Clan Wolverine - Unit History

Writing Credits:  Information borrowed from 
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The Not-Named Clan: Clan Wolverine 

Annihilated

The Wolverines were among the most vocal critics of Nicholas Kerensky's authoritarian rules over the Clans. Official Clan histories state that they were Annihilated for espousing anti-Clan sentiments, such as democracy and independence, but the reality is somewhat different. Many Clans were suffering internal strife at the time of the Clan Wolverine incident, and Nicholas saw that the Clans as a whole were on the brink of rebelling against his authority. The Wolverines served as both object lesson and common enemy against whom the other nineteen Clans could unite.

Clan Wolf carried out the Grand Council's sentence against Khan Sarah McEvedy and her Clan, but a later investigation strongly suggested that some individuals - predominantly civilians and second-line troops had been able to flee. Officially put down to bad book keeping, the whereabouts and disposition of any survivors remains unknown. This is the full story of this event and what lead up to the Annihilation of Clan Wolverine.
  

Wolverine Treachery

The first rumblings of discontent came from a surprising source: Clan Jade Falcon. Many in their ranks were upset that Nicholas had chosen to join the Wolf Clan rather than the Falcons at the end of Operation Klondike. Disappointment made them question Nicholas' ideals (though not his methods), and for a time they walked a fine line between criticism and treason. Eventually the Falcon Khans cut out what they termed the "cancer" at their core. In July 2823, they purged dissident elements, in effect cutting off part of themselves so that the whole Clan would survive. The Falcons that emerged from what they called "The Culling" though weaker militarily, were totally committed to Kerensky's vision and were thenceforth counted among the most traditional minded Clans. However, the Falcons were not alone in their treasonous mutterings.

Most of what follows is recreated from Nicholas' journals. Unlike official Clan records, they were never purged of their references to the Not-Named Clan.

Nicholas feared (probably correctly) that his grip on the Clans was slipping, and flexed his muscles as ilKhan against the main opposition to his authority: Clan Wolverine. At Nicholas' urging, on 28 August, 2823, the Grand Council declared that the Brian cache on Circe which the Wolverines had used to supply their Touman, was no longer Wolverine property. The Council ordered them to share it with their neighbors, Clan Snow Raven. Violating the Clans' socialist principles, the Wolverines objected strenuously. The ensuing political battle raged for weeks. On 30 September, while the Council called for a vote (Wolverine saKhan cast his vote via HPG). The Wolverines' protest was rejected, whereupon they demanded a Trial of Refusal as was their right under Clan law. The Trial was fought on 7 October; the Wolverines lost.

The situation deteriorated further in the Grand Council chamber, as frayed tempers led to increasingly acrimonious exchanges. Wolverine Khan Sarah McEvedy hoped to win over other Clans to her cause; she knew that Nicholas' dictatorial actions worried several of her fellow Khans. However, Nicholas was a canny politician and knew McEvedy's weaknesses. As her particularly blunt exchange, she insulted him directly and by extension, the Clans themselves. With a few ill chosen words, McEvedy destroyed her power base and any hope of liberalizing the Clans. To make matter worse, when Nicholas called for a Trail of Grievance, McEvedy committed the ultimate sin: she declared the Wolverines independent of the Clans. In doing so, she gave Nicholas exactly what he wanted, an excuse to destroy his opposition.
  

Crossing The Line 
 -Excerpt from Grand Council security tape; 8 October 2823 

Kerensky [ilKhan]: My honorable friend the Khan from Clan [CENSORED] continues to ignore the decisions of this body as verified by the recent Trial. I do not care that the cache is of the 331st Royal Division, her father's command. This body is agreed that the caches are a resource belonging to the Clans as a whole. In the old order, her paternal loyalty would be commended, but this not the old order. We are the Clans. We stand on our own merits, not those of our ancestors. 
Sarah McEvedy [Wolverine]: Except you. 
Kerensky [ilKhan]: I beg your pardon? 
McEvedy: I said, except you. You seem perfectly happy to bask in your father's achievements. He was a visionary who sought justice and peace for all. You seek control. 
Mitchell Loris [Mongoose]: Khan [CENSORED], you go too far. 
McEvedy: Do I? I know many of you in this chamber found our ilKhan's actions to secure control of the Pentagon population offensive. The Star League did not believe in torture and brutality. Those are the tools of power hungry madmen. Is that what you have become Nicholas Kerensky? A power hungry madman? 
<<Raised voices from all parties>> 
Kerensky: SILENCE! [CENSORED], Khan of Clan [CENSORED], I, Nicholas Kerensky, ilKhan of the Clans, do call for a Trial of Grievance. By our law, you may..... 
McEvedy: Hang your laws. Does the truth hurt so much, Nicholas? 
Kerensky: Fellow Khans, our colleague is clearly overwrought. I call for a vote of censure. Loremaster Ward, please.... 
McEvedy: Don't bother, Nicholas. I'll leave. In fact, we'll all leave. Clan [CENSORED] no longer recognizes the authority of the ilKhan or the Grand Council. From this point forward, we are an independent power. We decide our own fate, fairly and according to the morals and standards of the Star League. 
Kerensky: You cannot do this. 
McEvedy: I can and I have. 
<<McEvedy moves to leave.>> 
Kerensky: Arrest her! 
<<McEvedy draws her pistol; the Khans and security guards back off. A detachment of Wolverine troops arrives.>> 
McEvedy: If you want to face us, fine. But we will not hold back. Prepare to reap the whirlwind. 
<<McEvedy storms out>> 
Kerensky: My Khans we face a serious decision....
  
Khan McEvedy escaped Strana Mechty and returned to Circe, where saKhan Franklin Hallis had already placed the Wolverine Touman on full alert. When Snow Raven forces acting on their own initiative probed the Wolverine border on 10 October, the Wolverines counter attacked. They showed no mercy, and after a short battle sacked the Raven capital of Dehra Dun. They retreated in the face of Clan Mongoose and Nova Cat forces massing, but not before making an object lesson of the city. After driving all civilians from the area, they used a low yield nuclear weapon to destroy the Raven genetic repository. The message was simple and brutal: You have backed us into a corner, and we will do anything and everything to stop you. Cowed by this "barbaric" action, the Mongoose, Nova Cat and Snow Raven forces withdrew pending the Grand Council's final deliberations.

With the destruction of the repository, the question of how to punish the Wolverines took a new twist. The Grand Council had voted on 8 October to censure McEvedy and the Wolverines, but had ultimately intended to bring them back into the Clan fold. Now they enacted the ultimate punishment. On 11 October, the Khans voted for the Annihilation of the entire Wolverine Clan. As sentence was passed, Nicholas delivered what became his most famous quote: "Those who break faith with the Unity shall go down into darkness." Over the next few days, the remaining nineteen Clans battled for the honor of destroying the rebels; eventually the contest came down to Clans Widowmaker and Wolf. However, in order to win the bidding, the Wolves were forced to go below the accepted cut down.

Khan McEvedy arrived back on Circe on 13 October and took charge of preparations for the impending assault. The Wolverine Khans suspected what Nicholas planned, and saKhan Hallis deliberately absented himself from the Council for the fateful vote. Following McEvedy's orders, he was preparing for a third Exodus. McEvedy and Hallis both knew that the Wolverines would never be safe in Clan space. To ensure their Clan's survival, they scattered small units throughout the Pentagon worlds and the Kerensky Cluster, collecting material from supply cashes and preparing to flee. The Ghost Bears spotted one such unit, but kept the information secret for decades.

Wolf Clan forces began their assault on 25 October, beating off a wolverine counter attack on their landing zone. The fought the rebels on land, in the air and in space. The battle raged for two days, and though outnumbered, the Wolves prevailed. A running battle ensued as the Wolverines attempted to flee Clan space. Many vessels on both sides were destroyed, but after nineteen days the Wolves were victorious. Almost eighty percent of the Wolf force died; there were no Wolverine survivors. Nicholas Kerensky killed Hallis in a brutal, three hour duel on Circe. No trace was ever found of McEvedy. for the next two months, the Wolf force systematically destroyed the Wolverines' holdings, demolishing buildings and forcibly sterilizing their civilian castes. All sibkos containing Wolverine genes were terminated.

Despite these measures, on 22 January of 2824, the Wolf Loremaster presented a troubling report to the Grand Council. A census of Wolverines' population and equipment showed numerous discrepancies. While most of the Wolverine front-line troops had been accounted for on Circe, many of the second-line warriors appeared to be missing, along with most of the 331st Division's equipment from the disputed Brian cache. Similarly, there were fewer civilians than expected. Officially, the discrepancies were put down to bad book keeping. In reality, however, the Grand Council suspected that a sizable portion of the Wolverines had escaped, probably to the Inner Sphere.