Campaign of the Month: June 2014
Battletech (Farscape) : The New Breed
Lord-Marshal "White Death"
Marauder Lord of New Haven
Description:
Little is known about the man’s capabilities, though he is rumored to be very capable as a marauder leader and has forged a mixed force of troops under his banner, including armor, infantry and Mecha. Despite losses incurred during the “Claim Jumpers” campaign that ended in System – Dunkelheim, the military forces of White Death have long since rebuilt and are as dangerous as ever.
Lord-Marshal White is a Veteran Marauder Leader NPC. He is known to pilot a BLR-1Gc Battlemeaster, though it is rumored to have undergone extensive refits and bears SL-era weaponry. It has since been discovered that he is the “Lord-Marshal”, or senior military governor of The District of New Haven, where he has control of a large colonial holding, including industrial and military resources.
He is believed to have at least several daughters, one of whom, Captain Portia White “Deva” was captured by the Iron Dingoes during the closing rounds of fighting on Dunkelheim. While this relationship is speculated, she and her “sisters” are often referred to as the “Daughters of White”, which supports the common theory that they are all genetic children of him and his consort. Consort Jessica White “Ariel” is the woman with whom he has had a long-term relationship. She is known to be very capable of protecting her “family” interests in the absence of her husband.
Bio:
“War. War never changes.”
Military Forces
White Death possesses a wide-range of resources, much of which is believed to have been procured from salvage sites and LosTech caches across the local constellations. At present, his forces are known to include the following;
White Death’s Star Fleet : White’s fleet consists of three primary DropShips; an Overlord-Class DropShip, and two Lions, the Periphery Pillager and the Periphery Ranger. They also have access to a Union-Class employed by its pirate allies, the “Shrieking Reapers”. He is known to have two “Tracker-Class Warships”, one of which was seen to escape at the pirate point in Dunkelheim, known as The Sable Countess. The other, reported to be called The Black Star, is believed to have executed the raid on the starport during the final days of Colonel White’s tenure on Dunkelheim.
The flagship of his fleet, little known to the rest of the Inner Sphere, is The Angel of Death, a rare Wagon Wheel-Class WarShip of Taurian origins. This vessel is deployed only within the Haven Cluster itself, and is believed crewed by a sizable portion of his black water navy and its support forces. Its source is believed to have been from the 309th AeroSpace Maintenance and Regeneration Group “The Boneyard”.
Additional vessels are believed to exist, including at least two Vampire-Class DropShips, and an unknown number of JumpShips.
The White Death Battalion (BattleMechs) : A typically equipped battalion of Mechs, the unit is composed of equal numbers of Assault/Heavy, Medium and Light Mechs, with more experienced pilots commanding the heavier machines, in typical Starlord fashion. Many of this unit are former members of Tanstaafl Free Legion.
2nd Battalion “White Death’s Commandos” (Jump Rifle Infantry) : Veteran pirate raiders, assigned to defending the DropShips and JumpShips of the pirates, these Star Marines are easily identified by the white “skull” tattoos on their faces, and their distinctive laser rifles and bone white combat armor of an unknown source. The majority of these troops survived and are believed to be aboard White’s Warship fleet as point defense guards. They are trained in Jump Packs, but largely deploy as true star marines. Another battalion (the 1st) is rumored to be built as defensive forces within Dis proper.
3rd Battalion (Armored Hover Cavalry) : Equipped with mostly Content Not Found: j-edgar-light-tanks, and seasoned with Saracen Medium Hover Tanks and a handful of Maxim Hover Transports, the unit excels at hit-and-run fights, but does not do well in a protracted stand-up fight. Most of the unit was eliminated on Dunkelheim, though a company’s worth managed to load aboard their Lion-Class transports and evacuate. Rumors persist he has largely rebuilt the unit with imported Maultier Hover APCs and infantry equipped with Heavy SRM Pack Launchers.
5th Battalion (Air Assault Cavalry) : Originally a large force of helicopters and conventional fighters, it is also the home of a substantial AeroFighter contingent, and included about a full wing of Seydlitz light fighters. The unit lost all its conventional forces on Dunkelheim, and now consists solely of a wing (12 AeroFighters) of SYD-21 Seydlitz. Rumors persist he has rebuilt it using imported TAAF-54 Vasarahais, as well.
Allied Pirate Forces : Operating under the name the “Claim Jumpers”, roughly two battalions of allied pirate forces were eliminated during operations on Dunkelheim, with only the best managing to be absorbed and evacuate along with Colonel White’s personal battalion to replace losses. “The Shrieking Reapers”, capable and surprisingly intact after a rough encounter with the Iron Dingoes, remain allied to Colonel White, and retain their own transport, a Union-Class DropShip, called the “Reaper’s Sickle”. Their present operational status remains unknown. The allies of White Death depend on him for interstellar transport.
Conventional Forces : In addition to the regular armed forces under his control, amounting to several battalions of planetary militia, Colonel White is also known to control a large force of infantry equipped with Battle Armor – Tornado PAs, known as The Gold Legions. This force has remained fairly static to their cantonments in New Haven, though a couple pf them have been deployed for a time off-world on various tasks.
Logo of the “Claim Jumpers” Era Pirates
No one knows this man’s true name. A tall, slender man with extremely pale skin and startlingly white hair, he is the powerful Reaver Lord known throughout the New Colony Region as the “White Death”. As a pirate leader, he has proven cunning, ruthless, treacherous and cruel. A master in the use of terror to cow opponents, he pilots a bone-white Battlemaster with the marks of his kills the only prominent marking, and takes savage pride in his bloody reputation as a 31st century barbarian lord.
Then he changed tactics. He called himself “Colonel White”, and had assumed the title of “Senior Military Advisor” to Jeremy Fitzpatrick, surviving head of the government of Dunkelheim. There seems little reason to believe he was any less bloodthirsty, despite his claims of respectability. With the fall of that regime, he has become the fierce, raving terror he was previously, but had spent several years systematically plundering the planetary system of Dunkelheim, before moving his remaining resources off-planet to an unknown location, believed to be somewhere rimward of Davion space. It is assumed, based on the goods recovered in a late mission to one of his holding areas, that he was establishing a new colony.
It is believed that “Whitey” (as he is known strictly behind his back) was originally a deserter from Marik Space who assumed power over his unit through mastery of various martial arts skills. As leader of the largest marauder band in the Capellan Marches region, it is believed he seized on the idea of using the legitimate head of the local government – a political figure of some repute – as a puppet figurehead through which he could create a loose coalition of separate marauder bands under his leadership. The coalition once controlled 80% of the known pirate bands across the New Colonial Region, and had gained effectual control over the government of Dunkelheim. The coalition is now largely destroyed, though White Death managed to retain control of his core troops, much of their resources and numerous high-tech items of value that give him a mysterious surprise edge in combat.
White Death’s regime tore the planet’s infrastructure apart, and the remaining colonists and their society was eliminated. The counter-invasion by Taurian forces turned the planet of Dunkelheim into a smoking ruin, with refugees clinging to life around the starport and the ruins of the capital city, Goldberg. Most civilians had either disappeared, been taken off-planet, or were seeking transport into Taurian, Capellan or Davion space. Few chose to remain in the graveyard of Dunkelheim.
In the years since meeting him on Dunkelheim, it has been revealed that Lord-Marshal White is a senior and close adviser of The Warlord, and controls a sizable landhold known as The District of New Haven, along with its supporting industry and population. It is also obvious he has been involved in a fairly small-scale cloning operation to bolster his loyal forces over the years, and many of his senior commanders and civilian leaders are his genetic clones. It is unknown exactly how or why he has chosen to exclusively clone women, but Iron Dingoes scientists believe it has to do with stability in the use of jump technology.
After a meeting with Consort Jessica White “Ariel”, the unit discovered that the White clan has been seeking a solution to their problems, and inadvertently informed them of the presence of Doctor Magnus Schroeter and his research. In late-3033, System – Armington was raided, and both he and much of his research and team were kidnapped by what is believed to be a substantial effort to procure this information.