Katana Tormark

Katana Tormark (3102 – 3???) is the former Prefect of The Republic of the Sphere's Prefecture III and Duchess of Proserpina. She became the leader of the splinter faction known as the Dragon's Fury.

Katana Tormark

Biography

Early Life

Katana Tormark was born in 3102 on Ancha as daughter to Akira Tormark and Rachel Jefferson. Due to her father's heritage and her mother's affection for all things Japanese, the girl was raised in accordance to Combine traditions in spite of growing up on a Republic world. Her life changed drastically when, at age eight, she witnessed her father behead her uncle Kan Otome as part of an ISF-sanctioned execution. The deep-cover agent subsequently withdrew from the family he had started, leaving Katana with her mother.

Rachel Jefferson was a known musicologist and expert at playing the shakuhachi. In the years following Akira's disappearance, she received a number of invitations to perform on Combine worlds, always taking her daughter with her. In 3113, the two visited Oniji Otome, Kan's brother, to return his swords. Seeing the manner of her upbringing mirrored by an actual Combine world had a tremendous impact on the young girl's perception and instilled her with a sense of belonging that would later become a key factor in the cause of her defection.

At age ten, Katana volunteered time at a local counseling center, helping immigrant children and young teens from the Combine who had trouble adapting to life in The Republic. This dedication did not go unnoticed, and in 3116 the girl was awarded Republic citizenship, a year earlier than the usual required period.

In 3117, Akira Tormark returned to take Katana in after her mother's death in a hovercar accident, but failed to reestablish a connection with his daughter, who spent more and more time in the Combine, visiting Oniji and studying bushido. When Katana turned fifteen, she left her father, convinced that she could take care of herself. By her sixteenth birthday, she had gained special dispensation to carry daisho, the traditional swords of the samurai, on Ancha.

Duchess Katana

The Fury the Dragon

In late 3131, Katana Tormark renounced The Republic of the Sphere and formed the Dragon's Fury, a group that wished to return traditionally Draconian worlds to the Combine. Although a powerful force built around the elite Amaterasu regiment, the campaign failed to garner open endorsement from Coordinator Vincent Kurita, the unexpected lack of any kind of response - be it approval or condemnation - greatly troubling the group and being a cause for ongoing concern and arguments between Tormark and her most trusted companions during a number of briefings.

Cut off from Republic supply lines and being denied support from the Combine, the Fury soon saw itself strained to the limits and struggling to hold on to the worlds they captured. Still resolved to see her vision through, Tai-sho Tormark worked hard to increase recruitment from amongst the population of the planets the Fury had liberated, using carefully orchestrated propaganda and her own charisma to sway public opinion and appeal to the people's Draconian heritage. The civilians and militia troops pledging their loyalty to the Fury quickly became to form the bulk of its forces, the unit simply being dubbed The Brotherhood.

In 3134, Tai-shu Mitsura Sakamoto began his own series of unauthorized raids into Republic space, eventually coming into conflict with the Fury whose leader he deemed an obstacle to his ambitions. Dreading to fight fellow Combine warriors, Tormark ordered her forces to "pull their punches", establishing a doctrine where the Fury would fire a few half-hearted volleys before withdrawing, refusing to stand their ground against their kindred. As Sakamoto's soldiers began to take notice and develop an unexpected respect for their foe, the Warlord commanded his units to shoot to kill. An aerospace bombing run on retreating units of the Fury ultimately resulted in the death of Chu-sa Antonia Chinn, Tormark's lover.

Pushed to the brink and facing rising pressure from Sakamoto's forces, Tormark finally resolved to confront the Warlord, utilizing a hidden ace in the form of 'Mechs and materiel as well as soldiers and even a few Black Boxes her agents had only recently acquired through careful negotiation with yakuza descendants of the dissolved Ghost Regiments. Tormark never faced her nemesis in battle and was denied the satisfaction of revenge, however, as the Warlord - poisoned by a third party - failed to control his 'Mech during a combat drop, crashing the No-Dachi into Saffel's ocean. Sakamoto's second-in-command, Tai-sho Carol Worridge, reacted to Tormark's arrival on the battlefield by ordering the immediate cessation of hostilities and offering to join the Dragon's Fury.

Warlord

On November 30 3135, Katana was appointed the Warlord of the Dieron Military District and tasked with securing the planet Dieron and other territories for the Draconis Combine.

Tormark secured the aid of Clan Nova Cat forces. In her efforts to secure the Nova Cat aid however, she gave Khan Jacali Nostra of the Nova Cats a document that both seemed to shock the Khan, and fill her with some vague hope. As to what was in the document was not disclosed, but the Nova Cats did attach to Tormark's forces a Galaxy of Warriors.

Tormark was eventually successful in taking Dieron, fulfilling the District with its namesake Capital.

Family and Relationships

Katana Tormark is the second cousin of Governor Reinaldo Tormark and a direct descendent of Fuhito Tetsuhara.
Tormark was in a relationship with Chu-sa Antonia Chinn, a MechWarrior from her Amaterasu regiment.

BattleMechs

Tormark is possession of the PNT-9R Panther Katana Kat, an heirloom 'Mech once piloted by Minobu Tetsuhara. During her campaign as leader of the Dragon's Fury, she instead fights in a BattleMaster, loaning the Panther to Brotherhood MechWarrior Abeda Measho.

Bibliography

• Daughter of the Dragon
• Dragon Rising