Elias Crichell was a Clan Jade Falcon politician first and MechWarrior second and presided over the clan during Operation REVIVAL. He was the “eldest statesman” of the Clan invasion force and in the same generation as current ilKhan Lynn McKenna, a generation which was born between a time of relative peace and an era of constant internal struggle. His leadership of the Jade Falcons was marred with multiple oddities and failings, but he kept the Clan in a position of strength throughout his reign.

Early Life

Elias was decanted in a mixed sibko on Gatekeeper, from a lineage of unremarkable warriors. Nothing was expected of him or of anyone in the sibko, with the majority of the creche transferring to lower castes, generally merchants and technicians. Elias held on his posting as a warrior trainee, originally as a tank commander but transferred to MechWarrior training when he was sent to Ironhold. By the end of his training, he was the only surviving warrior trainee of his sibko, having killed the other two survivors in his Blooding, securing a position as Star Commander. The fight itself was considered one of the messiest thing ever, with Crichell winning by crushing another cadet’s cockpit under his Summoner’s foot, while the shoving the other one off a cliff with an “accidental” shoulder tackle. It took hours before the Falconer approved of Elias’s victory.

Military Career

Political Plays in a Political Time

Elias Jade Falcon originally served in Peregrine Galaxy, where he served in a second-line unit. Knowing he would need to improve his standing if he wanted to amount to anything in the Clan’s future, Elias took dangerous appointments, especially preferring to fight against the Falcon’s old rival, Clan Wolf. He defeated multiple Wolf warriors in trials and duels, but gained in fame after defeating Star Colonel Hector Vickers, a Wolf ristar. This allowed Elias to challenge for a Star Captain position in Peregrine Galaxy and paved his way in the future.

An ardent Crusader, Elias Jade Falcon was known to travel to various Falcon enclaves and push for the philosophy to other warriors. This drew the attention of Yvonne Hazen, the Khan of the Falcons at the time. The old woman was looking for a proper replacement to her as a Khan, seeing how saKhan Buhallin was generally regarded as more of a Warden. Yvonne took Elias under her wing and taught him more about politics. By 3020, Elias Jade Falcon had reached the rank of Star Colonel of Turkina Keshik and he challenged for the Crichell bloodname in 3021. This put him in direct opposition with Sejanus Buhallin.

The two men would progressively get into more fights, culminating with the accusation by Elias Crichell towards Buhallin that he supported the “treasonous” Wolf’s Dragoons in 3028. While the fallout of this was mostly political, the two had to fight a trial of grievance over the insult, which Crichell won again due to “unusual circumstances”. In the end, Buhallin died in an ammo dump explosion which could never be pinned on anyone and Elias Crichell took his place as saKhan.

Continuing rise

One of the first major event in Elias Crichell’s position was overseeing the trial of Aidan, Ter Roshak and Joana for having broken the rules of the Blooding by letting Aidan take another try at the Trial. While the Clan Council stripped the three of their warrior position, they were allowed a Trial of Refusal in their defense, which Crichell arranged partially to have at least a few of those “reprobates” survive. Crichell had taken a liking to Aidan Jade Falcon due to his unorthodox background and supported him in the background.

Crichell’s political acumen allowed him to keep his position and install more of his friends, pawns and allies in critical locations in the Clan. Even though he would later be a hardliner against the lower caste political powers, he was the one who allowed the Merchant-Factor to expand his powerbase and set up additional banking branches throughout the Homeworlds.

Rise to Khanship

Elias Crichell’s work and words were critical to the ascension of Leo Showers to the position of ilKhan in 3048. This was all in support of a future invasion of the Inner Sphere by the Clans, with Crichell participating in culling Clan Wolf in a Trial of Refusal over the idea. After this fight, Khan Yvonne Hazen officially retired and Elias Critchell took command of Clan Jade Falcon for the Placement Trials and the events leading up to Operation REVIVAL.

Crichell’s restoration of the Grade of Preeminence Clause within the Jade Falcon was a blow to his supporters in the lower castes, but it reinforced his position amongst the warriors and the more hardline Crusaders. This was primarily used as a mean for Clan Jade Falcon to suppress a massive worker revolt which had stopped production of civilian equipment and material, which Crichell realized was essential for the upcoming war effort. This event damaged his reputation, but he persevered at the time.

Another important thing Crichell did after taking his position as Khan was to establish a proper “pecking order” amongst the Galaxy Commanders and Star Colonel of the Clan. With his close collaborators and supporters in key positions, any leaders who leaned towards the Warden cause were placed in solahma units and provisional units. Those units were also used in repression of civilian protest, shifting the blame from Crichell to his political enemies at the same time.

Operation REVIVAL and Tukayyid

During the events of Operation REVIVAL, Elias Crichell did not take to the front, unlike many of the other Khans. He was content controlling the war from the sidelines and maintaining his powerbase amongst the Clans while trying to establish one in the Inner Sphere. The front-line command role first fell on saKhan Timur Malthus, which did have major issues during the Battle of Bone Norman. The commander redeemed himself in the following waves of the invasion with his troops claiming victory on multiple worlds, but part of it was due to Crichell mobilizing additional troops “under the table” to support saKhan Malthus.

As Timur Malthus was forced to resign his position after Adler Malthus’s loss on Twycross, Crichell had Vandervahn Chistu take the position of sakhan and assume the front-line commander role. Khan Crichell did not have a choice but to be present at the Battle of Tukayyid, with the loss weighing heavily upon him and his supporters.

Bid for ilKhan and support of the ilKhan

Elias Crichell attempted to make a bid for ilKhanship after the Battle of Tukayyid and Ulric Kerensky being forced to abdicate the title. While he had deflected a lot of the failings of the Falcon during the invasion to his two saKhans, the Falcon’s various failures during the invasion came back to haunt him and stopped him from achieving the position. Seeing that his suit was hopeless, he began supporting the actions of ilKhan Lynn McKenna more as time went on.

Crichell used Aidan Pryde’s case to support the Second-Chance Doctrine brought forward by McKenna, which allowed warriors to attempt more than one Blooding and reduced unnecessary waste amongst the Warrior Caste. Crichell knew that a larger number of warriors would be required in the future to properly fight against the progressively improving Inner Sphere war machine. His support of the Grace of Preeminence was challenged by McKenna, which he fought against in a Trial of Refusal, bidding troops that he knew were expandable. Losing this Trial allowed him to keep face while also supporting the ilKhan’s positions.

During Case APOLLO, Khan Crichell allowed Vandervahn Chistu to challenge the Khan of the Goliath Scorpions, Ariel Suvorov. He knew the Trial of Refusal would be “refused” by the ilKhan after a clear and clean victory by the Scorpions on Apollo, but again this was all to save face while supporting the existing ilKhan to improve the political standing of the Jade Falcons.

An unfortunate death

Khan Elias Crichell was performing a review of the Clan naval assets in June 3058 when his shuttle suffered damage from nearby debris, killing the pilot instantly. Getting a spacesuit on, Elias Crichell attempted to regain control of the vessel, which kept accelerating due to a pressure issue. After reaching critical speed, the ship disintegrated, killing everyone onboard.

Elias Crichell was succeeded by Vandervahn Chistu as leader of Clan Jade Falcon, with Marthe Pryde taking the position of saKhan. There were doubts at first as to what led to the death of Khan Crichell and foul play was thought to have occurred, but an independent investigation by the ilKhan’s internal security office cleared everyone of any charges.

Personal Life

While he was a warrior through and through, Elias Crichel was known for not showing it when he could. He preferred to dress in suits, comparable to Inner Sphere politicians and merchants when out of BattleMech and was often described as “an upstart merchant” or “an unkept merchant”. He fought a few trials of grievances over such speech, which he triumphed in. Rumors also said he had a dalliance with Yvonne Hazen, but nothing can be proven.

Elias Crichell’s BattleMech

Elias Crichell was well known to pilot a Summoner for his entire career, preferring the fire support B configuration.