Difference between revisions of "Clan Hell's Horses"

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[[Strato Domingo]] (35 percent) <br />
 
[[Strato Domingo]] (35 percent) <br />
 
[[Niles (Clan planet)]] (100 percent) <br />
 
[[Niles (Clan planet)]] (100 percent) <br />
[[Tiber]] (50 percent) <br />
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[[Tiber (Clan planet)]] (50 percent) <br />
 
[[Tokasha]] (13 percent) <br />
 
[[Tokasha]] (13 percent) <br />
 
Capital: Niles <br />
 
Capital: Niles <br />

Revision as of 14:20, 14 June 2011


Clan Hell's Horses Logo
Clan Hell's Horses
Faction Profile
Time period: 2807 – Present
Classification: Clan
Controlled systems: 45? (3072)[1]
Capital world: Csesztreg
Ruler title: Khan
Military: Clan Hell's Horses Touman
Secret Service: Clan Hell's Horses Watch



Clan Hell's Horses was founded by John Fletcher of the Star League Defense Force's Thirty-Fifth Infantry Division "Might Before Metal."

History

The Hell's Horses has from its inception adopted a philosophy that elevates the warrior above the 'Mech and opposes the 'Mech bias that pervades most military thinking by emphasizing combined-arms tactics with infantry and conventional vehicles.

Operation Klondike

During the trials for participating in the coveted Eden invasion part of Operation Klondike, the clan won a surprise victory over Clan Ghost Bear.[2]

For most part the Horses was assigned auxiliary or rear-area duties, until Khan Fletcher convinced Nicholas to assign the clan an independent operation, the conquest of the Purgatory Peninsula.[3]

The peninsula, who is located in the western part of the continent of Irkutsk, was home to a collection of city-states locked in conflict. Of the city-states, the most important ones where Allah, Dante and Vesta.[4]

While the city-states were no friends of each others, they did unite against the invaders, and staged a series of ambushes that challenged the clan. Once it was realized that their enemies fixated on Mechs, the Hell's Horses used their 'Mechs as bait to draw out the rebels so they could be smashed by infantry and other vehicles.[5]

Later History

Their peculiar philosophy led most of the other Clans to dismiss them. The Hell's Horses tended to keep to themselves until the development of the Elemental infantry armor by Clan Wolf. Eager to obtain the Elemental armor, the Hell's Horses entered a series of trials with Clan Wolf where the armor was put up against the infantry breeding protocols that the Hell's Horses had developed. These gigantic warriors would be known as 'Elementals'.

The Hell's Horses won one of the three trials and so obtained the Elemental armor. Other Clans challenged the Hell's Horses for the breeding rights, among them Clan Fire Mandrill. Kindraa Smythe-Jewel of the Fire Mandrills used deceptive bidding tactics to give the impression of a much smaller force and won the trial. The Horses demanded a Trial of Annihilation but were denied. As the Hell's Horses prepared to move against the Fire Mandrills, Clan Coyote stepped in. They too had been cheated by Kindraa Smyth-Jewel in their bid for the OmniMech a few years prior.

Seeing the wisdom in joining together, the Hell's Horses arranged for a contract bid to include the Coyotes in the Hell's Horses trial against the Kindraa. The combined Hell's Horses-Coyote task force descended on the Smythe-Jewel enclave on Foster and challenged them to a Trial that saw the death of the Kindraa Smythe-Jewel. Half the genetic legacies and most of the battle salvage was taken by the Horses and the Coyotes took the enclave, the bondsmen, and the rest of the legacies and the two Clans parted as friends. This action won the Hell's Horses respect from their fellow Clansmen.

For a time it looked as though the Hell's Horses might shift away from their combined-arms, heavy reliance on vehicle philosophy and more towards the use of 'Mechs. But all that changed when 'Mechworks Alpha on Tokasha, their primary 'Mech factory, was targeted by Clan Ghost Bear during a Trial of Possession. The Horses bid an entire Galaxy in its defense which the Bears matched.

It was a fierce, pitched battle but seemed to favor the Hell's Horses until a stray shot slew the beloved Ghost Bear Khan Kilbourne Jorgensson. The outraged Ghost Bears tore into the Hell's Horses in a berzerk fury, forcing them to withdraw. The loss of Metal Works Alpha and Kilbourne Jorgensson sparked a fierce feud between the Hell's Horses and Ghost Bears. When the Ghost Bears launched a Trial of Possession for Industriplex Alpha on Niles (Clan planet), the Hell's Horses' homeworld, another fierce battle ensued. Though the Horses emerged victorious they lost their Khan. He was replaced by Malavai Fletcher who was horribly injured in that battle.

Fletcher, a staunch Crusader, managed to appoint enough Crusaders in his Clan to leadership positions to push the Horses into the Crusader camp, despite the fact that many among the Horses' rank and file were Wardens.

The Invasion

Though the Horses did not win a place in the invasion, they did manage to find a way to obtain worlds in the Inner Sphere. When Khan Vladimir Ward of the Wolves started the Harvest Trials, Khan Fletcher convinced him to bid Hell's Horses units in contract bids (much as the Hell's Horses had done with the Coyotes) without first winning those units to the Wolves. Khan Ward agreed and ceded three worlds in the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone: Stanzach, Vorarlberg, and Engadin to Clan Hell's Horses.

During the Great Refusal on Strana Mechty, the Hell's Horses fought against and lost to the Free Rasalhague Republic's Third Drakøns.

During the numerous Trials of Possession that were launched following the Annihilation of the Smoke Jaguars, Abjuration of the Nova Cats, and relocation of the Ghost Bears, the Hell's Horses have managed to seize large portions of Bearclaw, Hoard, and Tokasha, pitting them against forces from the Jade Falcons, Ice Hellions, and Snow Ravens. The Horses also managed to seize the last portion of Kirin making it an exclusive Hells' Horses possession.

Not long afterwards the Horses raided the Ghost Bear Occupation Zone (renamed the Ghost Bear Dominion) while the Ghost Bears were at war with the Draconis Combine. However, after the war with the Combine ended, the Bears retaliated and seized all three of the Hell's Horses worlds, sending them back to Clan Space. Khan Malavai Fletcher's leadership was challenged and he was slain by James Cobb, a Warden, who assumed the Khanship.

After a tentative peace with the Ghost Bears, the Hell's Horses launched a successful invasion of Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zones, making their capital on Csesztreg. Their plan to transplant their entire population, much like the Ghost Bear's shift, was discovered and eventually led to the Clan Civil War that separated the Inner Sphere Clans from their homeworld brethren.

Allies and enemies

The Hell's Horses' primary enemy is Clan Ghost Bear, who returns the Horses' enmity in full. However, even though they consider each other their sworn foe, they still respect each others' abilities as warriors. The Hell's Horses also maintain a standing grudge against the Fire Mandrills, though they respect Kindraa Payne.

The Hell's Horses still maintain respect for Clan Coyote and consider them comrades (which the Coyotes return in full) even despite their philosophical differences. However, the Horses' closest ally is Clan Wolf.

The Hell's Horses are well known for their heavy use of conventional (non-'Mech) forces and their beliefs favoring men over machines, including freeborns and solahma troops, which is rare among the Clans and rarer still among Crusaders. Only dezgra warriors earn the Horses contempt.

Hell's Horses Warrior with tank

Touman

See Clan Hell's Horses Touman.

Rulers

Khans

saKhans

Era Specific Data

3062

Hell's Horses Demographics
Affiliation: Crusader

Clan Space Worlds:
Bearclaw (30 percent)
Eden (31 percent)
Hoard (10 percent)
Kirin (100 percent)
Strato Domingo (35 percent)
Niles (Clan planet) (100 percent)
Tiber (Clan planet) (50 percent)
Tokasha (13 percent)
Capital: Niles

Population (Clan Space): 95,317,000 (3060)
Population growth rate: 2.1 percent (71/50)
Self-Sufficiency Index: 93 percent

Leaders:
Khan: Malavai Fletcher
saKhan: Tanya DeLaurel
Loremaster: Helena Fletcher
Scientist-General: Mohamed (Kepler)
Merchant Factor: Sonja
Master Technician: Amanda
Senior Laborer: Jan

Military:
Clusters: 37
WarShips: 10

References

  1. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 31
  2. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 89
  3. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 91
  4. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 91-92, 138
  5. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 91-92
  6. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 89
  7. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 56
  8. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 56
  9. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57
  10. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57
  11. Masters and Minions: The Starcorps Dossiers, p.138
  12. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57
  13. Masters and Minions: The Starcorps Dossiers, p.138
  14. Field Manual: Updates, p. 44
  15. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 89
  16. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57
  17. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 57

Bibliography