Clan Widowmaker

Clan Widowmaker was one of the original twenty Clans. Their homeworld was Roche, settled in 2812. Known as an extremely aggressive Clan, they had a relatively short history before their Absorption by Clan Wolf.

Operation Klondike
Clan Widowmaker was assigned to liberate Dagda during Operation Klondike, alongside Clan Burrock, Clan Fire Mandrill, and Clan Goliath Scorpion. Though their attack was initially delayed by JumpShip problems, Clan Widowmaker landed on Dagda alongside Clan Burrock on 17 August 2821, in the port city of Folke. Their main opponents were Ryan's Roughnecks and the Oriente Dominion. Although outnumbered, the Clans' cohesion and leadership led to relatively easy victories, though the Widowmaker saKhan, Mariel Sanders, was killed by an assassin on 26 October. This led to increasingly harsh treatment of the remaining opposition.

Clan Widowmaker earned a reputation for "undue aggression" during the campaign, and ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky eventually benched them, replacing them with Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon for the completion of the Dagda campaign. This began a feud with Clan Wolf that would eventually have devastating consequences for Clan Widowmaker.

Wolverine Annihilation
Clan history records that when Clan Wolverine was ordered Annihilated by the Grand Council, Clans Widowmaker and Wolf carried it out. However, Clan Widowmaker had an adversarial relationship with Clan Wolf, expressed during the run-up to the Trial of Annihilation against Clan Wolverine, when the Widowmakers forced the Wolves to bid below the accepted cutdown. This created a simmering feud that a decade later would lead to the death of ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky and the end of Clan Widowmaker.

During the Annihilation, Khan Jason Karrige was killed by the Wolverines. His genetic legacy was later purged from the clan genetics program. The destruction of records relating to the Not-Named Clan, combined with the subsequent Absorption of the Widowmakers by the Wolves, means that there is no known historical explanation for Karrige's fate other than vague references to his manipulative and overly-political actions.

In Betrayal of Ideals, Karrige is a primary antagonist due to an unexplained grudge against Wolverine Khan Sarah McEvedy. Since the Widowmakers and Wolverines did not interact during Operation Klondike, this suggests that the conflict stemmed from events on Strana Mechty. Karrige used spies and disinformation to turn Nicholas Kerensky against the Wolverines, and organized a multi-clan working group to coordinate attacks against the Wolverines. He arranged for Widowmaker warriors disguised as Wolverine Technicians to steal a nuclear warhead from a disputed Brian Cache, then later detonated it in the Wolverine capital after their attempt to secede from the Clans began (his cover story was that the attack was meant to target pro-Clan loyalists who had remained in the largely abandoned city).

Nicholas Kerensky later discovered the conspiracy during the fighting on Barbados. Rather than allow the details to become public, he ordered a coverup. He allowed Karrige to be challenged and killed by Wolverine Khan Franklin Hallis, then completed the Annihilation of the Wolverines. Karrige's genetic legacy was terminated, but otherwise the Widowmakers escaped the immediate consequences of their actions. The true story was known to the other Khans but almost no one else, and the story did not appear to have been recorded or passed on by those who knew the truth. Nearly all records were destroyed, and Nicholas Kerensky's own personal records were falsified to support the cover-up. (These records formed the basis for Phelan Kell's version of events in Warriors of Kerensky.)

Absorption
In the summer of 2834, the Widowmakers massacred their own merchants during a caste dispute. Though the Widowmakers blamed the Wolves for stirring up the merchants, the Grand Council agreed with Khan Jerome Winson of Clan Wolf to question their right to rule and gave the Wolves the right to absorb them. Lingering resentments stemming from their transgressions with Clan Wolf during the Wolverine Annhilation played a role in the dispute, for which they had never been held accountable. Additionally, the affair possibly represented a secret and long-delayed retribution from the Khans in the Grand Council for the Widowmakers' nuclear false flag operation turning the Wolverine Absorption into an Annihilation.

The Trial of Absorption, staged on Ironhold, had unforseen and tragic consequences. When members of the Widowmaker touman intervened in a duel between Khan Winson and Khan Cal Jorgensson of the Widowmakers, the referees, led by ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky, intervened. Whether by design or by accident, Khan Jorgensson killed ilKhan Kerensky, sending the Wolf Clan into a frenzy of vengeance. Jorgensson, executed after a perfunctory drumhead trial, died still protesting that the killing had been accidental. The subsequent attacks, a virtual Trial of Annihilation, left few Widowmaker warriors alive. The last warriors of the Widowmakers, led by saKhan Kyle Vordermark attempted to ambush Clan Wolf forces on Roche but they were foiled by Ethan Moreau of Clan Goliath Scorpion. Clan Wolf later ceded the Widowmaker enclave on Roche to Clan Goliath Scorpion.

A few Widowmaker genetic legacies survived as exclusive Wolf bloodnames into the Invasion Era. The most famous bearer of Widowmaker DNA (though not a Widowmaker bloodname) was Natasha Kerensky, who used Widowmaker imagery as part of her public persona.

Legacy
Although the Widowmakers' symbol was removed from clan records, members of the Bandit Caste use the insignia as their unofficial symbol due to its infamy among the clans and as a sign of independence. Even Natasha Kerensky herself would use the Widowmaker totem for her "Black Widow" persona and her new Clan unit due to her belief that the Clan way would do more harm than good to the Inner Sphere.

Khans

 * Jason Karrige, 2807 - 2824
 * Cal Jorgensson, 2824 - 2834

saKhans

 * Mariel Sanders, 2807 - 26th October 2821
 * Cal Jorgensson, October 2821 - 2824
 * Kyle Vordermark, 2824 - 2834

Bloodnames
After the absorption of Clan Widowmaker, Clan Wolf would take their names and use them for their own genetic legacies.

After the Wars of Reaving, Clan Wolf would share their Bloodnames with the other six spheroid clans.