Editing William Blane

{{Update Needed|[[Shadows of Faith]]}}
{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = William Blane ER3062.jpg
| caption             = William Blane
| name                = William Blane
| birthdate           = [[2992]]<ref>''Shattered Sphere'', p. 111: "William Blane"</ref>
| died                = 5 December [[3067]]
| othernames          =
| affiliation         = [[ComStar]]<br/>[[Word of Blake]]
| rank                = 
| title               = 
| position            = [[Precentor]] [[Gibson]]
| profession          = 
| parents             =
| siblings            =
| spouse              =
| children            =
}}

'''William Blane''' served as the de facto [[Primus of ComStar|Primus]] of the [[Word of Blake]] and the organization's public face prior to the [[Jihad]].

==History==
===Service with ComStar===
Serving alongside the young [[Thomas Marik]] first as an [[Adept]] and later as [[Precentor]], Blane would establish a lifelong friendship with the Marik scion and future [[Captain-General of the Free Worlds League|Captain-General]] of the [[Free Worlds League]] during his time with [[ComStar]].<ref name=CS-96>''ComStar'', p. 96: "Word of Blake Personalities - Precentor Blane of Gibson"</ref>

Blane became Precentor of the [[Gibson]] [[HPG]] station thanks to his formidable political skills. He was a firm believer in the religious aspects of the ComStar order and fled the [[ComStar Schism|Reformation]] in the wake of [[Operation SCORPION]],<ref name=ER3062-80>''Era Report: 3062'', pp. 80–81: "Major Personas - William Blane"</ref><ref name=CS-96/> though he was not as fanatical or militant as others like [[Demona Aziz]].

===Formation of the Word of Blake===
While it was Aziz who established the initial agreement with "Thomas Marik" to allow the nascent Word of Blake sanctuary in the Free Worlds League, when the Captain-General expressed dismay at the sheer volume of refugees he organized a meeting with each of the defecting Precentors (who essentially each led an individual faction of the Word of Blake) to determine the best course of action. Thanks to his friendship with the Captain-General and his more moderate style of leadership, Blane gained Thomas Marik's open support and thus became the Word of Blake's ad hoc leader and spokesperson. This infuriated former [[First Circuit]] member Aziz who felt that her prominent rank on the First Circuit had been usurped.

Marik and Blane quickly established an agreement whereby the sect was granted a landhold on Gibson in return for the Word administering the League's HPG network.<ref name=CS-91>''ComStar'', p. 91: "The Marik Alliance"</ref><ref name=CS-96/>

(The "Thomas Marik" with whom Blane arranged these deals was in fact not his old friend, but a [[Thomas Halas|double]] acting with the consent of the real Thomas Marik who had become a religious extremist and had withdrawn to the shadows, becoming the mysterious "Master" behind the Word of Blake. Though it seems likely that Blane was aware of the double, it is ultimately unknown if or to what extent he was aware of the Master's shell game, and how much the real Thomas Marik was involved in the process.)

===Gibson===
On Gibson, the planetary government and nobility (Principal Hsiang and Countess Dystar) had been fighting a civil uprising for some time already, a fact which they had kept secret from the Free Worlds League's government and apparently even from Precentor Blane.

The relocation of tens of thousands of religious zealots fanned the fires of the ongoing civil war on Gibson as the previously warring factions turned against the Word of Blake whom they regarded as intruders, and whose religious attitude they disliked. Many Word of Blake members were veterans of the [[Battle of Tukayyid (3052)|Battle of Tukayyid]] or [[Operation Scorpion]] and the Word of Blake took up the gauntlet, escalating the civil war.

Concerned about what was going on, Blane contacted Thomas who then sent Sir [[Paul Masters]] of the [[Knights of the Inner Sphere]] back to Gibson with Blane to evaluate the situation in early [[3055]]. Masters discovered gruesome guerrilla fighting going on, and eventually vanished after having a falling-out with the Word of Blake 'Mech lance he had been assigned&mdash;he had previously witnessed them slaughtering civilians for no good reason and had intervened, which prompted the Word of Blake field commander to issue an arrest warrant because Masters had "interfered in an operation". Blane, who was apparently not informed of the details, truthfully reported Masters' fight with his own lance and subsequent disappearance to the Captain-General. Shortly afterwards, Assistant Precentor Starling assumed command over the Word of Blake on Gibson and had Blane arrested. In the subsequent chaos, Blane was freed by Masters with the help of local rebels, concurrently with the arrival of the Captain-General in person and a strong military force. Order on Gibson was restored by installing Paul Masters as the world's new noble ruler, and the Word of Blake were reminded that they were guests on Gibson, not rulers. It is unknown if Blane was reinstated as Precentor on Gibson.<ref>''Ideal War'' (novel), see [[Ideal War#Summary|plot summary]]</ref>

Blane conceived and planned [[Operation ODYSSEUS]], through which the Word of Blake gained control of [[Terra]] in early [[3058]].

===Jihad and Death===
While both Blane and [[Cameron St. Jamais]] would attend the ill-fated [[Fourth Whitting Conference]],<ref name=DotJ-40>''Dawn of the Jihad'', p. 40: "On the Red Carpet"</ref> Blane's disappearance after the Word of Blake's initial assault on [[Tharkad]] and St. Jamais' increasing prominence raised numerous questions as to his whereabouts. An [[Interstellar News Network]] report on 25 October [[3068]] openly wondered if Cameron St. Jamais had had Blane killed to take full control of the Ruling Conclave, an assertion that an unnamed Blakist rejected to claim Blane had merely "retired to write his memoirs",<ref name=DotJ-128>''Dawn of the Jihad'', p. 128: "William Blane Missing?"</ref> while a later INN report on 1 November [[3070]] raised Blane as a prime candidate to be the Word of Blake's shadowy [[The Master|"Master"]].<ref name=JHS2070-127>''Jihad Hot Spots: 3070', p. 127: "Who is "The Master"?"</ref>

It was ultimately confirmed<ref>In an [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,7870.0/all.html official in-character chat] that took place on 10 July 2011: "The Master" answered a question about Blane's fate with the words "Spaced over Tharkad". The veracity of this statement was confirmed in an official chat with [[Line Developer]] [[Herbert A. Beas II]] on 22 October 2011, who added that "Cameron" (presumably Cameron St. Jamais) had had enough of him. The fact of Blane having been spaced was once more confirmed by Herbert Beas in an [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,18964.0/topicseen.html official answer] on the BattleTech forum, with the added notion that it happened off camera, i.e. the event was not detailed in any published material so far.</ref> that Cameron St. Jamais had indeed put Blane to death, having him "Spaced over Tharkad" (implied to be on or around 5 December 3067, one of the opening shots of the Jihad), though this information is not publicly known within the [[BattleTech]] universe.

==Legacy==
Bane's death was the last one of a series of turns – one being the murder of Precentor Martial Trent Arian – for the Blakists to get rid of their moderate members and move the most radical into the highest positions. So his death marked the beginning of the Word of Blake as the extremist, fanatical and ruthless group they proved to be during the [[Word of Blake Jihad]].

==Portrait Gallery==
<gallery>
William Blane ER3062.jpg|William Blane at age 68 from ''[[Era Report: 3062|ER:3062]]''
William Blane ShSphere.jpg|Blane at age 70 from ''[[Shattered Sphere]]''
</gallery>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[ComStar (sourcebook)|ComStar]]''
* ''[[Dawn of the Jihad]]''
* ''[[Era Report: 3062]]''
* ''[[The Fall of Terra]]''
* ''[[Ideal War]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3070]]''
* ''[[Shattered Sphere]]''
* ''[[Storms of Fate]]'' (novel)


[[Category:Word of Blake Characters|Blane, William]]
[[Category:ComStar Characters|Blane, William]]