Campaign of the Month: June 2014
Battletech (Farscape) : The New Breed
MechWarrior Katherine Podalla "Ravenheart"
Former Liaison Officer for Task Force 29
Description:
She has been described as “one tough-looking customer”, with her long-flowing hair tied up and deep, brown eyes. She bears a deep burn scar at the base of her neck received during a short interrogation session by the pirates which led to her family fleeing into Taurian space. Her background as a refugee has molded her attitudes and thinking for the rest of her life, and she has never forgotten the nation that took her family and people in.
MechWarrior Katherine Podalla, or “Ravenheart”, is a Veteran Mech Pilot NPC, and is skilled in Communications and Cryptography. She has spent some time alone in the backwater reaches of several Periphery planets, and can be considered very capable in a survival situation. She personally owns an ancient and battered OTT-7J Ostscout, but has been assigned a LGB-0W Longbow in her duty assignment with * “The Dead Man’s Hand”. She was given the title MechWarrior so quickly because of her previous service with the Dingoes.
Bio:
Catherine and her parents originally arrived in the Taurian Concordat via a refugee ship from the New Periphery during the early 3000s. After graduating at the top her class in languages and mathematics, she was recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency and placed in the Cryptography Division.
Her unit was stripped of “unattached personnel” in 3014, and she was reassigned to Baron Kenton Sarne‘s command. As he began to make his moves to ship his loyal officers to his growing private fleet, he came upon her dossier, and decided to make use of her in Operation Overlord. Her loyalty to the Concordat was without question, so he assigned her as a Comms officer in the planetary militia of System – Dunkelheim, giving her a quick training as a Mech pilot and an ancient Ostscout to assist in her work. During the raids of 3016, she managed to survive and escape into the mountains, using her knowledge of the locals to keep tabs on Colonel “White Death”’s forces. When Sarne’s scout forces lifted-off from planet, five months later, she reported into the military and was shipped back to Sarne’s Command.
Sarne was stunned, having assumed she had died in the raid, but openly welcomed her back and her reports on the actions of Colonel White, as well as their strengths and other coms chatter she had picked-up in her months of hiding in the mountains. She reported that they might be part of a larger force, something called the Starlords, and requested to join any force sent in to capture them. Baron Sarne promised she would be a part of any such activity, and gave her an extended leave, with a low-priority position in his personal House Mech Battalion in the Systems Constellation – “The Outrim Void”.
Armed with an automatic pistol and the usual hold-out laser pistol, she also has a pair of thermite grenades in her survival bag. She has great patience, but it is starting to wear thin, when the PCs first meet her. She welcomes any news of the Concordat, and will instantly befriend anyone from that realm. Katherine speaks fluent Spanish and English. She is able to fit into any situation easily, though she has long suspected Sarne of doing something behind the government’s back.
Activities with the Line units of the Iron Dingoes, have proven she is both a valuable and trustworthy companion, despite her ultimate loyalties to her commanders in Task Force 29 (TF29) and Baron Sarne. She has been heard to openly comment on her respect for the Dingoes line organization and their ability to simply get the tasks required, done with a minimum of paperwork and administration. She certainly seems to have the PCs best interests at heart.
Ravenheart spent several years placed on detached duty serving in the command unit of Sarne’s 1st Taurian Rangers. She was requested to continue serving the Iron Dingoes as their liaison officer, but it was reported she was required for “debriefing”.
In late-3023, Ravenheart again resurfaced, this time accompanying * “The Dead Man’s Hand” back to their cantonments on System – Dumassas. She formally requested a position with the unit, having been given release from her position with Sarne (and his personal blessing in the form of her battered Ostscout ), and she was promptly assigned to pilot a LGB-0W Longbow with that unit.