Yuichi seems like a good example for this. Lets say, through some miracle he lives to see his 30s. He's an outsider, he's never getting a bloodname. And now he's old, so they don't want him even more. Does he get the same trueborn treatment of getting demoted to garrison/solahma duty? Does he also get the option to transfer to a merchant/civilian caste and retire? Do clans ever just, let their adopted bondsmen go free when they age out?
>>98198884Depending on the Clan, it is entirely plausible that a freeborn bondsman could earn a bloodname. Difficult, but not implausible. Most likely he would be granted a clan Surname, like Yuichi Wolf. Or perhaps Ookami Yuichi.
>>98198986Is there a liimt to how much a freeborn can rise? The star goes to lengths to reassure Yuichi that he has rights as a mechwarrior despite them being stacked against him. It seems problematic to let an outsider - one from an innersphere at that, to gain influence within a clan. Specially since the guy is from the Draconis combine and I wouldn't put it past him to play the long game and sabotage from within.
>>98198884No and no. He gets put on Solahma duty and everybody in it pushes him to go out in a memorable suicide charge. It's the best they can do for a warrior who didn't quite perform.There is no retirement in the Clans, no matter your function, you work until you die.>>98199597>Is there a liimt to how much a freeborn can rise?Yes, he won't get a shot at a blood name if he isn't actually distantly related to any of the blood houses. Freeborns from the IS are pretty hard capped compared to Clan Freeborns, who probably have multiple picks, thanks to the breeding program and the constant influx of Trueborn washouts.
>>98199597>It seems problematic to let an outsider - one from an innersphere at that, to gain influence within a clan.lollmao even The whole Clan invasion series was built on having the special boy become the khan.
The Clans AREN'T a pure meritocracy??
>>98201680Not even a little bit. They put crazy Kat in a tarcomp'd ERPPC and LPL assault boat against some low-end heavy mixtech refits for her trial of position.
>>98200359Egh. Do not care for that art for Phelan. Doesn't look anything like his previous depictions.
>>98198884As others have said, his options are limited. He can ride to high rank, but unless he is related to a founder, a blood name is out. Like all warriors he will end in a unit and he pushed to go out in a blaze of glory. And if he fails at that long enough he end up in solahma infantry dying in some minior action.There is no retirement in the clans.
>>98199597Depends on the clan, but as a rule no. A lot of it however depends on ancestry and clan. Using two extremes.>Phelan Kell>Taken as bondsman by a more liberal Warden clan>Related by blood to the founder of a bloodname (Jal Ward)>Special snowflake with only a handful of near equals in being a special snowflakeSo he ended up getting the Ward bloodname and eventually forming his own Kell bloodname.>Yuichi>Taken as bondsman by a very conservative Crusader clan>Not related to anyone who founded a bloodname or former SLDF whatsoever>Just some Asian guy from a country his clan has started to really fucking hateHe's legitimately never getting a bloodname unless he becomes such a good mechwarrior that he makes Natasha Kerensky look like a jobber
>>98203004Even the best mechwarrior the clans have ever seen can't get a bloodname unless they're specifically related on their genetic mother's side. Which is another expression of how they play politics, the scientists can decide exactly what bloodnames any given trueborn warrior is eligible to compete for by choosing whose genetics are used as the "mother" (they can use fiddle with male DNA to be the mother and female DNA to be the father at will) and they can completely lock a line out of the running by only using it as the father.When the Nova Cats made their bullshit seer line, they deliberately chose a Freeborn with no bloodhouse claims to always be the mother of every trueborn to come out of that program, locking them all out of the bloodhouses entirely. They're actually a lot worse about genetic lineage than any of the great houses, half of them are currently run by pretenders who took the name for legitimacy and the other half are run by third cousins twice removed who had to truncate a bunch of extra surnames off to count as an heir to the main line. The clans would never tolerate that.
>>98203455So the purported meritocracy is in fact completely bound to birthright and lineage? Curious.
>>98201680Smoke Jags literally give their sibkos second chances on a test you should only be able to take once. Anything to keep their own freeborns from joining the warrior caste.
Say you're freeborn, but perform extremely well. Would that then mean your genetic material, your Giftake, would be considered viable by the Scientist Caste to be used as a patrilineal donor for a sibko?
>>98203585>You are not married!
>>98201680They are so close to it that you can only call it Science Fiction.I mean even Kerensky's own Failson died in a duel, and that remained the solution to somebody being revealed as a Failson ever since.>>98200359Related to a blood houseWas a science caste in-vitro baby, so he's 50% Trueborn, I guess?Was raised in a SibkoThe Wolf Khan of the time was on a campaign to troll the rest of the Crusader clans.Kid just lucked the fuck out, really.>>98203585My understanding is that they will mix and match those genes in in the special secret sauce way.
>>98201680This is obvious from the fact they keep putting retards in charge.
>>98201680They are a retardocracy
>>98201680They are not. And that is A Good Thing™. Here's why: it means they're still humans, warts and all.
>>98204111>they will mix and match those genes in in the special secret sauce way.Then that's essentially as far as a freeborn can get unless they go so far as to create whole new BloodHouse for their BloodName. In a weird way it's not too dissimilar to how a commoner in the Inner Sphere could marry into nobility. Guess the Clans aren't so different after all.
>>98203455>Even the best mechwarrior the clans have ever seen can't get a bloodname unless they're specifically related on their genetic mother's side.I feel like this isn't true. Just for homeworld clans you have Kel, Miraborg, and Magnusson with no known matrillineal relation to any known bloodhouse, and the Scorpions are even more willing to take on new bloodnames having Winston, Barclay, Noye, Schmidt, and Castillo, and a few others at least implied to exist if not confirmed with canon names (Winston and Barclay are merely the first Eridani bloodnames and Nove was formed with another one after some dudes fought well against the Hanseatic league).Honestly Scorpion Empire are probably the most egalitarian faction in the setting, as long as you're a good warrior or commander nobody gives the slightest shit, hell you could be a former enemy and they wouldn't give a shit about you getting a bloodname and a senior rank.
>>98206051Those are brand new bloodnames that created a new bloodhouse, not existing ones. After their creation, only matrilineal relatives will qualify for getting the name, just like any others.
>>98201680In theory they are. In practice they routinely let personal feelings and politics get in the way.
>>98206315>Those are brand new bloodnames that created a new bloodhouse, not existing ones.You made it sound like you needed matrilineal relation to an existing bloodname to make a new bloodname. Also do you have a source for that claim? I've literally never heard it claimed that you can only claim a bloodname from your matrilineal line.
