Clan Fire Mandrill

Clan Fire Mandrill was one of the original twenty Clans founded by Nicholas Kerensky, named for a genetically altered species of mandrill introduced by the Star League-In-Exile to the Pentagon World of Eden.

From its earliest days Clan Fire Mandrill mimicked the fractious nature of its totem, as different Bloodhouses formed Kindraa (Kindred Associations) that clashed repeatedly with one another as well as with other Clans. As a result, the Mandrills remained one of the less influential Clans throughout their history. While classed as a Crusader Clan by the time of Operation Revival, a number of Kindraa espoused Warden ideals. This ideological rift, on top of the chronic Kindraa infighting, prevented the Mandrills from gaining a place among the Invading Clans, and they remained a marginal player in Clan politics during the turbulent events of the 3050s and '60s. Attempts to promote inter-Kindraa unity during this period ultimately failed, and during the Wars of Reaving Clan Fire Mandrill was destroyed piecemeal, being declared officially non-existent by the Grand Council in February 3075.

History
When IlKhan Kerensky chose to form the twenty Clans, he selected former Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery Officer Raymond Sainze as senior Khan of Clan Fire Mandrill, and declared the much younger Laura Payne as his junior saKhan.

The early splitting of Fire Mandrill warriors into cliques would lead to the Kindred Associates, later known as the Kindraa.

The Mandrills would conduct a series of pre-trials to determine the quantity of supplies and resources they would utilize in Operation Klondike. The Clan's cluster that would be used in the campaign were subsequently armed with BattleMechs.

The Fire Mandrills were assigned to assault the Pentagon world of Dagda, along with Clans Burrock, Goliath Scorpion and Widowmaker. However, ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky would initially put the invasion of the planet on hold due to a helium tank rupture on one of the Invasion Forces' JumpShips.

During the post-campaign debriefings, the Clan was criticized by ilKhan Kerensky for its internal squabbling and waste of critical resources.

Like their fellows, the Fire Mandrills also expanded and improved upon the military technology of the Star League, but their fractious nature limited their efforts to a modestly-enhanced version of the Flamer.

The Golden Century saw the destruction of Kindraa Jewel-Smythe at the hands of Clan Hell's Horses and Clan Coyote in retribution for dishonorable bidding in a previous Trial.

As the Golden Century drew to a close, the Fire Mandrills had lapsed into semi-isolation. They had little contact with other Clans and were mainly concerned with their own internal conflicts. When the Crusader and Warden movements developed among the Clans, the Fire Mandrills split along Kindraa lines. Crusader and Warden Kindraa soon came to blows as they sought to resolve their philosophical differences by defeating their rivals on the battlefield. Kindraa Sainze championed the Crusader cause and eventually rose to dominate the Clan, reducing the strength of the staunchest Warden Kindraas through a mixture of fighting and politics.

A majority of Mandrills were in the Crusader camp by the time that the Grand Council took the vote to invade the Inner Sphere, and so Clan Fire Mandrill voted in the affirmative. Due to their factionalism the Mandrills fought Trials among themselves to determine who would represent the Clan, shattering their own Touman. As a result they fared poorly when it came to the placement Trials arranged by the Grand Council, defeating Clan Ice Hellion but losing to Clan Coyote and Clan Star Adder. Not even placing well enough to earn a slot as a reserve Clan, the Fire Mandrills sat out Operation Revival entirely.

The Fire Mandrills fought against the Capellan Red Lancers in the Great Refusal. The Binary that the Clan fielded was an ad-hoc mixture of different Kindraa representatives and proved unable to coordinate effectively on the battlefield. The Red Lancers isolated one Star and destroyed it before moving on to the other.

For the first half of the 3060s Khan Amanda Carrol attempted to unite the fractious Kindraa, but deep divides between Wardens and Crusaders meant all her efforts came to nothing in the end. After a great deal of bitter in-fighting the Clan Council held a vote of no confidence in their Khan in 3066. Amanda Carrol stepped down and was replaced by Garret Sainze within a year.

3067 saw the mergers of several Kindraa. Kindraa Mick-Kreese-Kline was formed in the aftermath of a disastrous campaign against Clan Star Adder. The other major merger was the formation of Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant. This was the result of the violent struggles between Warden and Crusader Kindraa, with Kindraa Sainze battering Kindraas Beyl-Grant and Payne so badly that these two Warden kindraas joined together in order to resist the attacks and maintain a strong Warden bloc in their Clan.

When the next Grand Council was convened in late February, 3071, the severity of the Blakist assault upon Clan Wolf's capital Tamar spurred the Clans into electing a new ilKhan. Clan Star Adder and Clan Steel Viper suggested Garret Sainze for the post, not because they believed him fit for the role but simply to make their own candidate, Star Adder Khan Stanislov N'Buta, appear as a sane choice next to the fiery and headstrong Mandrill. Sainze won the ilKhanship anyway; his shocking victory was due to a single vote, that of Diamond Shark Khan Barbara Sennet, who wanted to prevent the 'Snake Alliance' from dominating the Grand Council.

Sainze's first (and as it turned out, last) motion as ilKhan was to address the issue of the Great Refusal. Furious at the foiling of their plans, the Adder Khans led their power bloc in voting to uphold the results; combined with abstentions from Clans concerned about arousing the Adders' wrath, the Great Refusal remained in place. Disgusted at the entire political circus taking place, Clan Goliath Scorpion Khan Ariel Suvorov declared a Trial of Refusal against Sainze's election as ilKhan, declaring him an incompetent leader with delusions of glory.

With no choice but to accept or lose what little respect he had left, Sainze met Suvorov's forces on Shadow. In a three-day campaign four Clusters from the Fire Mandrills battled a like number of Goliath Scorpions; by the end of the fighting Sainze had perished, along with most of his Kindraa's warriors.

After his demise, Clan Cloud Cobra issued a Trial of Reaving on Sainze's Bloodname, citing his failure as ilKhan and in defending his right to the post. In a narrow victory against the 149th Cobra Guards Khan Amanda Carrol and Kindraa Mick-Kline-Kreese-Sainze managed to defend Garret Sainze's legacy from Reaving.

Clan Fire Mandrill arrived in a much-weakened state to the Grand Council in December 3071, with all Clans in attendance. Voting with Clans Blood Spirit, Goliath Scorpion, and Steel Viper, Khan Carrol voted to refute the Great Refusal. With only Clans Ice Hellion, Hell’s Horses, Ghost Bear, Coyote and Diamond Shark voting against it, the Great Refusal was finally declared null and void.

In mid-December, the Fire Mandrills declared Trials of Reaving against the Snuka and Vong Bloodnames on Arcadia. However, the remainder of Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant’s touman were summarily destroyed by the 4th Bear Regulars and saKhan Aletha Kabrinski’s Silverroot Keshik. Later Kindraa Mattila-Carrol's 64th Firestrom Cluster and the 14th Scorpion Grenadiers overwhelmed Clan Coyote on Glory, winning half of Clan Coyote's holdings there.

In January 3072 Clans Steel Viper and Goliath Scorpion arrived on Shadow to carry out the ilKhan assigned Reaving of Kindraa Mick-Kline-Kreese-Sainze, with the help of Clan Coyote's enclave on planet. The resulting defeat of saKhan Dakar Mick however was to be more of a surprise to all Clans. Not only did Clan Coyote's assault only last just 36 hours, it was due to the 3-1 odds and new ProtoMech designs. In addition as the Kindraa's warriors presented themselves to the Coyotes they reacted by slaughtering all in attendance, including the attendant Viper and Goliath Scorpion warriors. The Mandrills would be the first victim of The Society.

The Fire Mandrills lost the 301st Firebrand Cluster to the Dark Caste on Marshall in early December. Starving, as there had been no supplies arriving, they attempted to strike both Immesha and Ommesha in force. Thinking they would only fight the besieged Ice Hellions they ran straight into the guns of two Dark Caste Septs and were quickly disabled. With the only Mandrill forces on planet captured, the Dark Caste claimed their Enclave.

3062
Affiliation: Crusader

Clan Space Worlds:

Atreus (65 percent)

Dagda (26 percent)

Foster (30 percent)

Huntress (16 percent)

Hoard (39 percent)

Marshall (13 percent)

Shadow (100 percent)

'''Capital: Shadow ''' Population (Clan Space): 81,719,000 (3060)

Population growth rate: 2.3 percent

Self-Sufficiency Index: 96 percent

Leaders:

Khan: Amanda Carrol

saKhan: Garret Sainze

Loremaster: Drew Tanaga

Scientist-General: Arkady (Crick)

Merchant Factor: Bianca

Master Technician: Lom

Senior Laborer: Todd

Military:

Clusters: 30

WarShips: 7

Military
See Clan Fire Mandrill Touman.

The Kindraas are:


 * Kindraa Smythe-Jewell (destroyed in 2872)
 * Kindraa Sainze
 * Kindraa Faraday-Tanaga
 * Kindraa Payne
 * Kindraa Mattila-Carrol
 * Kindraa Beyl-Grant
 * Kindraa Kline
 * Kindraa Mick-Kreese (Goulet)

By 3067, the Kindraas had changed slightly:


 * Kindraa Mick-Kreese-Kline, when a shattered Kindraa Kline reluctantly merged with Kindraa Mick-Kreese
 * Kindraa Payne-Beyl-Grant, an alliance between Kindraas weakened by Kindraa Sainze

Culture
The Kindraa was the central element to any Fire Mandrill's existence, with its leader exercising the same power as a Clan Khan and the Clan itself a distant second in allegiance. The superiority complex each Kindraa felt over the others was such that they rarely utilized genetic material from outside their ranks, at the price of bloodline stagnation. Rumors circulated that a few Kindraa used freeborn DNA in their breeding programs to counter this.

The Mandrills' xenophobia extended to other Clans, as inter-Clan contacts were kept to a minimum and Clan Diamond Shark intermediaries were often used as a bridge between Mandrill merchants and other Clans. Bondsmen taken captive were rarely adopted into the warrior caste and instead used in civilian roles. Mandrills taken by other Clans, warrior or civilian, tended to be uncooperative, and Kindraa Sainze warriors were expected to commit their own form of bondsref (akin to seppuku) to avoid captivity.

The fractiousness of the Kindraa meant that the Clan's economy was highly compartmentalized but extremely inefficient in other ways. Duplication of various roles within each Kindraa resulted in much Clan-wide wastage and little opportunity or means for the scientist caste to innovate, forcing the merchant and warrior castes to provide new technologies and materials via external sources instead. As the result, the merchants gained some influence and inter-caste relations as a whole were generally good, with warriors (aside from those of Kindraa Sainze) willing to help civilians with any necessary tasks. Despite this, there was no doubt that the warrior caste was firmly in charge of the Clan.

Inter-Clan Relations
Throughout its existence, Clan Fire Mandrill contemptuously eschewed cooperation with others, and only with two Clans, Blood Spirit and Diamond Shark, did the Clan collectively establish anything close to a good relationship. Regarding the destruction of Kindraa Smythe-Jewel, Clan Hell's Horses was viewed as having a legitimate reason for their annihilation of a Kindraa, but the Coyotes were disparaged as opportunists. Constant raiding by Clans Burrock and Smoke Jaguar in the years before Revival resulted in long-term hostilities with these Clans, while the Mandrills' poor performance in the pre-invasion trials led to disparaging insults from Clan Steel Viper that escalated into a full-fledged feud until their annihilation.