Mandrill Spirit War

Years: 3054-3056

Factions involved:

Clan Cloud Cobra
Clan Star Adder
ilKhanate of the Clans
Clan Fire Mandrill
Clan Blood Spirits

Results:

Clan Blood Spirits and Fire Mandrill are brought back in line and have to repay the other Clans with work for the next 15 years.
Formal alliance between Clan Cloud Cobra and Clan Star Adder.
ilKhan Lynn McKenna’s Edicts of Reformation become more relevant to the Clans as a whole.

Background

After the election of ilKhan Lynn McKenna, the Clans were asked to cooperate more in general as the ilKhan was working on her Edicts of Reformation. While most Clans were apathetic to the call, hoping nothing would really change, some openly opposed it. The most “vocal” opponents were part of Clan Fire Mandrill and Blood Spirit, both of which saw the Edicts as political actions against the Clans as a whole and troubled their naturally more insular nature.

Things escalated in 3054 when the ilKhan asked the various Clans to open their Brian Caches and begin an upgrade program on existing equipment. McKenna’s goal was to improve the effectiveness and readiness of the Clans to face upcoming fights with the Inner Sphere. The Blood Spirits, however, saw this as gross escalation of the internal conflicts of the Clans and refused categorically. The Fire Mandrills followed suit in the Clan High Council, openly opposing the ilKhan’s decision.

McKenna’s response was calm compared to what was most expected, giving the two recalcitrant Clans two months to revise their decision. This was supported by other leading Clans like the Wolves and Jade Falcon, surprisingly, who would prefer not to have to face war in the Homeworld while they were still fighting in the Inner Sphere.

The Exodus Avenger Incident

After the two months were up, neither of the affected Clans had given any sign of life, and Lynn McKenna asked Clan Star Adder to go and investigate the situation. Jumping into Shadow, the CSA Exodus Avenger, a York-class destroyer carrying a pair of Union C affiliated with the 73^rd Adder Cavaliers, approached the planet, which showed signs of conflict.

Kindraa Payne and Kindraa Kline were involved in a blood feud, which was being observed and managed by Clan Blood Spirit. The two Clans had not been paying any attention to the ilKhan’s request or injunctions, focusing on their own internal politics. As the Exodus Avenger came into planetary orbit, they were told, in no small term, that they should leave as they were not wanted there. Star Captain Romuald Earle, captain of the Exodus Avenger, reiterated that they were there by order of the ilKhan and that they were to be taken seriously or that there would be consequences.

After a day in orbit and relaying the original response from both the Blood Spirits and Fire Mandrills, Star Captain Earle was waiting for further instructions before taking any actions. Suddenly, a flight of dropships and aerospace fighters came from the opposite side of the planet, swarming the Exodus Avenger. Defending himself, Romuald Earle put all his troops in defensive position while the 73^rd Adder Cavaliers took position on the ship’s hull.

The defense of the ship was going well until a flight of antiquated Ahab fighters appeared, carrying nuclear ordinance, which they launched in one massive volley against the Exodus Avengers. The ship was destroyed on impact, with all hands lost. One final HPG burst was sent from the ship onboard HPG to the Star Adder’s capital, reporting the final seconds of the York-class ship.

Rapid Escalation

Clan Star Adder did not wait much longer to retaliate against both the Blood Spirits and Fire Mandrills, seizing shared locations on various worlds. All other Star Adder WarShips were mobilized in two weeks, at which point ilKhan McKenna reached out to Khan Cassius N’Buta. After a short debate, the Fire Mandrills and Blood Spirits had been declared outlaws by the ilKhan and her inner circle, but they did not want to pass “full judgement” in front of the Clan High Council just yet. Khan Din Steiner of Clan Cloud Cobra was proposed to support the Star Adder in their military action, which Cassius N’Buta happily accepted. A repeated order to stay all nuclear weapon usage was also given by IlKhan McKenna, under threat of Annihilation by all the other Clans.

Combined Cloud Cobra and Star Adder forces struck hard against Clan Blood Spirit first, seizing assets and territory on various shared worlds. Expecting help from former allies, the Blood Spirits turned to Clan Diamond Shark. Khan Ian Hawker mocked the request, as the Diamond Sharks were still rebuilding from their own losses at Tukayyid and were supporting the ilKhan’s reforms heavily at the time. Isolated, the Blood Spirits began mobilizing more of their troops in response, fortifying what holdings they did have against future attacks.

Mandrill Spirits vs Cloud Adders

The Fire Mandrill put aside most of their internal struggles to face their new enemy while also assisting the Blood Spirits. Khan Amanda Caroll of the Fire Mandrill began reorganizing her troops through regular Clan formations rather than Kindraa formations, which was not accepted well at first but as they faced more pressure from the Cloud-Adders Alliance, it was required. Khan Karianna Schmittt of the Blood Spirit took to the offensive by taking a fleet of her own, along with a Galaxy, to assault the Adder and Cobra holdings on Tiber.

The whole conflict was observed carefully by many of the former invader Clans, trying to figure out if anything had changed after Operation REVIVAL and if the ilKhan could put her foot down and stamp dissent quickly. The ilKhan was rather aggressive in her position against the two rebellious Clans, forcing trade embargoes and restrictions on Trials and bidding for the Mandrill-Spirits. Those caught trading with either party were sanctioned, up to and including destruction of their gene-heritage. While the Snow Ravens did not take part in the conflict directly, Raven ships carried goods and equipment to Cloud-Adder bases and positions.

Battle of Shadow

In mid-3055, the Cloud-Adders started Operation SHINING LIGHT, bringing in 10 WarShips and associated JumpShips into the Shadow system to capture the Fire Mandrill’s capital. Faced with such a large force, the Fire Mandrill jumped their own ships out of the system to regroup with Clan Blood Spirit at York. With a massive aerospace fighter screen provided by Clan Cloud Cobra, the fleet blockaded the planet and made sure no nuclear attack attempts could be made.

The first stage of the Battle of Shadow was for the two Snake Clans to capture and secure the nuclear weapon storage of the Fire Mandrill. Joint, simultaneous operations landed troops on Shadow and other nearby moons, damaging some of the Mandrill military force in place and removing as many nuclear assets as possible. Clan Star Adder had their Scientists and Technicians deactivate all the nuclear weapons they recovered to prevent use in the future, even if recaptured.

On Shadow itself, the Mandrills had a front-line and a provisional Galaxy ready to defend the world, while the Blood Spirits had a Galaxy of their own to support their allies. The Cloud-Adders alliance grounded on the planet without offering a batchall to the Mandrill-Spirits, expecting that all forces in place would be activated. While the Cloud-Adders had initial successes during the battle, the Mandrills had significant production capacity on the moon, allowing them to sustain the damage they were receiving. By late 3055, the fight had bogged down to small scale engagements and brawls throughout the planet, with no clear winner or loser. It did, however, keep the Fire Mandrill busy and Khan Amanda Carrol “on site”.

Battle of York

The Mandrill-Spirits had regrouped most of their remaining forces on the Blood Spirit’s capital of York, under command of Khan Karianna Schmit. Even with the combined 9 WarShips of the two Clans, when the Star Adders and Cloud Cobras jumped in with 15 ships of their own into the York system, a form of panic took hold. Following the Edicts of Reformation, the Cloud-Adders had reactivated multiple mothballed ships and restored them for the fight at York with the help of Clan Snow Raven and Clan Diamond Shark.

The two fleets met half-way from the planet and the jump point and after a day of fighting, the 6 remaining Mandrill-Spirits ships request hegira as to limit the losses to the Clan. On their end, the Adders and Cobras lost 2 ships by the end of the fight, with another 2 requiring extensive repair. They were, however, able to launch all their remaining DropShips towards York, where they grounded without issuing a batchall to the defenders.

Overall, 4 Cloud-Adder Galaxies faced 5 Mandrill-Spirit Galaxies, but the attacked were better equipped front-line units while the defenders had multiple provisional units and second-line units. Khan Karianna Schmitt led a very effective defense in depth, but she quickly became outmatched as the Star Adders and Cloud Cobras could quickly reposition and redeploy units from orbit, while also cutting all her satellite intelligence. By April 3056, Khan Schmitt was left with more or less a single Galaxy worth of troops when the Cloud-Adder forces received reinforcements from Clan Steel Vipers, who had been asked to support the fight on York by the ilKhan.

Surrender Against a Greater Foe

In May 3056, Khan Karianna Schmitt and Amanda Carrol requested a meeting of the Clan High Council and safe passage to Strana Mechty. The Cloud-Adders accepted and the transport was guaranteed by Clan Burrock. At the High Council, the two Khans requested hegira for their forces and surrendered to the High Council, and not to the Star Adders or Cloud Cobra. While there was some grumbling at first from the various Snake Clans, especially the Vipers who had just joined the war, Amanda Carrol surrendered all their remaining nuclear weapons to the High Council and offered to open all their Brian Caches to the three Snake Clans for first picks of the stockpiled equipment. Karianna Schmitt was less generous in her surrender offer, but her Clan offered multiple mothballed ships to the Cloud Cobras and Star Adders as repayment.

The High Council agreed to the terms of the surrender of the Mandrill-Spirit, with Khan Din Steiner and Cassius N’Buta both sounding pleased with the results. As part of the agreement, the Fire Mandrills would become subservient to Clan Star Adders for 15 years, while the Blood Spirits would have to do the same to Clan Cloud Cobra. Both Clans were also to be excluded from further invasions in the Inner Sphere and were not allowed to set up capitals in the Inner Sphere proper, having to pick from worlds in the Coreward Periphery instead.

Aftermath

For the Clans in general, the Mandrill Spirit War showed the decisiveness with which the ilKhan was ready to face trouble. ilKhan McKenna provided means for the Star Adder to find reparation and compensation for what happened to them while also making sure that the war itself was “self-contained” and didn’t reach self-destructive levels for anyone involved. The restriction on usage of nuclear weapons, under the potential Annihilation of those involved, was codified in the McKenna edicts and shared with the Inner Sphere, where it was celebrated by most analysts. The upcoming Fifth Succession War followed these guidelines regarding nuclear escalation as well, leading to less overall destruction than could have been expected.

Khan Amanda Carrol of the Fire Mandrill suffered a vote of non-confidence after the war, in which she was replaced by Garret Sainze as Khan. Carrol was, however, allowed to keep command of Alpha Galaxy and Kindraa Carrol. Garret Sainze was less aggressive than Amanda Carrol was and focused heavily on rebuilding the Clan’s touman. His record on trade with the other Clans was great and he turned the public opinion of the average Clan civilian to something more positive when looking at the Fire Mandrill.

On the Blood Spirit side, Khan Karianna Schmitt was also challenged for her position, but she defended it in a series of Trials of Position against her rivals. Her saKhan, Daryll Keller, however, had to be replaced after he was killed fighting on Troy. His replacement, Troy Boques, was a popular warrior with a good reputation who had fought on Shadow to a standstill in the war. Schmitt was less conciliant than the Fire Mandrill were towards their new “masters”, but even she realized their Clan wouldn’t survive in a vacuum anymore.

Din Steiner and Clan Cloud Cobra came out as a winner in the conflict, but unfortunately this was short lived. Internal struggles within the religious Cloisters of the Cloud Cobra would degenerate, leading to what would later be known as the Cobra Civil War. Clan Blood Spirit would assist the “official” leadership of the Cloud Cobra during that fight, providing them with weapons, equipment and transport. Clan Blood Spirit religious identity was represented in the various Diets the Cloud Cobra would later host on their Inner Sphere capital of Gunzburg.

Clan Star Adder was the big winner of this whole conflict, having recovered more WarShips than they had lost. Khan Cassius N’Buta improved his standing overall within the Clan society, with his Clan often being regarded as second only to the Snow Raven. This change in the general political sphere of the Clan society made the Star Adders a target for some of the more ambitious leaders amongst the Clans. However, Clan Star Adder was able to keep improving their standing with later operations like Operation BROKEN CROWN.

Army Compositions, Mandrill Spirit War

Generic Army Composition considerations

Battle Armors

The only Battle Armor available to all the participants in the Mandrill Spirit War is the Elemental Battle Armor, namely the Small Laser, Machine Gun and Flamer version. Those count as Core Support choices in Front-Line units, Special Support choices in Second-Line units and Rare Support choices in solahma units.

The Nighthawk PA(L) is also available, but in much more limited fashion. Only specialized commando units will be provided with them when required, and are always considered Rare Support choices for all units.

Infantry

Clan infantry units are uncommon at best in fighting, but in desperate times will be used in defensive action. Solahma units can select infantry units as a Core Support choice. Second-Line units have access to infantry units as a Special Support choice. Front-Line units will generally never use conventional infantry, but it can be selected as a Rare Support Choice. Jump and Motorized Infantry is considered 1 rarity up for any unit, except for Front-Line units which can field them as Special choices.

Combat vehicles

A combat vehicle Support choice covers a point of combat vehicles, so 2 units. VTOLs are always considered Special Support choices for any unit during the Mandrill Spirit War, often serving as scouts and spotters. Regular combat vehicles are Special choices in Second-Line and solahma units, while they are Rare choices in Front-Line units. Many former Royal SLDF vehicles are still in use by solahma units, especially in Clan Fire Mandrill and Blood Spirit. Those vehicles count as 1rarity less rare than usual in solahma units.