Election of the ilKhan

Year: End of 3052

Factions involved:

• All of the Clans
• Clan Snow Raven (leading)

Series of Events

Defeat at Tukayyid

• The Invader Clans are recalled to the Homeworlds after the Battle of Tukayyid for a recall vote on ilKhan Ulric Kerensky. The two primary Crusader Clans are very proud of themselves because he is losing face, not realizing that they have lost even more face than he did because they lost far more than he did.
• Ulric won at Tukayyid, they didn’t. The Jaguars also lost at Luthien, combined with the Nova Cats, which lost most of their Crusader members in the deal.
• The Diamond Sharks basically have no warrior caste anymore, having lost all their bloodnamed warriors at Tukayyid, which forces Ian Hawker to switch his allegiance to the Warden clans.
• The Steel Vipers are crippled by the Battle of Tukayyid as well, and do not have time to mount any political campaign.
• Ulric Kerensky reaches out to Khan Sullivan Koga to try and rally the Wardens behind “someone else” to prevent Lincoln Osis or Elias Critchell from winning the vote. Khan Koga tells him he has a plan and things will not go the Jade Falcon or Jaguars way.

Coming home for a vote

• On Strana Mechty, the debate to vote for the new ilKhan opens with Lincoln Osis grandstanding and claiming how powerful his Clan is before he is brutally taken down by Asa Taney of the Ice Hellion, reminding all the warriors gathered that his was the greatest failure of all.
  • The failure to capture Hohiro Kurita is the first thing which is brought up, followed by the orbital bombardment on Edo which led to the removal of WarShips from bids going forward.
  • Osis tries to retort, Jocelyn Siddiq of the Burrocks follows up with the failure on Wolcott which allowed the Sphere to capture mint OmniMechs and Battle Armors.
  • Again, Osis tries to keep on but Malavai Fletcher of the Hell’s Horses simply says the word “Luthien” and sits back down. Osis is dismissed for consideration as ilKhan from that point onwards.
• Bjorn Jorgensson of the Ghost Bear tries to make a case for electing him as ilKhan, but his Clan’s strange obsession with moving back in the Inner Sphere is put into question and Bjorn withdraws his claim, deciding to instead support a more neutral Clan in the Snow Raven. This begins a strange movement within a lot of the Clans that remained in the Homeworld to not directly declare themselves for anyone.
• Natasha Kerensky appeals to the rest of the Clans to respect the Truce of Tukayyid and not elect a Crusader as ilKhan and break the truce as it would show how “dishonorable” the Clans really are. Strangely, she receives support from Khan Cassius N’Buta of the Star Adders in the discussion.
• Elias Critchell tries to put his foot down and claim the Jade Falcon superiority in the invasion. Like the Smoke Jaguars, however, the other Clans do not look at him for leadership and start pointing out the failures of the Falcon during the conflict.
  • Khan Ariel Suvorov of the Goliath Scorpion concentrates on the losses at Twicross and the odd case of Somerset to explain why the Falcons have little to be proud about.
  • The orbital bombardment of Botany Bay is also brought up during the discussion, to which Vandervahn Chistu reacts very poorly, getting into a yelling match with Cloud Cobra’s Khan, Din Steiner.
  • The killing blow to Critchell’s claim come from Khan Lynn McKenna of the Snow Raven, which points out that they ALSO failed to capture the heir to the largest realm of the Inner Sphere not once, but twice

Vote tabulation

The vote takes place after 2 weeks of debate and discussions, even though it was clear very early that the Clans that did not take part in the invasion were not going to support any of the Clans that did take part in the invasion.

First round of vote

• Blood Spirit voted for Clan Fire Mandrill.
• Burrock voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Cloud Cobra voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Coyote voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Diamond Shark voted for Clan Coyote.
• Fire Mandrill voted for Clan Blood Spirit.
• Ghost Bear voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Goliath Scorpion voted for Clan Coyote.
• Hell’s Horses voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Ice Hellion voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Jade Falcon voted for Clan Smoke Jaguar.
• Nova Cat voted for Clan Coyote.
• Smoke Jaguar voted for Clan Jade Falcon.
• Snow Raven voted for Clan Star Adder.
• Star Adder voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Steel Viper voted for Clan Smoke Jaguar.
• Wolf voted for Clan Coyote.

Second round of vote

By the second round, the remaining Clans in the pool for the vote were Coyote, Smoke Jaguar and Snow Raven. The second round of voting happened after another week of debates.

• Blood Spirit originally abstained, but then voted for Clan Coyote.
• Burrock voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Cloud Cobra voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Coyote voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Diamond Shark voted for Clan Coyote.
• Fire Mandrill originally abstained, but then voted for Clan Smoke Jaguars.
• Ghost Bear voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Goliath Scorpion voted for Clan Coyote.
• Hell’s Horses voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Ice Hellion voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Jade Falcon voted for Clan Smoke Jaguar.
• Nova Cat voted for Clan Coyote.
• Smoke Jaguar voted for themselves, as was allowed in the second round of voting
• Snow Raven voted for themselves, as was allowed in the second round of voting.
• Star Adder voted for Clan Snow Raven.
• Steel Viper voted for Clan Smoke Jaguar.
• Wolf voted for Clan Coyote.

Aftermath

• Following this, all votes for Clan Coyote were transferred to Clan Snow Raven at the behest of Khan Sullivan Koga, which had become expected after he did not vote for his own Clan in the second round.
• With 13 votes, Khan Lynn McKenna was elected ilKhan. Clan Smoke Jaguar attempted to call for a Trial of Refusal, positing that McKenna had used underhanded political tactics to secure the vote.
• Karianna Schmitt of the Blood Spirit, of all people, is the one that shoots down Lincoln Osis, pointing out that he has nothing to say after his Clan was the cause of both rounds of the invasion failing.
• Trying to call on his allies, Lincoln Osis turns to the Jade Falcons and Steel Vipers, knowing the Fire Mandrill only voted for him to divide the vote. Perigard Zalman says: “The result of the vote is quite telling, Lincoln. We lost.”
• Elias Critchell attempts to grandstand and call out against the Warden cause, but the other Khans make clear the distinction here is more between winner and losers than Crusaders and Wardens.