Mike mentioned he was looking for some ideas to help build character histories around. I went ahead and pulled together some key dates and ideas. I'm sure plenty of other ideas will work fine as well, just thought I'd provide some seeds.
Useful site references:
Clan history:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ClansPrinz Eugen Mutiny:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Prinz_Eugen_MutinyPentagon Worlds:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Pentagon_WorldsEvents of Note
2777 – Assault on Earth begins
2779 – Amaris Civil War Ends (September)
2781 – Star League disbanded
2784 – Exodus begins
2785 – Prinz Eugen Mutiny (August)
2786 – SLDF in Exile arrives in the Pentagon Worlds (August)
2801 – DeChevilier Massacre, Pentagon Civil War begins, Aleksandr Kerensky dies (June 11), Nicolas’ Exodus
2802 – Last transports left Kerensky Cluster (January)
2803 – Military Academy on Strana Mechty opens
2807 – Trial of Position for the Clans
2815 – Nicholas declares himself ilKhan (June)
2821 – Operation Klondike
Notes:
Units who supported Nicholas in full – 146th Royal Battlemech Division (CO: Major-General Nicholas Kerensky) and 149th Battlemech Division (CO: Major General Carson, then Absalom Truscott) plus most of the Navy and elements of other units
The original 800 Bloodnamed warriors were selected from the ranks of the SLDF forces at the time in 2807.
Military Service (general)
The characters should be part of the SLDF military and distinguished themselves in some way by 2807. Some ideas would include
- Serving in the SLDF during the Amaris Civil War (minimum age of ~18 in 2777, 48 at the Trial of Position, 62 at Operation Klondike)
- Marines who boarded during the Prinz Eugen mutiny (characters would have been marines and should have sufficient skill as a marine to warrant their inclusion) (minimum age of ~19 in 2785, 41 at the Trial of Position, 55 at Operation Klondike)
- Academy grad from the Eden Military Academy in the Pentagon Worlds (age range ~18 in 2787, 22 in 2801, 28 to 38 at Trial of Position, 42 to 52 at Operation Klondike)
- SLDF forces who fought at the beginning of the Pentagon Civil War before leaving with Nicholas – Age would depend on when they entered service as noted in one of the above entries.
- Academy grad from the Katyusha Military Academy (Strana Mechty) (age range ~16-18 in 2803, 20 to 22 in 2807, 34 to 36 in Operation Klondike)
General Background Ideas
These are options to mix in and around the military service ideas above
- War orphans – for characters not born on Earth, arguably they’d need to be conceived before 2777 when the SLDF got back to Earth. It’s easy to see situations where a veteran offers to take care of the family belonging to another veteran. Characters born in 2776 would be 31 at the time of the Trials of Position. They could have attended the SLDF military college in the Pentagon Worlds and been assigned to a unit prior to 2801 when the fighting broke out.
- Part of the 6 million who went on Kerensky’s Exodus – relative could have been in the SLDF, which opens a lot more options for coming from 1 of the 5 Successor States or Periphery powers.
- Born in the Pentagon Worlds – characters could be born on one of the 5 Pentagon Worlds (Arcadia, Babylon, Circe, Dagda, Eden)
- Circe is Clan Wolverine’s target for Operation Klondike, so depending on whether you want to potentially be facing people your character may have known or not, may influence where you want to have originally settled. Though not mentioned in the Battletech Wiki page, Circe was extremely hot climate-wise during its settlement as well as up and through Operation Klondike.
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