Post by {FWC}-Xavier on Aug 22, 2007 21:39:08 GMT -5
PROLOGUE TO THE FREE WILL CRUSADERS
Like a ghost,a ghost in the night we strike
As brief as a thought and then we are gone
You have just seen a myth, a myth in the night
Comstar fears our so called treacherous spawn.
The history of the universe you have read,
Truth has been omitted from that story told.
a vital mistake the clans will ever dread,
the truth cannot be bought nor can it be sold.
Listen to our story, a story for the ages,
that history hath not written in its pages.
Free Will Crusaders: The Hidden Equalizer
-----The year is 3052 and the Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon have since decimated each other in bitter conflict. From the ashes of their strife arose Clan Ghost Bear, ready to claim what they considered to be theirs. Cautious as the creature they are so named after Clan Ghost Bear was done waiting and began their attack on the Draconis Combine and Free Rasalhague Republic corridor.
-----Under the political history of this time lies a secret that has haunted Clan Ghost Bear. Spoken of as rumor but known by a chosen few as truth is a unique event, during this time Inner Sphere pilots were taken as bondsmen by the desperate Ghost Bears.
-----The campaign had gone terribly wrong and many pilots had been lost. Known for treating their civilians well, the Bears worked to keep the captured territories population as content as possible under their leadership. One such instance proved to be their undoing. Around this time Ghost Bear had decided to take Inner Sphere pilots as bondsmen. In this capacity the restless warriors served a purpose again and accepted their master’s will. They had decided early on that if something useful could be learned from the Clans than it would be worth all of their lives. These pilots also created a mindset, a “way to be”, which helped them survive not only their captures but also themselves as they were being consumed with anger and despair.
-----Having served the Ghost Bears these bondsmen began to see the potential of applying what they had learned. Now they knew of the Bear’s supply routes, military rotations, fragments of battleplans, and most importantly the location of the clan’s Khan. Also, some of the less experienced pilots, which had been sent away for labor tasks, uncovered an invaluable secret.
-----Having been sent far from the battlefront these laborers were put to work harvesting the asteroid belts which fueled Ghost Bear’s warmachine. The Ghost Bear’s mining and resourcing technologies were second to none. This was the final requirement for the bondsmen: a means to perpetuate their influence over the Ghost Bears, and eventually, all of known space. Now their future organization would have the best resourcing capabilities in the Inner Sphere, which would give them economic domination, and a self-sustaining flow of materials and supplies, and the means to hide themselves among the puppet corporations the mountains of credits would create. Having felt the sting of slavery at the hands of the Bears these pilots created a new identity as the Free Will Crusaders.
-----This organization would operate from the shadows, comprised of pilots from all houses and clans, anyone could join, but nobody could leave. All that was required for membership was a certain emotional and mental state, in short, they were looking for the desperate, broken, and vengeful. Under the watchful eye of their fellow members these souls would be transformed into a secretive force, a veritable hand of death creeping from the depths of nowhere, only to leave rumor and myth in its wake.
-----As irresistible as the force of gravity, so too would this organization be, and yet it would also be just as invisible. Any member even suspected of treachery was immediately killed; all previous ties and holdings were erased, communication outside the FWC was forbidden, and each associate was required to carry a small yet extremely powerful incendiary explosive in his or her flightsuit for complete destruction of any remains if captured or defeated. With the infrastructure and philosophy of the Free Will Crusaders complete all that was left was their first mission: the assassination of Khan Theresa DelVillar. Now the time had come to activate this incredible system of balance.
-----By this time the FWC was comprised not only of many different houses of the Inner Sphere but also had recruited discredited Clanners as well. The beast was breathing. Comstar had arrived on Tukyyid and began their assault. During the ensuing chaos agents of the FWC moved into position. The seemingly defeated and helpless bondsmen had become one of the most secretive organizations that had ever existed. They were also one of the more ruthless and coldly- calculating bands ever to fight in war. As the plan unfolded Comstar gained notoriety and the Ghost Bears lost their vast influence.
-----With the death of Khan Theresa DelVillar the clan would never recover fully. The Oathmaster, Aletha Kabrinski, immediately called for Bjorn Jorgensson, who took over command of the Clan… the Ghost Bears would never regain their full strength. And silently the Free Will Crusaders looked for other opportunities to maintain the balance, ensuring that there would never be one governing body to dictate over all of civilization, keeping the ideal of free will intact. Forever.
Epilogue
Our story you have read, now you must decide,
Which is the truth and which is the lie;
Our story is fairly hard to conceive,
But ask a crusader, and he'll make you believe.
On whose reputation will you now reside,
History is written by the victorious side;
The crusaders however fame is not our goal,
Free will we protect for the good of the whole.
We are a testament to the free will of man,
Now let him decide on whose word to stand;
Free will in danger regardless of sides,
We will be there to protect from the lies.
Ever feared, ever resented,
We fight for the meek, the tormented.
Background into the Birth of the FWC
The Clans Arrive
More than a decade of peace followed, enough time for the Elected Prince to get the Republic in order. He delegated command of the KungsArme to General Christian Mansdotter, allowing him to concentrate on politics. He refused to greatly strengthen the military, however, fearing this would arouse their neighbors' anger. This proved to be a grave error in March 3050, when Clans Wolf and Ghost Bear struck at several Republic worlds on the border of the Periphery. Severely outclassed and outnumbered, the brave troops of the KungsArme could do little to stop the marauding Clans, and world after world fell to them, including the capital world of Rasalhague.
The capture of Rasalhague forced the Elected Prince to flee with only the aerospace wing of the First Drakons for protection. Mansdotter remained on planet, coordinating defenses. With the loss of the world, the general was forced into hiding. He was captured by Wolf troops a little more than a year later, but Mansdotter's aide, General Nels Rasmussen, took command of his guerrilla forces with scarcely a ripple.
Clan Wolf forces met up with the First Drakons again at Radstadt, following the loss of that world. The Elected Prince and his escort jumped in-system only to discover Clan WarShips waiting. The Drakons quickly leapt to the attack, buying time for Magnusson to recharge his jump engines and escape. Kapten Tyra Miraborg, daughter of the famous war hero Tor Miraborg, led the final assault. Her Shilone fighter badly damaged, Miraborg drove it into the bridge of a WarShip, whe was later learned had contained the ilKhan of the Clans. With his death, the Clans stalled their offensive to elect a new leader. One brave woman's final act had bought a year's respite for her people.
Pausing for Breath
During this year, all the Inner Sphere leaders met on the world of Outreach with the Wolf's Dragoons mercenary unit. There, they learned that the Dragoons had long ago come from the Clans but were now ready to help the Inner Sphere fight them. Their training occupied much of the year. In November 3051, the Wolves renewed their offensive. The Ghost Bears retunred a month later, and the slaughter began anew. Devastating news for Magnusson came in January of the following year: his only son, Ragnar, had been captured by the Wolves while defending Satalic. The report rocked the Republic, and for a time, the people lost hope. Reports also arrived at this time that the Wolves had offered General Mansdotter the governorship of all captured worlds in exchange for helping pacify them. Mansdotter refused and was imprisoned. Despite Magnusson's hatred of mercenaries, the special forces of Wolf's Dragoons - Seventh Kommando - volunteered to use their Clan knowledge to resuce the general. The Dragoons slipped a DropShip past Wolf defenses on Rasalhague, releasing several Kestrel VTOLs containing troops and Elementals. They overpowered Mansdotter's Elemental guards and smuggled him off the world. The general soon returned to leading his forces, which were sorely pressed, despite new skills taught by the Dragoons.
Enter ComStar
In February 3052, Primus Myndo Waterly of ComStar approached the Elected Prince and general with a proposition. The Precentor Martial planned to fight a proxy battle with all of the Clans for Terra and wanted to use a Rassalhague planet as the battle site, a quiet, agricultural world called Tukayyid. Magnusson and Mansdotter agreed and immediately began evacuating citizens with ComStar's help. Over the course of that fateful May, the future of Rasalhague was rewritten with the surprising Victory of the Com Guards help. In less than two years, the Republic had gone from eighty-four worlds to a mereseven, from 206 regiments in the KungsArme to twenty-six. If he wished to defend what he still had when the Truce of Tukayyid ended, Magnusson had to allow ComStar, which was looking for a base to defend Terra from the Clans, to station its military in the Republic.
(Thank You to FWC-FRENZY for writing out storyline)
Like a ghost,a ghost in the night we strike
As brief as a thought and then we are gone
You have just seen a myth, a myth in the night
Comstar fears our so called treacherous spawn.
The history of the universe you have read,
Truth has been omitted from that story told.
a vital mistake the clans will ever dread,
the truth cannot be bought nor can it be sold.
Listen to our story, a story for the ages,
that history hath not written in its pages.
Free Will Crusaders: The Hidden Equalizer
-----The year is 3052 and the Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon have since decimated each other in bitter conflict. From the ashes of their strife arose Clan Ghost Bear, ready to claim what they considered to be theirs. Cautious as the creature they are so named after Clan Ghost Bear was done waiting and began their attack on the Draconis Combine and Free Rasalhague Republic corridor.
-----Under the political history of this time lies a secret that has haunted Clan Ghost Bear. Spoken of as rumor but known by a chosen few as truth is a unique event, during this time Inner Sphere pilots were taken as bondsmen by the desperate Ghost Bears.
-----The campaign had gone terribly wrong and many pilots had been lost. Known for treating their civilians well, the Bears worked to keep the captured territories population as content as possible under their leadership. One such instance proved to be their undoing. Around this time Ghost Bear had decided to take Inner Sphere pilots as bondsmen. In this capacity the restless warriors served a purpose again and accepted their master’s will. They had decided early on that if something useful could be learned from the Clans than it would be worth all of their lives. These pilots also created a mindset, a “way to be”, which helped them survive not only their captures but also themselves as they were being consumed with anger and despair.
-----Having served the Ghost Bears these bondsmen began to see the potential of applying what they had learned. Now they knew of the Bear’s supply routes, military rotations, fragments of battleplans, and most importantly the location of the clan’s Khan. Also, some of the less experienced pilots, which had been sent away for labor tasks, uncovered an invaluable secret.
-----Having been sent far from the battlefront these laborers were put to work harvesting the asteroid belts which fueled Ghost Bear’s warmachine. The Ghost Bear’s mining and resourcing technologies were second to none. This was the final requirement for the bondsmen: a means to perpetuate their influence over the Ghost Bears, and eventually, all of known space. Now their future organization would have the best resourcing capabilities in the Inner Sphere, which would give them economic domination, and a self-sustaining flow of materials and supplies, and the means to hide themselves among the puppet corporations the mountains of credits would create. Having felt the sting of slavery at the hands of the Bears these pilots created a new identity as the Free Will Crusaders.
-----This organization would operate from the shadows, comprised of pilots from all houses and clans, anyone could join, but nobody could leave. All that was required for membership was a certain emotional and mental state, in short, they were looking for the desperate, broken, and vengeful. Under the watchful eye of their fellow members these souls would be transformed into a secretive force, a veritable hand of death creeping from the depths of nowhere, only to leave rumor and myth in its wake.
-----As irresistible as the force of gravity, so too would this organization be, and yet it would also be just as invisible. Any member even suspected of treachery was immediately killed; all previous ties and holdings were erased, communication outside the FWC was forbidden, and each associate was required to carry a small yet extremely powerful incendiary explosive in his or her flightsuit for complete destruction of any remains if captured or defeated. With the infrastructure and philosophy of the Free Will Crusaders complete all that was left was their first mission: the assassination of Khan Theresa DelVillar. Now the time had come to activate this incredible system of balance.
-----By this time the FWC was comprised not only of many different houses of the Inner Sphere but also had recruited discredited Clanners as well. The beast was breathing. Comstar had arrived on Tukyyid and began their assault. During the ensuing chaos agents of the FWC moved into position. The seemingly defeated and helpless bondsmen had become one of the most secretive organizations that had ever existed. They were also one of the more ruthless and coldly- calculating bands ever to fight in war. As the plan unfolded Comstar gained notoriety and the Ghost Bears lost their vast influence.
-----With the death of Khan Theresa DelVillar the clan would never recover fully. The Oathmaster, Aletha Kabrinski, immediately called for Bjorn Jorgensson, who took over command of the Clan… the Ghost Bears would never regain their full strength. And silently the Free Will Crusaders looked for other opportunities to maintain the balance, ensuring that there would never be one governing body to dictate over all of civilization, keeping the ideal of free will intact. Forever.
Epilogue
Our story you have read, now you must decide,
Which is the truth and which is the lie;
Our story is fairly hard to conceive,
But ask a crusader, and he'll make you believe.
On whose reputation will you now reside,
History is written by the victorious side;
The crusaders however fame is not our goal,
Free will we protect for the good of the whole.
We are a testament to the free will of man,
Now let him decide on whose word to stand;
Free will in danger regardless of sides,
We will be there to protect from the lies.
Ever feared, ever resented,
We fight for the meek, the tormented.
Background into the Birth of the FWC
The Clans Arrive
More than a decade of peace followed, enough time for the Elected Prince to get the Republic in order. He delegated command of the KungsArme to General Christian Mansdotter, allowing him to concentrate on politics. He refused to greatly strengthen the military, however, fearing this would arouse their neighbors' anger. This proved to be a grave error in March 3050, when Clans Wolf and Ghost Bear struck at several Republic worlds on the border of the Periphery. Severely outclassed and outnumbered, the brave troops of the KungsArme could do little to stop the marauding Clans, and world after world fell to them, including the capital world of Rasalhague.
The capture of Rasalhague forced the Elected Prince to flee with only the aerospace wing of the First Drakons for protection. Mansdotter remained on planet, coordinating defenses. With the loss of the world, the general was forced into hiding. He was captured by Wolf troops a little more than a year later, but Mansdotter's aide, General Nels Rasmussen, took command of his guerrilla forces with scarcely a ripple.
Clan Wolf forces met up with the First Drakons again at Radstadt, following the loss of that world. The Elected Prince and his escort jumped in-system only to discover Clan WarShips waiting. The Drakons quickly leapt to the attack, buying time for Magnusson to recharge his jump engines and escape. Kapten Tyra Miraborg, daughter of the famous war hero Tor Miraborg, led the final assault. Her Shilone fighter badly damaged, Miraborg drove it into the bridge of a WarShip, whe was later learned had contained the ilKhan of the Clans. With his death, the Clans stalled their offensive to elect a new leader. One brave woman's final act had bought a year's respite for her people.
Pausing for Breath
During this year, all the Inner Sphere leaders met on the world of Outreach with the Wolf's Dragoons mercenary unit. There, they learned that the Dragoons had long ago come from the Clans but were now ready to help the Inner Sphere fight them. Their training occupied much of the year. In November 3051, the Wolves renewed their offensive. The Ghost Bears retunred a month later, and the slaughter began anew. Devastating news for Magnusson came in January of the following year: his only son, Ragnar, had been captured by the Wolves while defending Satalic. The report rocked the Republic, and for a time, the people lost hope. Reports also arrived at this time that the Wolves had offered General Mansdotter the governorship of all captured worlds in exchange for helping pacify them. Mansdotter refused and was imprisoned. Despite Magnusson's hatred of mercenaries, the special forces of Wolf's Dragoons - Seventh Kommando - volunteered to use their Clan knowledge to resuce the general. The Dragoons slipped a DropShip past Wolf defenses on Rasalhague, releasing several Kestrel VTOLs containing troops and Elementals. They overpowered Mansdotter's Elemental guards and smuggled him off the world. The general soon returned to leading his forces, which were sorely pressed, despite new skills taught by the Dragoons.
Enter ComStar
In February 3052, Primus Myndo Waterly of ComStar approached the Elected Prince and general with a proposition. The Precentor Martial planned to fight a proxy battle with all of the Clans for Terra and wanted to use a Rassalhague planet as the battle site, a quiet, agricultural world called Tukayyid. Magnusson and Mansdotter agreed and immediately began evacuating citizens with ComStar's help. Over the course of that fateful May, the future of Rasalhague was rewritten with the surprising Victory of the Com Guards help. In less than two years, the Republic had gone from eighty-four worlds to a mereseven, from 206 regiments in the KungsArme to twenty-six. If he wished to defend what he still had when the Truce of Tukayyid ended, Magnusson had to allow ComStar, which was looking for a base to defend Terra from the Clans, to station its military in the Republic.
(Thank You to FWC-FRENZY for writing out storyline)