The Clans have identified themselves by name as they challenged us for our worlds. Clan Jade Falcon. Clan Smoke Jaguar. Clan Nova Cat. Clan Ghost Bear. Clan Steel Viper. Wolf Clan Wachs on Now Oslo, July 3050 (Vulture & Thor) Clan Wolf. Colonel 'Weird Wayne' Waco of Waco's Rangers has often accused the Dragoons of being spies for some unnamed enemy. Usually the sort of force that crawls out of a bottle when the DTs are out in force. As the Terran Philosopher John Smith used to say, "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." It seems that Colonel Waco, for all his paranoia, was correct. Let us review a bit of unit history. On April 11, 3005, a convoy of JumpShips with heavy escort entered the system of the planet Delos in the Federated Suns. The tiny garrison estimated that there was transport enough for five full regiments of BattleMechs. The commander of the garrison was relieved beyond measure when instead of attacking, the force identified itself as "Wolf's Dragoons" and asked for a job. Prince Ian Davion hired them as soon as the message was relayed to him. They shored up the Capetian March for him for five years, then left to take a contract with the Capellan Confederation, though they had been offered a substantial reenlistment bonus. Their contract with House Liao prohibited their use against their most recent employer; in this case, House Davion. During their stay in Capetian service, they successfully evaded both court politics and the 'Company Store' attempt at forcing them into permanent indentured service. When they moved on to House Marik in 3014, they must have felt a sense of relief. This relief was to be short-lived. The Dragoons had signed on with Duke Anton Marik, who was attempted to oust his brother Janos from the Captain-Generalcy. Despite brave and intelligent support from the Dragoons on all fronts, Anton turned against the Dragoons. When the Dragoons refused to be broken up into small units and scattered, Anton reacted by slaughtering Iiason officer Joshua Wolf and twenty seven other hostages, among whom were Jaime Wolf's wife and daughters. This brought about the famous Vengeance Raid on New Delos which killed Anton Marik. The Dragoons withdrew to Second Chance to await attack by Janos Marik. Instead, he offered them a generous contract, saying that as one survivor of a fratricidal war, he could sympathize with another. (Janos' son and heir had joined in Anton's rebellion). Their five years of service to House Marik culminated in the famous raid onthe Defiance Metals Factory deep in the Myoo Mountains of Hesperus II. Outnumbered, with a tenuous supply line deep into enemy territory, Wolf's Dragoons lost the battle. But their dogged and ingenious fighting brought their reputation to a peak. After this action, Wolf's Dragoons recruited a number of MechWarriors and, in 3019, made a mysterious journey out to a base in the Periphery. They returned with BattleMechs, DropShips, and repair supplies. It should be mentioned that in an age where most fighting equipment is assembled of cobbled-together spare parts, the Dragoons' equipment appeared to be factory-new. Next came service to House Steiner. The usual clause in the contract prohibited Wolf's Dragoons from being used against their previous employer, so they went to the Kurita front, serving notably against the best Kuritan regiments, earning the emnity of the commander of the Second Sword of Light Regiment. Takashi Kurita wooed the Dragoons with an excellent contract. In 3022 they went over to House Kurita. Despite an excellent relationship with General Minobu Tetsuhara, the Kuritan Liason Officer, their relationship with the Draconis Combine went sour. There were attempts to make Jaime Wolf break the clause against service versus House Steiner. More serious, there was an attempt to coerce the Dragoons into becoming permanent House Kurita troops, breaking apart their command structure. Some of this pressure has been traced to Greig Samosonov, military head of the Galedon District, and Palmer Conti, commander of the Second Sword of Light, privileged as an advisor to Coordinator Takashi. The Dragoons trained a unit called the Ryuken in their tactics; this unit is the nucleus of today's Ryoken regiments. Samsonov faked Dragoon 'atrocities' on civilian populations, even against ComStar. The deteriorating relationship with their employer peaked with a regimental level' honor duel' on a planet well-named Misery. Tetsuhara and the five Ryuken regiments, together with 8th Sword of Light and the 17th and 21st Galedon Regulars were assigned to fight the Dragoons. Honor demanded that each side fight till it could fight no more. It was a bloodbath. Tetsuhara committed seppuku despite Wolf's protests. The Dragoons took a contract with the Federated Suns which did NOT contain a clause against attacking the Draconis Combine. During the Fourth Succession War, the Dragoons had Takashi Kurita's exclusive attention as he flung regiment after regiment at them in a determination to obliterate the unit. Wolf's Dragoons survived the Fourth Succession War, but they were reduced to one regiment where they had been six. By their agreement with House Davion, the Dragoons had gained permanent title to a coreward world called Outreach, former site of the Star League Olympics, a planet of excellent Star League era facilities; training courses and buildings. WOLF'S DRAGOONS FOUGHT FOR EACH OF THE SUCCESSOR HOUSES IN TURN! They had an excellent chance to judge the state of technology, of military readiness, of defensive capability of each major house as they were employed. Clan Smoke Jaguar. Clan Jade Falcon. Clan Wolf. Have you seen it yet? They are not Wolf's Dragoons. They are the Wolf Dragoons. They have always been an information-gathering agency for Clan Wolf. That was not Jaime Wolf's big surprise. The big surprise is that the majority of Wolf's Dragoons have changed their allegiance. Natasha Kerensky has returned to the Clans with a few of the Wolf warriors. But most of the Dragoons are staying here. Jaime Wolf called together the leaders of the Inner Sphere to give them hard information about the Clans, their purposes, potential, and tactics. His son Mackenzie Wolf, together with Christian Kell of the Kell Hounds, is training the sons and daughters of the Inner Sphere leaders in Clan MechWarrior tactics. The Clans are descended from Kerensky's Exiles. They never stopped developing tech. They have specialized training programs to use that new tech. They breed for optimum characteristics for MechWarriors, aerospace pilots, and infantry. They have predictable psychological profiles. Where are they now? Apparently their leader was killed during the fight for Rasalhague. Now they must regroup on their capital planet to elect a new one. We don't know how long this will take, because we don't know how the procedure works or what their politics are. We have had some hints that they do have politics, and do disagree with each other. Their intention is to reestablish the Star League, but on their terms. They are definitely coming back. Back to BattleTechnology 17 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com