Editing Clan Wolverine (section)

=== Aftermath ===
To the Clans, the Wolverines became a cultural anathema. Most records were destroyed and what remained was a mostly mythologized account of the Wolverines’ betrayal of the Clans and everything they stood for; seeking to fall back into the ways which laid waste to both the Inner Sphere and Star-League-In-Exile while willing to burn anyone in their way like the original SLDF’s meltdown in the Pentagon Civil Wars. Calling a Clanner a Wolverine is like calling the great grandchild of a Holocaust Survivor a Nazi, now imagine that said person was also raised to be a warrior in a highly militarized honor culture in which the approved way of solving disputes is trial by combat. When the Clans began building IIC variants of the Wolverine model of BattleMech (a time tested medium design that been in production for more than two centuries prior to the Exodus that just happened to be named after the same overgrown weasel), they renamed it the Conjurer. Much of what remained of Clan Wolverine was gobbled up by Clan Wolf. Ironically, the less rigid interpretation of caste mobility (with transfers of those tested and deemed competent), some of their economic reforms, and the Wolverine BattleMech designs would also be adopted with some duplicity.  In the case of the third point, some of the first OmniMechs, such as the Coyotl and Kingfisher, would be based off of the Clan Wolverine’s Mercury II and Pulverizer. This might have been driven in part by a guilty conscience as the Clans’ leadership knew the truth.  In addition, Clan Wolf and the Clan Council would punish the Widowmakers years later for massacring their protesting merchant caste over a trade dispute (and possibly in revenge for escalating things with the Wolverines) with a Trial of Absorption (that ironically killed Nicholas & drove the Wolves into a frenzy that left barely any Widowmaker warriors alive).

While a costly affair in terms of human lives and materiel, the destruction and subsequent anathemization of the Wolverines would be an important step in the consolidation of the Clans. First and most directly it effectively silenced overt opposition to Nicky's new societal model in the remaining 19 Clans. There were still former Star League Clanners at this stage who disagreed with Nicky, including those in positions of power, but after the most brazen display of defiance was stomped out they soon learned to hold their tongues and worked within the system. Additionally the open secret that survivors escaped served as a cultural boogie-man to keep the average Clanner straightened out and in line. For generations which would be born or decanted in Clan Space, the villainy of the Not-Named-Clan would reinforce the social-structure. The Clans are a culture which is based on Traditionalism and a Mythic Narrative; so having a villain who was of the Clans but broke with their traditions was a prime pillar reinforcing that story. In particular driving home the need to both keep with tradition and clamp down against Unclanike heterodoxy. This focus on conformity to Clan Culture served to be a double edged sword that kept the Clan Homeworlds stable while in isolation up until forced adaptation, petty jealousy, and perceived ideological compromises from exposure to Spheroid tactics during the [[Clan Invasion]] tore the Clans apart during the [[Wars of Reaving]].