not change his plans.

Othar began the work of creating two new Galaxies, Rufus Galaxy and Lupus Galaxy, from scratch. Radu became his right hand, and Ricard, the left one, overseeing training. After hearing a mercenary raid on Midkiff had been repulsed by Star Commander Kiley, a young warrior fresh from her Trial of Position, he ordered her to come to Gienah. She arrived on 25 July, and after receiving her, he made her explain her experience to other warriors in training, to motivate them, and later informed her of the critical situation in the Empire, and his intention to give her one of the new Clusters.

Later, Othar ordered Star Captain Judah, who was training a Cadet Cluster in New Olympia, to activate it as a formal Cluster, but his message arrived too late. The mercenary group, Wolf's Dragoons, in what was their first shot of their private war against the Empire, had attacked New Olympia and taken all the cadets as bondsmen.

In a year of hard work, Othar managed to accomplish the impressive feat to turn a touman of solahma, paramilitary police, ungraduated sibko cadets, and undesirables into a strong force capable of defending the Empire worlds.

On 15 September, Othar, along with Radu, traveled to Shasta to oversee a new Cluster's formation, just in time to see them crush another mercenary raid. Othar congratulated the Cluster's leader, Star Colonel Leap, and informed him of his Cluster's new denomination: the Ninety-second Wolf Guards.

The same day, Othar received an unexpected visit from Clan Sea Fox saKhan Petr Kalasa. He informed Othar that the Clan Protectorate forces which had invaded the Empire were defending it, and offered to stop an invasion in exchange for control of all the Empire's HPGs, both working and nonfunctional. Othar agreed to consider it.

The 18 January 3152, Othar meet with Kalasa to accept his offer. Radu attempted to stop him, declaring a Trial of Position, but Othar quickly defeated him inside an elevator, and formalized the deal with the Foxes, before ordering Radu to send the Ninety-fifth Wolf Guards to take the Tamarind planet of Simpson Desert, to stop their Wolf's Dragoons-sponsored attacks on Empire worlds.

In February, Othar, tired after the Wolf's Dragoons attacks, sent the Ninety-fifth Wolf Assault Cluster to attack the League's world of Simpson Desert IV, expecting to attract them there, but only managed to conquer the marginal planet.

The 28 March, Othar finally obtained a 'Mech for himself: a Blood Reaper, which he chose personally. He discussed with Radu and Ricard the 106th Wolf Garrison Cluster actions against Wolf Dragoons in Trellisane, proud of them despite Radu's opposition, before trying his new 'Mech.

On 9 May, Othar received a group of Free Guilds leaders, offering to help solve the Empire's lack of defenders; they offered to recruit a powerful militia from the lower castes in the name of the ilClan, but he refused, as he hadn't authority to accept such a radical measure, though he did send the proposal to Alaric Ward. He ordered the Clan Wolf Watch to increase scrutiny of the Guild's leaders, fearing their proposal was an excuse to return power to the nobles. As one of the leaders, Pravina, was a former noble whom the Wolves had stripped of her lands and titles, he fears may have been justified.

The 6 June, Othar was awakened in his quarters by an enemy's attack in Gienah itself. It was Zeta Battalion from Wolf's Dragoons. Realizing that it was only a raid, he mobilized all the forces on the planet, including the Ninety-first Wolf Guards and the Den Keshik, and offered the Dragoons a batchall. The Dragoons ignored it.

Othar send the Ninety-first to Zeta's landing site, far from the capital, but it ended in disaster. The Dragoons destroyed almost all the Ninety-first's DropShips, and Othar was forced to order their leader, Star Colonel Josip, to return to Alliago City on foot.

The 11 June, Othar had just helped his technician to repair his damaged 'Mech when Zeta, which had been crushing the Wolves slowly, day by day, was informed of a new attack of the Dragoons, and mobilized all remaining forces to meet them.

But the battle did not go as expected. Othar, whose death or capture was clearly one of Zeta's objectives, found himself trapped. His attempt to ambush a part of Zeta barely slowed them, and though in a lucky shot he killed a Dragoon, Lieutenant Kirby Cole, that only enraged more of the Dragoons, and his 'Mech was soon downed. Othar barely avoided capture, only escaping by being carried, humiliatingly, in the arms of Ricard's Golem armor, which in turn was riding on Radu's 'Mech.

Othar was tired and broken, and even Zeta's retreat the next day, marking the end of the Battle of Gienah (3152), didn't make feel him better. He know they never definitively defeated the Dragoons, that everybody will know of this humiliating defeat, and of the Empire's weakness. Still worse, a year after the battle of Terra he finally received a message from Khan Ward, which stated that the ilKhan would not assist the Empire anytime soon.

Personality

In some aspects, Othar was a typical Wolf warrior, but unlike others he did not detest solahma or lower castes, being surprisingly courteous with them, his rivals, and even freeborn warriors. But his main characteristic was his anger at having being left behind and especially Alaric Ward's abandonment of the Empire.

BattleMechs

Othar's original 'Mech is unknown, but he fought his Trial of Position in a Linebacker, and he became dispossessed after being left behind. He did not find a replacement until 28 March 3152: a Blood Reaper that he later lost in Zeta's assault on Gienah.

Bibliography

• Empire Alone
• Redemption Rites (novel)