Clan Fire Mandrill
History
The early splitting of Fire Mandrill warriors into cliques
would lead to the Kindred Associates, later known as the Kindraa.
The Mandrills would conduct a series of pre-trials to
determine the quantity of supplies and resources they would utilize in
Operation Klondike. The Clan's cluster that would be used in the campaign were
subsequently armed with BattleMechs.
The Fire Mandrills were assigned to assault the Pentagon
world of Dagda, along with Clans Burrock, Goliath Scorpion and Widowmaker.
However, ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky would initially put the invasion of the
planet on hold due to a helium tank rupture on one of the Invasion Forces'
JumpShips.
During the post-campaign debriefings, the Clan was criticized
by ilKhan Kerensky for its internal squabbling and waste of critical resources.
Like their fellows, the Fire Mandrills also expanded and
improved upon the military technology of the Star League, but their fractious
nature limited their efforts to a modestly enhanced version of the Flamer.
The Golden Century saw the destruction of Kindraa
Jewel-Smythe at the hands of Clan Hell's Horses and Clan Coyote in retribution
for dishonourable bidding in a previous Trial.
As the Golden Century ended, the Fire Mandrills had lapsed
into semi-isolation. They had little contact with other Clans and were mainly
concerned with their own internal conflicts. When the Crusader and Warden
movements developed among the Clans, the Fire Mandrills split along Kindraa
lines. Crusader and Warden Kindraa soon came to blows as they sought to resolve
their philosophical differences by defeating their rivals on the battlefield.
Kindraa Sainze championed the Crusader cause and eventually rose to dominate
the Clan, reducing the strength of the staunchest Warden Kindraas through a
mixture of fighting and politics.
Most Mandrills were in the Crusader camp by the time that
the Grand Council took the vote to invade the Inner Sphere, and so Clan Fire
Mandrill voted in the affirmative. Due to their factionalism the Mandrills
fought Trials among themselves to determine who would represent the Clan,
shattering their own Touman. As a result they fared poorly when it came to the
placement Trials arranged by the Grand Council, defeating Clan Ice Hellion but
losing to Clan Coyote and Clan Star Adder. Not even placing well enough to earn
a slot as a reserve Clan, the Fire Mandrills sat out Operation Revival
entirely.
The Fire Mandrills fought against the Capellan Red Lancers
in the Great Refusal. The Binary that the Clan fielded was an ad-hoc mixture of
different Kindraa representatives and proved unable to coordinate effectively
on the battlefield. The Red Lancers isolated one Star and destroyed it before
moving on to the other.
For the first half of the 3060s Khan Amanda Carrol
attempted to unite the fractious Kindraa, but deep divides between Wardens and
Crusaders meant all her efforts came to nothing in the end. After a great deal
of bitter in-fighting the Clan Council held a vote of no confidence in their
Khan in 3066. Amanda Carrol stepped down and was replaced by Garret Sainze
within a year.
3067 saw the mergers of several Kindraa. Kindraa
Mick-Kreese-Kline was formed in the aftermath of a disastrous campaign against
Clan Star Adder. The other major merger was the formation of Kindraa
Payne-Beyl-Grant. This was the result of the violent struggles between Warden
and Crusader Kindraa, with Kindraa Sainze battering Kindraas Beyl-Grant and
Payne so badly that these two Warden kindraas joined in order to resist the
attacks and maintain a strong Warden bloc in their Clan.
When the next Grand Council was convened in late February,
3071, the severity of the Blakist assault upon Clan Wolf's capital Tamar
spurred the Clans into electing a new ilKhan. Clan Star Adder and Clan Steel
Viper suggested Garret Sainze for the post, not because they believed him fit
for the role but simply to make their own candidate, Star Adder Khan Stanislov
N'Buta, appear as a sane choice next to the fiery and headstrong Mandrill.
Sainze won the ilKhanship anyway; his shocking victory was due to a single
vote, that of Diamond Shark Khan Barbara Sennet, who wanted to prevent the
'Snake Alliance' from dominating the Grand Council.
Sainze's first (and as it turned out, last) motion as
ilKhan was to address the issue of the Great Refusal. Furious at the foiling of
their plans, the Adder Khans led their power bloc in voting to uphold the
results; combined with abstentions from Clans concerned about arousing the
Adders' wrath, the Great Refusal remained in place. Disgusted at the entire
political circus taking place, Clan Goliath Scorpion Khan Ariel Suvorov
declared a Trial of Refusal against Sainze's election as ilKhan, declaring him
an incompetent leader with delusions of glory.
With no choice but to accept or lose what little respect he
had left, Sainze met Suvorov's forces on Shadow. In a three-day campaign four
Clusters from the Fire Mandrills battled a like number of Goliath Scorpions; by
the end of the fighting Sainze had perished, along with most of his Kindraa's
warriors.
After his demise, Clan Cloud Cobra issued a Trial of
Reaving on Sainze's Bloodname, citing his failure as ilKhan and in defending
his right to the post. In a narrow victory against the 149th Cobra Guards Khan
Amanda Carrol and Kindraa Mick-Kline-Kreese-Sainze managed to defend Garret
Sainze's legacy from Reaving.
Clan Fire Mandrill arrived in a much-weakened state to the
Grand Council in December 3071, with all Clans in attendance. Voting with Clans
Blood Spirit, Goliath Scorpion, and Steel Viper, Khan Carrol voted to refute
the Great Refusal. With only Clans Ice Hellion, Hell’s Horses, Ghost Bear,
Coyote and Diamond Shark voting against it, the Great Refusal was finally
declared null and void.
In mid-December, the Fire Mandrills declared Trials of Reaving against the Snuka and Vong Bloodnames on Arcadia. However, the remainder of Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant’s touman were summarily destroyed by the 4th Bear Regulars and saKhan Aletha Kabrinski’s Silverroot Keshik. Later Kindraa Mattila-Carrol's 64th Firestrom Cluster and the 14th Scorpion Grenadiers overwhelmed Clan Coyote on Glory, winning half of Clan Coyote's holdings there.
In January 3072 Clans Steel Viper and Goliath Scorpion
arrived on Shadow to carry out the ilKhan assigned Reaving of Kindraa
Mick-Kline-Kreese-Sainze, with the help of Clan Coyote's enclave on planet. The
resulting defeat of saKhan Dakar Mick however was to be more of a surprise to
all Clans. Not only did Clan Coyote's assault only last just 36 hours, it was
due to the 3-1 odds and new ProtoMech designs. In addition, as the Kindraa's
warriors presented themselves to the Coyotes they reacted by slaughtering all
in attendance, including the attendant Viper and Goliath Scorpion warriors. The
Mandrills would be the first victim of The Society.
The Fire Mandrills lost the 301st Firebrand Cluster to the
Dark Caste on Marshall in early December. Starving, as there had been no
supplies arriving, they attempted to strike both Immesha and Ommesha in force.
Thinking they would only fight the besieged Ice Hellions they ran straight into
the guns of two Dark Caste Septs and were quickly disabled. With the only
Mandrill forces on planet captured, the Dark Caste claimed their Enclave.
Culture
The Kindraa was the central element to any Fire Mandrill's
existence, with its leader exercising the same power as a Clan Khan and the
Clan itself a distant second in allegiance. The superiority complex each
Kindraa felt over the others was such that they rarely utilized genetic
material from outside their ranks, at the price of bloodline stagnation. Rumors
circulated that a few Kindraa used freeborn DNA in their breeding programs to
counter this.
The Mandrills' xenophobia extended to other Clans, as
inter-Clan contacts were kept to a minimum and Clan Diamond Shark
intermediaries were often used as a bridge between Mandrill merchants and other
Clans. Bondsmen taken captive were rarely adopted into the warrior caste and
instead used in civilian roles. Mandrills taken by other Clans, warrior or
civilian, tended to be uncooperative, and Kindraa Sainze warriors were expected
to commit their own form of bondsref (akin to seppuku) to avoid captivity.
The fractiousness of the Kindraa meant that the Clan's
economy was highly compartmentalized but extremely inefficient in other ways.
Duplication of various roles within each Kindraa resulted in much Clan-wide
wastage and little opportunity or means for the scientist caste to innovate,
forcing the merchant and warrior castes to provide new technologies and
materials via external sources instead. As the result, the merchants gained
some influence and inter-caste relations as a whole were generally good, with
warriors (aside from those of Kindraa Sainze) willing to help civilians with
any necessary tasks. Despite this, there was no doubt that the warrior caste
was firmly in charge of the Clan.
Inter-Clan Relations
Throughout its existence, Clan Fire Mandrill contemptuously
eschewed cooperation with others, and only with two Clans, Blood Spirit and
Diamond Shark, did the Clan collectively establish anything close to a good
relationship. Regarding the destruction of Kindraa Smythe-Jewel, Clan Hell's
Horses was viewed as having a legitimate reason for their annihilation of a
Kindraa, but the Coyotes were disparaged as opportunists. Constant raiding by
Clans Burrock and Smoke Jaguar in the years before Revival resulted in
long-term hostilities with these Clans, while the Mandrills' poor performance
in the pre-invasion trials led to disparaging insults from Clan Steel Viper
that escalated into a full-fledged feud until their annihilation.
Kindraa Payne
Kindraa Payne had traditionally been one of the strongest kindraas in Clan Fire Mandrill. Kindraa Payne was composed entirely of MechWarriors. They were also strong adherents to the Warden political movement. They frequently came into conflict with Kindraa Sainze. Kindraa Payne didn't use Elementals, using conventional infantry and vehicles instead. They also lacked AeroSpace Fighters, employing just enough to protect their WarShip.
Though they only had two front line and one second line Clusters throughout most of their history, the quality of their warriors was such that they could maintain a large amount of influence over their fellow Kindraa. In fact cadets undergoing a Trial of Position faced heavy and assault class 'Mechs. In addition, the Payne warriors often engaged in Trials of Possession for the best Bloodnames of other Clans. Though they weren't always successful, facing off against such high-quality warriors resulted in the Paynes gathering experience quickly.
Kindraa Beyl-Grant
Kindraa Beyl-Grant was one of two Clan Fire Mandrill Kindraa built around AeroSpace forces. It was known for the high quality of its AeroSpace pilots. Freeborns in this Kindraa could not become MechWarriors due to a lack of resources. In 3062 the Beyl-Grant Kindraa began to develop a rivalry with Kindraa Mick-Kreese, but the rivalry was limited to their WarShips and neither side was moving towards a serious confrontation.
Kindraa Beyl-Grant leaned towards the Warden side of the Clan political spectrum. In 3066 Kindraa Beyl-Grant inadvertently destroyed the Mandrill's newfound unity when they challenged for the position of saKhan in an attempt to bring more Warden causes before the Clan Council. Kindraa Sainze, holder of the office, was infuriated and struck at the Beyl-Grant with three Clusters. The fighting was fierce and Beyl-Grant stood a good chance of being annihilated but Kindraa Payne and Kindraa Faraday-Tanaga intervened and forced the Sainze warriors to withdraw.
Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant
After the disastrous assaults of Kindraa Sainze against Kindraa Beyl-Grant, the Paynes formed an alliance with the Beyl-Grants. In June 3066 Kindraa Beyl-Grant and Kindraa Payne merged, forming the first "ilKindraa" Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant.
In 3069 Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant launched a series of Trials of Possession for various Coyote holdings on Shadow and the Savage Coyote factory on Foster. Despite outnumbering the Coyotes nearly two-to-one the Kindraa could not force the Coyotes off of Shadow. The fighting was both on the planet and in the surround space. The Reaver broke zellbrigen when it exchanging a broadside with the Coyotes’ Windrunner, that was not part of bid. The Coyotes declared the Kindraa forces dezgra and wiped out the Seventeenth Auxiliary and First Striker Payne Clusters.
In December 3071 the Fire Mandrills declared Trials of Reaving against the Snuka and Vong Bloodnames. Supported by the CFM Anathema the Mandrills dropped the remainder of Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant’s touman on to the planet of Arcadia where they were destroyed by the Fourth Bear Regulars and saKhan Aletha Kabrinski’s Silverroot Keshik.
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