#the clans

[basildusk]

Hi! Could you perchance draw Mothwing? Please and thanks!

[nivenbee-battletech]

On one hand, not being able to find a source verifying that the Clans are in fact humans is pretty lame, especially for a wiki well-regarded by its community like Sarna.

On the other hand, the unintentional comedy of "the Clans are not aliens (citation needed)" almost justifies leaving the article as-is.

[arcticdementor]

I find myself referencing Battletech more often in discussions these days; at least partially due to the fact that it contains not one, but two different examples of a "Benedict option" gone wrong?

You think you're going to be Hari Seldon? Good luck not ending up as Jerome Blake, or worse, Aleksandr Kerensky, instead.

[krinsbez]

BT-ify Pulp Heroes: Doc Savage (Worldbuilding/Storybuilding)

So, this one is a bit different.

I started profiling Pulp Heroes and their supporting casts, and asked people to come up with BT-ified versions. Well, initially I asked what Mech they would use, but for many, things got very detailed.

Some of these (notably the ones I discussed in the poll months ago) got beyond this, but there are plenty who didn't. So, what I am going to do is start posting what the folks on the forumboard came up with, and see:

What you think of what was come up.

See if y'all have ideas to refine, enhance, or improve what they came up

Come up with ideas for stuff to do with these BT-ized versions of the characters.

And with all that taken care of, let's start with one of the most important, iconic, and archetypical Pulp Heroes...Doc Savage (and his aides)

(profiles via forumposter Starfox05)

Doc:

Doc Savage was project of the Society to produce the ultimate human - the pinnacle of genetic engineering, mating nature and nurture. A genius in a perfect body, raised from birth with all the knowledge available to humanity. Destined to lead the Society to victory. He's as tall as an Elemental, as quick as a 'Mechwarrior. Unfortunately - for the Society - he was so smart and eager to learn, he did study privately in addition to what his tutors taught him, and soon discovered knowledge they were not meant to teach him - amongst them philosophies and teachings abandoned by the Clans long ago. As he was a scientist through and through - questioning everything and never accepting anything on blind faith. So, he saw through the Society's stated aims, realised how wrong they were, and decided to abandon them to help humanity. Having ditched the Clan way for the same reasons, he gathered a few prisoners/experimental subjects he liberated and guards/tutors he turned as well as his young "cousin", a female version of him sharing most of his genes, stole a dropship and jumpship from the society and all the tech and supplies he could manage, and made his way to the Inner Sphere. He can pilot, repair, modify and construct anything - tank, 'Mech, Aerospacefighter, Battle Armour, dropship or jumpship. If he has to fight, he fights to disable, and he likes to switch and customise his ride, usually an Executioner OmniMech he heavily modified, to the task at hand. Unlike most Clan Warriors, he likes melee combat, often using his 'Mech's mass to wreck lighter enemies without harming the pilot, and often uses experimental weapons and even construction tools in any battle as well as the environment. Even though he and his group are nominally mercenaries (and hid their origin once they reached the Periphery) they often work pro bono, relying on selling new technology and Doc's services as a polymath to finance their excursions, in addition to a Germanium Mine he received from a grateful periphery planet's population whose water filters and fusion generators he restored and improved. He has started to acquire a small fleet of merchants whose jumpships and dropship he repaired for them, and who pay him back by a share of their profits. He and his group live on a special dropship, a former Collossus, that he modified into a flying base and research lab.

Ham:

A former Star Colonel who failed to die in battle or earn a bloodname, [Ham] was an eccentric Diamond Shark, keeping both a pet and an antique blade ready during his career. He was targetted by the society for his skill at logistics and was kidnapped when he was transferred to solahma unit so they could pick his brain for military tactics. He has an old rivalry with [Monk] dating back to a few clashes during trials. He pilots a Lancelot, the last 'Mech assigned to him by his Clan.

Monk:

[Monk], another talented warrior who never got a bloodname (though he tried numerous times), and he switched to the scientist caste when he aged out, and was recruited by the Society after starting an affair with one of their members. He soon fell out with the Society's leadership, though hid his true thoughts, and managed to teach Doc not merely science but also a few other tricks and unarmed fighting.

Johnny:

Another of Doc's original tutors, [Johnny] was responsible for most of his scientific training, after suffering the loss of an eye and having trouble with the implant that replaced. He was not very respected in the Society since he didn't specialise but kept "widening his horizons" as he called it - and since he often paid more attention to history and the past as a former Goliath Scorpion than the Society found tolerable.

Long Tom (admission, the entire reason for this series of projects was cuz of him):

[Long Tom} was a Naga-pilot turned bondsman turned tech, and mostly ended up in the Society's hand because they wanted to find out if his peculiar appearance and excellent health could be useful for their experiments. He went along with the others when Doc broke out and has been working on restoring a Long Tom artillery piece they picked up on a border planet (and modifying it so he doesn't need crew to use it).

Renny:

An Elemental working for the Society and serving as a link to the Dark Caste, Renny committed many crimes for which he is ashamed before he had a change of heart helping Doc. If Doc had not convinced him to atone by helping others, he would have killed himself long ago.

Pat:

Patricia was meant to be Doc's counterpart, and she has the skills, smarts and drive to prove it. What she doesn't have is his experience - she is younger than him and still learning, and sometimes a bit too eager for her own good. She pilots a Gargoyle if she takes the field, sporting a prototype rotary autocannon with six barrels.

And as a bonus, the closest thing Doc has to a nemesis...

John Sunlight:

A survivor of the Society, John managed to escape and determined to lead humanity to salvation whether it wants to be saved or not. Armed with the knowledge of his old organisation he plans to rebuild the Star League in his image, so to speak. He blames Doc for abandoning the Society and for wasting his talents helping others instead of leading them as the genetically superior specimen he should, in John's opinion.

So, what thinkest thou, BT and Pulp Fans of Tumblr?

[berryblu-ocs]

So! The CLANS

Ive mentioned them in passing a couple times but I'm pretty sure they don't make a lot of sense out of context.

One of the consequences from time's end is that guardian powers get deactivated/go dormant in most of the world, and everything gets scrambled.

When a guardian's power gets 'deactivated', there's a possibility that forcibly bringing it back will result in colored pupils, a distorted version of the original powers.

Most notable case of this happening was before the time's end era, when a space guardian developed tecniques to go into people's mindspace, using the function of a pocket dimension (normal space guardian power) as a base, enabling them to manipulate minds, as well as observe through the minds of others.

Of course this was all super illegal and concerning, so they were promptly exiled and had their powers 'deactivated'.

This however led to them training to get colored pupils, and while they were weaker than a usual space guardians power level, they allowed for much more control overall.

He then shared his tecnique with other space guardians and thus the ensata clan was born.

They stayed an unspoken possible threat for a long time, generally shunned by the rest of the kingdoms, until said kingdoms were trying to keep the world from crumbling at least...

As a last ditch effort and at the cost of vast sums of energy, a spell was cast on most of the world, to forget all they had known about the guardians and voids and refractions.

They (Ensata clan) of course didn't forget, and held high ranks of power in both the new age civilizations and the smoldering debris of that survived from the old age.

The principle of balance is always in effect however, and with the time guardians missing, clans similar to their ensata slowly formed to counterbalance them.

The Dandelion clan, derived from air guardians, serving as messnegers and whisperers

The Clover clan, derived from earth guardians,ensuring the safety of the Kaleidoscope

The Foxglove clan, acting as the Kaleidoscope's police force and main protection against voids near the borders or other threats.

The Lavender clan, serving as general healers for the Kaleidoscope

And lastly the Ensata(Iris) clan, specializing in surveillance and camouflage to keep outsiders from realizing the Kaleidoscope exists as a whole

Now they exist all hidden away in their own parts of the world, separate yet together through space-warping enchantments, impossibly weaving together bits and pieces of land all throughout the world, giving way to the "Kaleidoscope" as they call it.

By now it's a decently sized city where the great majority of active guardians go for shelter from the voids.

[swedebeast]

Maybe it is time to start this bad boy.

@kasperl-ruprecht

[judasjurgen-blog]

Submitted for the fuck of it.

Awesomes, Black Knights, Quickdraws and Jenners beware, Clan Goliath Scorpion is prepared for your heat management shenanigans. (Proceeds to lose to enemies who don’t use those walking ovens without double heat sinks)