91 replies to this topic

[Lima Zulu]

Sir Paul Masters.
Why, why the bloody hell there isn't even a single clue about his fate after Blackist attack on Atreus...

[Kay Allard Liao]

Alexander Fury, on 19 March 2012 - 09:07 PM, said:

Someone who is not on the list but is definatelly one of the coolest characters of the universe imo: Cassie Sutton. Anyone who hunts mech's on foot and has the ''balls'' to be accepted by the Cabaleros is someone who deserves to be rightly feared by all!

I really liked her, she is one of coolest killer in all of the books

But sorry dude her name was Cassie (Cassiopeia) SUTHORN

[THE 4thbreed]

Victor is the best out of all these people.

[Jake Valeck]

kai. hands down best mechwarrior. the guy you want on your side!

[Loose]

Patrick Kell. 22-years-dead and a crucial-only-to-EnGarde character, but d***it, can you deny his epicness? I think not.

"Is it supposed to hurt this much?"

[THE 4thbreed]

Victor all the way.

[Karel Spaten]

Lima Zulu, on 20 March 2012 - 04:47 AM, said:

Sir Paul Masters.
Why, why the bloody hell there isn't even a single clue about his fate after Blackist attack on Atreus...

Apollyon's internal monologue at the start of Jihad Hot Spots: 3072 refers to "the late" Sir Paul, so I doubt it ends well.

I'm going to go off list and pick "Thomas Marik" as my favourite character. The best Captain General the FWL had in centuries, even after he was deposed managing to end two wars through pure diplomacy. A man who was the Inner Sphere's pillar of moral strength, to the point where even after he was exposed as an impostor, his erstwhile "relatives" were still supporting him as head of state. I think, had he not been at the mercy of Word of Blake for so long, he would have been the greatest First Lord of the Star League too.

He wins even more kudos (in my eyes) for being one of the few major characters in the Battletech universe not to fall into the "warriors good, politicians evil" dichotomy that plagues the series.

[Lima Zulu]

Karel Spaten, on 27 March 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

Apollyon's internal monologue at the start of Jihad Hot Spots: 3072 refers to "the late" Sir Paul, so I doubt it ends well.

Well, yes. But last knights were effectively wiped out only in 3076, and only reason to Apollyon's sure is if Paul Masters died in 3068 in initial chemical attack on Atreus City. That's really, really sad.

[Dubh]

Really? Nobody mentions Natasha Kerensky the Black Widow. The most intimidating and fearsome warrior in the Inner sphere AND Clan space, and rightly so. A force to be feared in the Dragoons and an unholy terror among the clans! She was as dangerous off the field as on.

[Tadakuma]

Karel Spaten, on 27 March 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

Apollyon's internal monologue at the start of Jihad Hot Spots: 3072 refers to "the late" Sir Paul, so I doubt it ends well.

I'm going to go off list and pick "Thomas Marik" as my favourite character. The best Captain General the FWL had in centuries, even after he was deposed managing to end two wars through pure diplomacy. A man who was the Inner Sphere's pillar of moral strength, to the point where even after he was exposed as an impostor, his erstwhile "relatives" were still supporting him as head of state. I think, had he not been at the mercy of Word of Blake for so long, he would have been the greatest First Lord of the Star League too.

He wins even more kudos (in my eyes) for being one of the few major characters in the Battletech universe not to fall into the "warriors good, politicians evil" dichotomy that plagues the series.

Your missing Melissa Steiner who was the ultimate example of the great statesman (woman in this case) of the Battletech universe. Personally I can't really rate Thomas Marik much because all his "great actions" took place in the context of the Jihad storyline which I hate and pretty much ignore.

I think the fact that he let a militant and radically xenophobic group take route in his realm and launch (comic book evil styled) attack on the innersphere certainly strongly mitigates against his status as a great statesman.

He also only reluctantly supported the Draconis Combine, FedCom and FRR in the treaty of Outreach and despite this his realm profited the most from the clan invasion. So I really can't see much to him except the fact that he was the only leader of that generation to survive.

[Seabear]

Of those listed, I have to go with Victor. He is a person who faces great triumphs and tragedies without allowing them to dominate his life. He is type of character that Shakespeare would write.

I also find Thomas Marik a character of great interest. Like Victor, he made some great mistakea but overcame them and earned a great place in IS lore.

[Lima Zulu]

Seabear, on 02 April 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

Thomas Marik

Which one?

[Sleeping Bear]

He's not on the list but I'd have to go with Morgan Kell. The life he lead was nothing short of extraordinary and hell, Phelan Kell is his son. Few commanders are of such an elite status as to be held in the same regard as Jaime Wolf.

[Sychodemus]

VSD from the five listed.

However, I must apply a condition to that statement (and it applies to all five): it really depended on who was writing the character at the time.

[rilianv]

Its hard to pick between Kai, Victor, Focht, and Phelan

each one in his own way is spectacular.
Kai, Victor, and Phelan all had to live up to legendary figures and each of them surpassed their fathers.

Kai single handedly wiped out an entire cluster of the Falcon Guards in his first fight. then fought the clans on alyina where he was stranded. avoided clan pursuers and fought said pursuers. was captured along with clan pursuers by comstar. fought alongside clan elementals earning the respect of the jade falcon clan. then went on to solaris vii where he proceeded to become the champion and hold his title. dueled with 2 clan khans phelan and vlad ward. fought to a draw with phelan and beat vlad.

Victor had a bad start but as time went by and he gained experience he became a natural born leader. lead the relief forces for the coventry campaign where he defeated the clans with out firing a single shot upon arrival. called for a combined effort of the inner sphere to take the war to the clans. lead said war to the clans.

Phelan was defeated by the clans. turned into a bondsman and was adopted into the clan warrior society by taking out 2 mechs in a trial of position. single handedly took over gunzburg and after the battle of tukayid beat his rival, vlad, for the Ward bloodname. soon he became the sakhan of clan wolf and later went on to lead the warden part of the clan back to the inner sphere where they became the Wolfs-in-exile.

Focht failed as frederick steiner but came back to redeem himself as anastasius focht by leading the com guards in the battle of tukayid where he won a 15 year truce against the clans. he then semi-lead operation bulldog with the help of victor steiner-davion.

so i as you can see, all are great choices. which is why i must go with Morgan Kell.

Leader of the Kell Hounds. only surviving holder of the phantom mech technique. 1 of 2 warriors that Jaime Wolf feared having to fight.
supposedly fought Justin allard in a simulated battle that left the simulators in need of extensive repairs. Not to mention theres not a single person outside the Capellan Conferderation and parts of the draconis combine who would think to do harm to him.

[Chuggernaut]

Tadakuma, on 30 March 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

I think the fact that he let a militant and radically xenophobic group take route in his realm and launch (comic book evil styled) attack on the innersphere certainly strongly mitigates against his status as a great statesman.

You can only say that about WoB as a reader. People in the universe didn't know the Toyama agenda until stuff started coming to light in the late 3060s; until then WoB was the ComStar that everyone knew, and it was Focht and Mori who were the ones introducing this new ComStar with its own standing army and WarShip fleet that nobody in the IS could match.

I can see how Marik might be apprehensive and want to sidle up to WoB in that case, since he knew Focht didn't trust him due to his connections to Demona Aziz and William Blaine. WoB came to him, hat in hand, offering to give him the location of a lost FWL WarShip cache and refit their shipyards at Tamarind to build WarShip drives at a time when the FedCom and DC were dependent on Terra to ship them to him.

Yeah, NOW we know it was a bad idea, but you can't blame a guy for not knowing about things that nobody else seemed to. Are you going to blame Focht or Theodore Kurita or the Super-Friends for not smashing WoB when they first took Terra, too?

Back on topic: the other four are incredibly boring, uninteresting characters who we are expected to like because they are designated heroes. Sun-Tzu actually did something unexpected and surprising, which makes him more interesting than the rest.

Edited by Chuggernaut, 09 June 2012 - 10:28 PM.

[Bastard Ken]

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

[Karl Streiger]

Well four boring characters affiliated with munchkin - and a interesting on - obviously Sun-Tzu. Only Kathrine Steiner is more interesting.

[DerMaulwurf]

Karl Streiger, on 14 June 2012 - 05:02 AM, said:

Well four boring characters affiliated with munchkin - and a interesting on - obviously Sun-Tzu. Only Kathrine Steiner is more interesting.

I hope your talking about a real Steiner and not Catherine Steiner-Davion. Because the latter is as cartoonish as the characters you just derided (only evul).

[Chuggernaut]

DerMaulwurf, on 14 June 2012 - 08:12 AM, said:

I hope your talking about a real Steiner and not Catherine Steiner-Davion. Because the latter is as cartoonish as the characters you just derided (only evul).

Her scheming at least put things in motion in unexpected ways. The rest only ever have one plan and they never change it: "get in my mech and shoot at things."