Rouken, on 06 March 2014 - 06:10 AM, said:
Its a bit more complicated than that. Ulric's plan wasn't to send a recon team to scout the inner sphere it was to help prepare them for the invasion while sending information back to the clans that painted a picture of a strong inner sphere that would be difficult or impossible to invade.
If you read up on the warden and crusader political factions, and Ulric Kerensky's page on the wiki it becomes clear. Essential though crusaders want to invade the inner sphere and the wardens want to stop that invasion.
The Wolves fought just as hard (and smarter) against the inner sphere in the invasion but Ulric's goals were completely different from the other clans.
But yeah, Clan Wolf could easily fill the role of "the good guys" for the clans.
Yes ofc it was more complicated, I could go on for hours
It wasn't Ulrics plan, it was Kerlins. But lets start at the beginning.
Many people think the Wardens desire is to protect the Inner Sphere from the Crusaders but this is simply untrue. All Clans (Warden and Crusader) believed it is their destiny to return the the inner sphere and restore the Star League, these are the words of Nicholas Kerensky.
Where they differ is the timing of the return.
The Wardens believe that the return should be when they are needed, some outside threat to humanity imperils the Inner Sphere for example. The Clans only purpose until then is to be the best warriors the galaxy has ever seen and be strong enough for any challenge. When they are required, they return and the Inner Sphere will (insert each Warden Clans definition here) and recognise them as the Il Clan, giving them authority over Terra / Hemogany.
Clan Steel Viper (long time Warden) is the one example of the Warden view which to them was "not to subjugate.......but to teach it's people better ways. Clan warriors would retake the Inner Sphere and form it's ruling class" pg 135 Warden Clans Field Manual. So we can see here this Warden Clan envisioned to conquer through military muscle "retake" the inner sphere, eliminate all nobility / democracy and install their Trueborn Warriors as Kings / Dukes etc "Clan Warriors ..... form its ruling class" to educate the masses "teach it's people" on Kerensky's vision, when they were called upon. This is virtually the Smoke Jaguar view of things except Smoke Jaguar was Crusader. Invading Clans Source book pg 51 reads "... to conquer every world inhabited by the evil descendants of the five Great houses (read ruling classes, Davion, Liao, Steiner, Kurita, Marik) so that true humanity - represented by the Clans (read Smoke Jaguar Trueborns, they despised freebirths in every way)... might live on in the worlds they desrve. This is basically the same Steel Viper view that after conquering the Great Houses, Clan Trueborns will rule in the place of IS rulers
The Crusaders believe that they must return soon and reinvent the Star League so that humanity can be defended before any threat develops. Like the Wardens they also have different views on how it will work (Jade Falcon is pure might is right conquest)
Each Clan has it's own slight mannersim on the interpretation, but Warden vs Crusader was largely an argument about the timing of the return, not the return itself.
Wolf Clan was a key Warden and in the late 2900's started to realise that popular opinion was moving to the Crusader camp. Life was hard in Clan space with low living standards and limited resources. The Inner Sphere became something of a Nirvana for the average clanner, a place where they could all have a better life. A lot of this was propaganda and politicing. The Wardens believed this was a fad, something that would pass and so they developed the Wolf Dragoons as a ploy to primarily, gain time for the current fad to pass.
The idea of Clan Wolf using 'spies' for recon work is competely against their culture. And the fact is Clan Wolf sought out help from Clan Goliath Scorpian to train the Dragoons as exactly that, spies. The 7th Kommando is the ultimate expression of that but all Dragoons got a taste of it.
As far as Clans go, they only need current tactical recon for the battle about to occur and strategic recon was something only a small number of Clans valued (Snow Raven and Diamond Shark being the two majors) Certainly strategic recon is not something Clan Wolf has been a user of in canon in any case so for them to recommend this option was a big step away from Clan Wolf values. It did serve some other minor purposes but the Dragoons was primarily (according to canon) a delaying tactic for the Crusader movement to die down.
But it didn't die down and in 3048 when the Outbound Light stumbled across Huntress (Smoke Jaguar Homeworld) things came to a head. The Crusdaers argued (basically, some generalisation here) that the jig was up, that the IS had found them and could come rolling in at any time to invade Clan space. This would be a disaster as it meant damage to factories and miliatry ability to all Clans that could not be used in the execution of their primary goal, to protect the inner sphere. Better the Crusaders argued that if they must fight IS forces, they do so on their ground. Sixteen of the Seventeen Clans agreed with this and voted for the Invasion of the IS. This number is important, as I will show in a moment.
Wolf Clan (now led by Ulric Kerensky) was the sole dissenter and issued a challenge which it lost. In Clan culture, this meant that not only was the Grand Council united on the subject, but it had been tested and proven in combat as well. Invasion of the Inner Sphere and the conquest of Terra was the Grand Councils order and all Clans were bound to this, whether by consent or by defeat. There is no basis in Clan Culture for this to be debated anymore, every true Clansman should culturally be accepting of the righteousness of the Invasion.
It's important to note here that the Grand Council is the final authority of all things Clan.
An Il Khan was elected (Leo Showers of Smoke Jaguar) and his task appointed by the Grand Council was to facilitate the proper conduct of the multi Clan force in the field (a General of Generals if you will) to achieve the Grand Councils desire, the conquest of Terra.
And this is where things get funky and confusing. Ulric basically comes out and says to select fellow Wolves that no matter what the Grand Council says or what the field of battle outcome was, we are going to save the Inner Sphere from the Crusaders. This is basically an act of betrayal against all the Clans (remember the unamious vote and lost trial), Ulric says nuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh. Before now no Clan wanted to 'save' the Inner Sphere form the Clans, all of them believed in Nicholas's word that return and dominance in military matters at least was a foregone conclusion. The only challenge was which Clan would be the Il Clan.
Later Leo dies and the Grand Council not realising the depths of Ulric's betrayal, elect him Il Khan (for a lot of reasons but primarily political) and give him the same task as Leo had, prosecute the war and take Terra, but Ulric has no intention of doing so. It is now that his betrayal extends even to his own Clan and he endorses and enables new Khans sympathetic to his cause, Natasha and Phelan who both have strong affection for the Inner Sphere. They earn their ranks through combat and that's all legit, but they were sponsored by Ulric as he knew he could rely upon them to take the Clan Wolf further away from the Clans. Crusader warriors are refused promotions or testing's, Wardens are sponsored. It's a job's for the boys mentality with Ulric pulling the strings.
There is even an example where in one of Nicholas Kerensky's favoured units (328th Assault Cluster) that a Ghost Bear isorla warden is transferred in as a Star Colonel just before the invasion, no Wolf warrior was allowed to even test for the position. That's not to say the GB guy was incompetent (he wasn't) but it is just one example of how far Ulric pushed to ensure the chain of command owed Ulric personally.
As Clan Wolf was the leading Warden Clan, many take up on it's changing stance as what the Warden view was all about. But the Ghost Bears, the Nova Cats and Snow Ravens are all examples of Warden Clans closer to the heart of the Warden movement. Each of those found paths to the Inner Sphere where they believed they would be stronger due to more resources, more populations etc and be ready for the time that humanity needs them. They don't shy away from a fight, but they are not spoiling for fights with other Clans (bar the normal sparring). They conserve their strength and wait for the call.
In many ways, Clan Wolf is about as far from Clan as you can be from 3048 through to 3058. The have omni mechs and elementals and thats about their only claim to Clan likeness. They lost on the field of battle twice when their claim was tested (Invasion Grievance trial and the Refusal war) but still don't accept might is right unless they win.
Although give him his credit, post 3058 Vlad is trying hard to bring Clan Wolf back as a powerhouse of Clan space with some success.
6
). While they respect their traditions, they adapt to the situation, they make up their own mind, and don't rush in and think later - a trait that has proven valuable during their invasion of the Inner Sphere, where Clans found that technological edge and mastery of one on one combat is not always enough to guarantee a win.
My advice is to try. Come in TS and play with us. Maybe your issues are not that bad after all!
