Editing Mercenaries (Battletech) (section)

== Well known Units ==
* ''' Wolf's Dragoons''' - The Protagonist/Mary Sue Merc faction of the BattleTech universe founded by a pair of freeborn Clan brothers named Jaime and Joshua Wolf. Formerly a compromise by the Clans to try and figure out Inner Sphere tactics, the Dragoons would break from Clanner ways entirely and eventually make themselves distinguished as the single biggest and best armed Merc company in Sphere space, serving each Successor State once, getting their dicks punched in by the Combine in the Battle of Misery, and then got the planet of Outreach from the FedSuns. They spent a lot of time trying to find Star League caches; including only taking Outreach once it was confirmed that it did indeed have one. Eventually joined back up with Clan Wolf when they made their bid for IlKhan. Once the Wolf Khan used them as meatshields while denying them their custom of being the tip of the spear in the attack and were ground down to 1/3rd of their size, they swore a grudge against the IlClan...which was apparently [[Just as Planned]] for the Clans since they understandably want to punish the Dragoons for betraying them by going AWOL.
* '''Eridani Light Horse''' - One of the biggest and oldest living Merc companies in the Inner Sphere. Distinguished for being one of the last remaining non-Comstar aligned SLDF regiments left in the Inner Sphere and made themselves as a major force in the Amaris Civil War, but eventually ended up pressganged by the Draconis Combine for most of the first two succession wars until Jinjiro Kurita got involved, wherein they fucked off for greener pastures in the Periphery. They joined up with the Second Star League as a taunt and sign of disapproval at how the Clans had devolved from the SLDF in service of the people to ritualistic warlords. They would remain affiliated with the Second Star League before it disbanded. Finally got gunned down in the Dark Age by Clan Jade Falcon but survivors remain; notably among the Clan Goliath Scorpion who had absorbed a portion during the Wars of Reaving.
* '''Northwind Highlanders''' - A band of Scottish mercenaries hailing from the planet Northwind.  Once upon a time they were a formal Royal Guard unit for House Cameron in the SLDF but they went free agent when the Star League fell apart, after which they mostly worked for House Liao.  They got a surprise happy blakesday party that destroyed their HPG and wiped out their aerofighters but otherwise they survived and joined the Republic in 3081. With the Fall of the Republic, they were forced to surrender with their leader loaned as a liaison from the IlClan to the Jade Falcons; which is notable due to both factions  historically and currently originating from, the Black Watch, elite SLDF units working as bodyguards for the First Lord of the Star League and nearly prevented the [[Amaris Civil War]].
* '''Snord's Irregulars''' - take Wolf's dragoons above, cut them down to a small unit, and give them the secret task of preserving historical artefacts. Originally recruited by a member of the Wolf’s Dragoons names Cranston Snord who “officially” fell out, they were actually a deep cover unit who were sent out to investigate rumors of hidden SLDF fortresses, automated factories, and weapon depots for the Dragoons to quietly acquire. Their kleptomaniac persona remained even after the Clan Invasion, all while listening to the author's favourite rock music.   Once [[Internet Troll|trolled]] Clan Jade Falcon into coming after them by identifying themselves as "Clan Snord" and stole a cluster's equipment in an underbid trial of possession over an SLDF space station.
* '''Kell Hounds''' - Stackpole's darlings. A usually two regiment outfit under House Kell with close ties to the Lyran ruling family, the Kell hounds hit a low spot when their commander Morgan Kell faced THE samurai's samurai - Yorinaga Kurita. Unable to kill each other (due to Kell's... special abilities) both leaders quit warfare and joined monasteries. The mercenaries took this as a hard betrayal by their commander, slumping into their worst period. Years later, Yorinaga is recalled to service and winds up killing Patrick Kell, Morgan's brother, while trying to intercept the Lyran princess travelling to Federated suns to prepare for marriage to Hanse Davion. Yorinaga also trains up an elite Kurita equivalent to the Kell hounds - the Genyosha.  This is enough to get Morgan to leave the monastery and gather the Hounds together. During the little drunken brawl following a certain wedding, the two units eventually faced each other again, with another drawn duel - Morgan tricks Yorinaga into shutdown from overheating. Yorinaga commits seppuku to preserve his honour, while the Kell hounds become one of the most renowned elite mercenary units of the IS. Years later, Morgan's son Phelan gets caught by mysterious enemies while hunting periphery pirates, and is our first close look at the alien Clans as he progresses from a captive to a warrior of the clans. Managing to climb right to the top when the Falcons and the Wolves go to war against each other over the whole Tukayyid affair, Phelan lead the Warden faction of Clan Wolf into the Inner sphere where they join up with the Kell Hounds and formed a major part of the defences against the Clan aggression as the Arc Royal Defence Cordon. Both later got decimated by an omnicidal Jade Falcon Khan during the Dark Age. Once the Jade Falcons scrambled the bulk of their military forces to Terra, the Kell Hounds were able to retake their homeworld when the Jade Falcon occupation zone and Lyran northernmost territories balkanized from the power vacuum. On the other hand, their commander has a big grudge against the Steiners for leaving them out to dry. While somehow, the Warden-Crusader division between the Wolf Exiles and the Wolf Empire got [[what|swept under the carpet]] despite separating the two for over a century.
* '''Gray Death Legion''' - the original mercenaries from the very first novels, they a unit tied to House Carlyle of Lyran nationality. Notably got embroiled in a ComStar plot to secretly dig up an old Star League facility, which the GDL managed to foil AND walked away from with a whole Star League memory core full of technical data. Uncharacteristically, for mercenaries, they didn't sell the core to the highest bidder but instead made sure the knowledge was spread around the Inner Sphere, starting a whole technological renaissance. Instead, they resumed mercenary activities and made a nice side business of manufacturing the first IS powered armor suits. While they are supposed to have been destroyed down the line by the Word of Blake, no one really buys the theory and recent lore suggests they've been reformed during the Lyran Commonwealth's civil strife during the Dark Age.

{{Battletech Factions}}
[[Category: BattleTech]]