Clan Blood Spirit

The rescuing the Blood Spirits from their annihilation became The Wolverine’s main goal as soon as they understood their plight. The Spirits themselves not actually wanting to be helped, the Wolverines led multiple raids against their installations starting in late 3081 to abscond with their population. Forcefully relocating population was difficult at best, but it also explained the complete lack of resistance the Blood Spirit put up against the other Clans during their Annihilation. Given three worlds like all other Exiled Clans, the Blood Spirits started isolating themselves from everyone else again. However, in July 3085, the Star Adders destroyed the Blood Spirit’s genetic repository and led then Khan Viggo McFadden to change the Blood Spirits point of view while leading a religious epiphany.

History

A religious experience

Viggo McFadden saw the death of his Clan from the safety of Shangri-La, and as highest ranked officer in the Clan, he was given the title of Khan. Through meditation and pondering their Clan situation, McFadden convened with all the leaders of the bloodhouses and started the pivot of their Clan into a more religious organization, centered around esprit de corp and protection of their genetic legacies. Unlike some of the other Clans which were already more religious in nature (like the Goliath Scorpions or Nova Cats), this required some negotiating and invoking religious sentiments. A few of the bloodhouse leaders were not ready for that change, but seeing the destruction of Mount Schmitt, they reconsidered.

Coming of the Monks

The Blood Spirit’s Warrior caste transformed itself over the next few years into a monastic knightly order, with the MechWarriors being the holy knights while the Protomech pilots, Elementals and Aerospace Fighter pilots being squires and attendants. This shift also opened the bloodhouses to having more bloodnames being carried, with the “attendants” generally taking the name of their master rather than the name of the Clan. While their duties as warriors was primordial, the Monks also were driven to achieve great things on their own time outside of war, help those in need and reconcile broken trusts.

Viggo McFadden put a lot in place to have his warriors accept this change of focus, but the almost broken Blood Spirit were happy to move past what they had been. Having opened up to the world after reaching the Union, the Blood Spirits did send ilChi’s, ambassadors and missionaries, to the other members of the Union. While the goal was not to convert everyone to their own new religion, this allowed the Blood Spirits to build tight connections with the other members of the Union rather than remain isolated.

Preparing for a Crusade

By 3123, High Magister Viggo McFadden retired to better concentrate on studying genetics and their implications, leading to the ascension of Fairgraves Schmitt as new High Magister. Fairgraves was the head of the Schmitt bloodhouse and had written a few interesting treatises which were being used amongst the Monks to understand their place in the Union. While not the greatest warrior, Fairgraves embodied the “doing good for the world” portion of the new religion best. New technologies were developed at that time to increase food production even during the “white light” event of the Union’s Quasar, staving off complete famine.

When the attacks on the Inner Sphere were being planned, the Blood Spirits preferred not to get involved too much, stating they wanted to work on improving their region of space before trying to take actions against others. Fairgraves Schmitt still realized he needed to make act of presence for these dealings, or his Clan could be ignored and die off again. Calling upon the heads of the Bloodhouses, 3 “front-line” galaxies were reformed to assist other outfits within the Union. Looking at the result, the Republic asked the Blood Spirits to assist their ancient ally, the Fire Mandrills, in their strikes against the Raven Alliance.

Culture

L’Esprit de Corp is at the heart of the Blood Spirit’s religious revival, promoting military and social assistance to all. The role of ilChi was recreated as missionaries of the new Spirit religion to other members of the Union. Unity against a common foe and injustice is the core tenet of this religion, with genetic purity and the sanctity of bloodlines being an underlying principle. The Blood Spirits are now probably one of the most egalitarian of all Clans, at least in regard to their trueborn and freeborn, with anyone being able to change castes as long as they show religious acceptance of their new place in life. Vatgrowns are not looked at well within the religious framework due to their “genetic impurity”, but those ready to make the sacrifices for the cause can climb ranks just the same.

Cultural idiosyncrasies

Ritual scarring and branding, with Enhanced Imaging implants being the most common one, are common amongst the Monk Caste. All members of the Clan are encouraged to pursue an artistic hobby to create something beautiful and long-lasting in their down time to prove to the world their existence.

Bloodchapels

The destruction of the Blood Spirit’s original genetic repository on Haven led to the decentralization of the genetic legacies of the Clan in what would become the Bloodchapels. Each Bloodchapel holds part of a genetic legacy, along with prayer halls where one can ask upon a previous holder of the bloodname or the founder of the bloodhouse to intercede in their favor. When a new sibko of trueborn warrior is to be created, the Scientists have to go on a pilgrimage to one of each of the Bloodchapels to ask for the blessed genetic material to create a new generation of warriors for the Clan. Scientists working on a vatgrown run can also visit Bloodchapels to be gifted a codex, and is generally seen as a sign of good luck for the upcoming batch.

Military

Clan Blood Spirit “forceful relocation” had the advantage of bringing over a large portion of their touman into Union territory. While highly trained, the Blood Spirits were not veterans of any major engagements, however. Known to make do with little, the Blood Spirits introduced the concept of Protomechs to the Union. The Blood Spirits also brought an understanding of prefabricated factories that could quickly be brought up and down to produce limited runs of various ‘mechs.

The Blood Spirits have a massive troop of Battle Armor and Protomechs. Battlemechs, and especially omnimechs, are viewed religious vessels, and blessed before each engagement and their own “genetic bloodline” having to remain pure. ‘Mechs no longer belong to a Cluster or Galaxy, but to the bloodhouse which originally built them or acquired them, and are assigned as such to leading members of the bloodhouse. Bioroid commanded machines are treated differently, but still ultimately belong to the bloodhouse of the Bioroid Commander.

The Spirits have not invested much in their naval assets, having the Republic build them 2 Potemkin-class transports and buying an Essex Block III from Clan Steel Viper. Most of their fleet is composed of upgraded traditional JumpShips, supported by a larger than average assault dropship fleet.

Clan Blood Spirit Current National Data

Clan Blood Spirit Demographics
Affiliation: Exiled Clan
Population (Clan Space): 1.9 billion (3153) (counting vatgrown)
Population growth rate: 13.1 percent
Self-Sufficiency Index: 92 percent and dropping (food shortages)

Leaders:
High Magister:  Fairgraves Schmitt
Magister: Gurjinder Sinjab
Loremaster: Michael Bush

Military:
Clusters: 32 (6 Galaxies)
WarShips: 2 (2 Potemkin, 1 Essex Block III)

Controlled worlds:

Shangri-La
Jerusalem
Mecca

Currency: Republican Dinar