Bloodname

Ter Roshak marched forward, feeling more elation than he had for a long time. He had not known such excitement since the days when he and his 'Mech had ridden alongside Ramon Mattlov. Ramon Mattlov would be proud of him now. Firing his weapon here, in this battle, Ter Roshak would cleanse the dishonor that had stained his existence for so long. With each squeeze of the trigger, his heart and spirit lightened a bit more.

He knew he would die soon.

That knowledge gave him joy, and relief.

GLOSSARY

During the fall of the Star League, General Nicholas Kerensky, commander of the Regular Star League Army, led his forces out of the I

Clan military unit designations are used throughout this book. The structure of each unit is as follows:

Point            1 'Mech or 5 infantry Elementals

Star             5 'Mechs or 25 Elementals

Binary           2 Stars

Trinary          3 Stars

Cluster          4 Binaries

Galaxy          3-5 Clusters

Nova            1 'Mech Star and 1 infantry Star

Supernova     1 'Mech Binary and 2 infantry Stars

AUTOCANNON

A rapid-firing, auto-loading weapon, the autocan-non fires high-speed streams of high-explosive, armor-piercing shells.

BATCHALL

The batchallis the ritual by which Clan warriors issue combat challenges. Defenders may request that the attacker risk something of worth comparable to what the defender is risking in the contest.

BATTLEMECHS

BattleMechs are the most powerful war machines ever built. Ten to twelve meters tall and equipped with potent weapons, they pack enough firepower to flatten anything but another 'Mech.

BLOODING

Blooding is another name for the Trial of Position that determines if a candidate will qualify as a Clan warrior. The candidate must first demonstrate physical prowess in personal combat by defeating at least one of three successive opponents. If he defeats one, he begins his service as a Mech Warrior. If he defeats two, or all three, he is immediately ranked as an officer in his Clan. If he fails to defeat any of his opponents, he is relegated to a lower caste.

BLOODNAME

Bloodname refers to the surname of each of the 800 Warriors who stood with Nicholas Kerensky during the Exodus Civil War. These 800 are the foundation of the Clans' elaborate breeding program. The right to use one of these surnames has been the ambition of every Clan warrior since the system was established. Only 25 warriors are allowed to use any one surname at one time. When one of the 25 Bloodnamed warriors dies, a trial is held to determine who will assume that Bloodname. A contender must prove his Bloodname lineage, then win a series of duels with other competitors.

Bloodnames are determined matrilineally, at least after the original generation. Because a warrior can inherit only from his or her female parent, he or she can have a claim to only one Bloodname.

BLOODRIGHT

A specific Bloodname lineage is called a Blood-

BLOODNAME  

Twenty-five Bloodrights are attached to each Bloodname. A Bloodright is not a lineage as we define the term, because the warriors who successively hold a Bloodright might be related only through their original ancestor. As with Bloodnames, certain Blood-rights are considered more prestigious than others.

CANISTER

Clan slang for the eugenics program of the warrior caste. It can also refer specifically to the artificial wombs.

CASTE

Clan society is rigidly divided into five castes: warrior, scientist, merchant, technician, and laborer. Each caste has many subcastes based on specialties within a professional field. The warrior caste increases its numbers and controls genetic heritage by a systematic eugenics program using genetic material of prestigious, successful current and past warriors (see Sibko). Other castes maintain a quality gene pool by strategic marriages within each caste.

CODEX

Each warrior's codex is his or her individual identification. It includes the names of the original Blood-named warriors from which a warrior is descended. It also includes his generation number, Blood House, and codex ID, an alphanumeric code noting the unique aspects of that person's DNA.

DROPSHIP

Because JumpShips must generally avoid entering the heart of a solar system, they must "park" at a considerable distance from the system's inhabited worlds. DropShips were developed for interplanetary travel. As the name implies, a DropShip is attached to hardpoints on the JumpShip's drive core, later to be dropped from the parent vessel after in-system entry.

Though incapable of FTL travel, DropShips are highly maneuverable, well-armed, and sufficiently aerodynamic to take off from and land on a planetary surface. The journey from the jump point to the inhabited worlds of a system usually requires a normal-space journey of several days or weeks, depending on the type of star.

ELEMENTAL

The elite battlesuited infantry of the Clans. These men and women are physical giants, bred specifically to handle Clan-developed battle armor.

FREEBORN

An individual conceived and born by natural means is freeborn. Because the Clans value their eugenics program so highly, a freebirth is automatically assumed to have little potential.

KHAN

Each Clan elects two Khans. One serves as the Clan's senior military commander and bureaucratic administrator. The second Khan's position is less well-defined. He or she is second-in-command, and carries out duties assigned by the first Khan. In times of great internal or external threat, or when a coordinated effort is required of all Clans, an ilKhan is chosen to serve as the supreme ruler of the Clans.

JUMPSHIP

Interstellar travel is accomplished via JumpShips, first developed in the twenty-second century. The ship is named for its ability to "jump" instantaneously from one point to another across distances of up to 30 light years per jump.

JumpShips never land on planets, and only rarely travel into the i

LASER

An acronym for "Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation." When used as a weapon, a laser damages its target by concentrating extreme heat on a small area. BattleMech lasers are designated as small, medium, and large. Lasers are also available as shoulder-fired weapons operating from a portable backpack power unit. Certain range-finders and targeting equipment employ low-level lasers also.

LOREMASTER

The Loremaster is the keeper of Clan laws and history. The position is honorable and politically powerful. The Loremaster plays a key role in inquiries and trials, where he is often assigned the role of Advocate or Interrogator.

LRM

This is an abbreviation for Long-Range Missile, an indirect-fire missile with a high-explosive warhead.

OATHMASTER

The Oathmaster is the honor guard for any official Clan ceremony. The position is similar to that of an I