Character sheet for Harebrained Schemes' BattleTech video game. To return to the main listing for the franchise, click here.
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The Aurigan Coalition / Restoration
Following the coup that commences the game's main plot, the Coalition is split into two factions: the Directorate led by the Espinosa family, and the Restoration that opposes them.
High Lady/Princess Kamea Arano
Voiced by Gin Hammond
- Ace Custom: Whereas her Kintaro is fairly normal, her Atlas II is remarkable for not only being of an entirely unique designation that has never been seen before, but it's also carrying SLDF tech and was recovered from a forgotten Periphery military base. Thanks to the House Arano rulebook for the tabletop, it's canon now, too!
- Character Development: The events that transpire at each planet she visits teach her a variety of harsh lessons:
- Liberating the Icebox of Weldry and witnessing the horrors within broke her naivete and led her to begin fighting to liberate the people from the Directorate's tyranny, rather than for a mere selfish desire to reclaim her birthright.
- The events at the Outpost Castle Nautilus taught her humility and punished her over-eagerness to gather power.
- The events surrounding Madeira forced her to make pragmatic decisions over emotional reflex.
- Every liberation battle she fought over planets taught her not to take the lives of her citizens lightly.
- The way that she declawed the Directorate by unearthing the truth behind an atrocity and getting the Taurians to alienate them taught her that soft power can be every bit as devastating as military might.
- Her audience with Lord Karosas taught her that even as the nobles should support the crown, so must the crown repay that loyalty.
- Even told through subtle differences in her opening and closing narrations on what it means to be a hero:
- Opening Kamea: "But, I am not a hero. A hero would have sacrificed more; compromised less."
- Ending Kamea: "Am I a hero? Did I sacrifice too much at the altar of victory? Do my triumphs outweigh my mistakes? War is ... an ocean of chaos, and bloody compromise."
- Crutch Character: Perhaps surprisingly, in the prologue. She's not as good stat-wise as Raju, but she still has enough Gunnery to perform multi-target shooting (and later trains enough to learn Breaching Shot and Sensor Lock), and more importantly, she's in a Kintaro, which is pretty beefy as far as medium 'Mechs go and can handily outperform your Blackjack when it comes to dishing out hurt. Since you'll game over in the prologue if anyone dies, regardless, there's no reason to not have her throw her weight around.
- She also shows up to lend help in the mission on Weldry, and is just as powerful then. It certainly helps that she reinforces from a flanking angle and can easily catch the Icebox wardens in a pincer attack.
- The Dead Have Names: After being forced to leave a dozen marginal worlds to fend for themselves, she notes within three weeks the casualty reports will come in, and that she intends to study each report closely.
- Drives Like Crazy: When Yang has to ride in the rumble seat of her Kintaro he calls her piloting style “aggressive”.
- Dynamic Entry: Pulls one on Weldry, coming through the opposite wall of the prison like the Kool-Aid Man to reinforce your lance.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: She has a line of them across her face; conspicuous but not disfiguring or jagged, as if cleanly but not perfectly healed.
- Guest-Star Party Member: She occasionally joins your lance on the ground.
- The High Queen: What she wants to be early in the game, and what the world eventually comes to see her as. She doesn't think so highly of herself by the end, however, and the question is how much you helped her to get there... and how and why you did it. Were you her noble spear tip or her poisoned dagger? Did you believe in her cause, or just her coffers?
- Lady of War: She has to be, as she's a MechWarrior and a queen both. In fact, she's even more comfortable with being a MechWarrior, and remarks on this:Kamea: I'm going to miss this, Raju... the clarity of purpose I feel in the cockpit of a BattleMech. The simplicity of it.
- Meet the New Boss: According to the House Arano sourcebook, as of 3028 she's been dragging her feet on returning sovereignty to the other Coalition worlds and reversing other unpopular Directorate-era policies. Considering what a difficult time she had getting them to back the Restoration it's not hard to see why she might be reluctant.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: She goes from her ancestral Kintaro medium mech to a SLDF Royal-grade Atlas II AS7-D-H Assault mech after the events that transpire at Castle Nautilus.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: She is a competent Mechwarrior, and she comes to help you in battle on a couple of occasions.
- Rightful King Returns: Deconstructed. Kamea states that this is what her victory will look like when the winners have had their say, but that ultimately, what got her the throne was waging a brutal multi-year civil war with more skill, ruthlessness and political acumen that the Espinosas.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: The cinematic that plays after you eject from your Blackjack on Coromodir shows her DropShip being shot down before breaking atmosphere. It's an In-Universe propaganda broadcast by the Espinosas; she and Lord Madeira actually got offworld safely and spent the next three years fleeing their assassins.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: As is par for the course in the Battletech universe, she actively leads from the frontlines in her battlemech whenever practical, like many other Inner Sphere and Periphery Nobles.
- Written by the Winners: She's painfully aware of this trope, and discusses it in the opening.Kamea: But whether it was your noble heart or mercenary mind... your actions gave us hope. That makes you a hero in the eyes of history. Whether you believe it? [beat] That's up to you.
- Her closing narration also alludes to this, stating that it doesn't matter what your motives were, as the stories about you are what will live on.
High Lord Tamati Arano II
Flag of the Aurigan Coalition under Tamati II.
Kamea's father and previous High Lord of the Aurigan Coalition. His death is the trigger for the entire crisis that sets off the narrative of Restoration.- Disappeared Dad: The catalyst for the entire plot - he and his wife Sara were killed in a JumpShip accident, and this gives Santiago the opening he needs to make his move.
- The Ghost: He dies just before the actual start of the narrative; his actions have an effect on the plot and on shaping people like Kamea, but we never see him directly.
- The Good King: Tamati Arano has been known to be a benevolent monarch who at least try to improve his realm by expanding the social welfare of the home planet along with quelling piracy and renovation of industrial sectors.
- It Must Be Mine!: When he discovered the crash site of the Argo, a one-of-a-kind Super Prototype DropShip, he spent the rest of his life trying to retrieve it and restore it, so it could bear the Cormorant of House Arano in its hull. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it happen. He also believed the Argo had something important hidden within it, which was later proven true when Kamea found the coordinates to Castle Nautilus, a Star League Defense Force cache.
- Non-Action Guy: This is, at least, how Santiago and his Directorate loyalists saw Tamati: he seemed willing to let the Coalition slide into comparative stagnation. Kamea would say that this is what he needed to do, since the Coalition being aggressive or expansionist would risk calling the Taurians, the Capellans, or even the FedSuns down on their heads, given how precarious the Taurian-FedSun situation is.
- Plot-Triggering Death: His passing, and by extension his daughter Kamea's impending coronation, is what sets Espinosa's coup in motion and kicks off the campaign story.
- Posthumous Character: He never appears on-screen, having died shortly before the story begins.
Sir Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery
Voiced by Michael D Blum
- Ace Pilot: For sure. In-game, his Tactics skill is such that he gets faster initiative than other pilots of the same weight class. This requires the stat to be close to maxed out.
- Ancestral Weapon: The kukri he carries was past to him by his father, and his grandfather before that, and his great grandfather, etc. Supposedly the lineage's ownership of it dated back to their emigration from Earth.
- Cool Old Guy: It's how he's generally seen in-universe. He's also a substantially better pilot than either you or Kamea during the prologue.
- Crutch Character: Of a sort. You don't keep him after the prologue, but he's there to make sure you can get through the opening without too much trouble. He's not invincible, what with only being in a Centurion, but his stats are completely crazy compared to you, Kamea, and all your opponents in the prologue (his Tactics skill is so high that he's got the bonus initiative skill, which allows him to have light-'Mech initiative in a 50-ton Centurion; even with a Tactics focus, your newbie Commander can only have half that much) and he can 1v1 most of the things facing you in the prologue and win, with the only risk being too much Scratch Damage if you have him fight everything.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The dude's a veteran of the larger Succession Wars, and by 3025 he looks grizzled. None of it is disfiguring, but it's clear he's been through the grinder a few times.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Goes 1v4 against Victoria and her entire 'Mech lance in order to buy Kamea's DropShip, not to mention the ejected-from-your-sabotaged-'Mech you, time to escape. He actually manages to slap Victoria around a bit - we did mention he's awesome, right? - but the sheer weight of what's arrayed against him eventually wears him down and his Centurion ends up completely cored out. Sadly, unlike Kamea, he's Deader than Dead by the time you come across him again.
- Justified Tutorial: What he puts you through. He's not only trying to make sure your old Blackjack is in working order, he wants the opportunity to let you in on the fact that he's got an ominous feeling about the coronation. Which turns out to be right.
- Kukris Are Kool: Being of Nepalese ancestry, Mastiff carried one, and used it on a pirate's head once in the past... with expected results.
- The Mentor: He's not only your mentor, he also taught Kamea and Victoria everything they know about being a MechWarrior. He's also tried to instill a sense of honor and duty in his charges, and to impress upon them the grave responsibility that comes with being a MechWarrior. Needless to say, he's both disappointed and mad as hell that Victoria didn't take to that part of the training.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He doesn't survive past the tutorial, not as a combatant, at least: he dies in prison as Kamea begins her bid to retake her throne.
- No One Could Survive That!: His Centurion is shot to pieces holding off Espinosa troops and Darius is sure he was killed. Actually, he was taken prisoner and dies right around the time you assault the prison. What makes this interesting is that your pilots can survive CT destruction through a Guts skill roll even in normal gameplay (unless you turn it off in the difficulty settings).
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When reminiscing about Mastiff after finding out he died as a political prisoner in a hellhole prison, Darius recollects an engagement where the merc outfit (under previous management) worked alongside the Aurigans; a pirate Hunchback just shredded Dekker's Locust and was about to curb-stomp him dead when Mastiff came charging in, and nailed the Hunchback with a fist right into the Hunchy's monster autocannon. Darius recalls that it wasn't a chance hit or a desperate attack, Mastiff just methodically wrenched the autocannon off its mount, like a "farmer uprooting a tree stump". He then meticulously picked the defanged Hunchback apart, "like a veteran prizefighter locked in a cage match with a snot-nosed kid with no rules or referees in sight". The other pirates turned tail and ran after witnessing the beatdown.
- Old Soldier: He's a veteran of the Succession Wars.
- Red Baron: "Mastiff", because he is the loyal attack hound of the Arano family. He wears that name with pride, and if you threaten Kamea, he'll show you why he has that name.
Lord Alexander Madeira
Voiced by Allan Aquino
- Antagonistic Offspring: Both of his parents were staunchly loyal to House Espinosa, and Alexander knows that if the Restoration succeeds, they will be tried for treason. As far as he's concerned, they made their bed.
- Distressed Dude: By Victoria late in the campaign, who uses the threat of killing him to get a final showdown.
- Heel–Face Turn:Not himself, but his House, House Madeira. As the House Arano sourcebook reveals, after the Restoration succeeded, he and his House became the most loyal to the Arano, after having been close to the Espinosas since the early days of the Coalition.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Undergoes a dangerous mission to access House Madeira's archives and unearths the truth of Perdition, which unravels the Directorate-Concordate alliance, but is captured in the process.
- Mr. Exposition: He mostly exists as a way for the player to understand the political underpinnings and changes during the Restoration War.
- Non-Action Guy: House Madeira doesn't appear to have a BattleMech and nothing in Alexander's backstory suggests he's a trained MechWarrior or a warrior, period.
- The Political Officer: His technical duty aboard as Kamea's representative, and neither he nor Kamea make any bones about the fact that he is there to ensure that you don't turn your back on the Restoration. However, he's extremely non-pushy about it and mostly exists for exposition, and you never get any chance to betray the Restoration anyway.
- Sour Supporter: While he's on Kamea's side, he's not nearly as idealistic about the whole Restoration as she is, specifically noting that the real key to overthrowing the Directorate will be winning the propaganda war for Aurigan hearts and minds if you try to call him out for his cynical take on Kamea's speech at Weldry.
- Undying Loyalty: To Kamea. When Mastiff raises some Properly Paranoid doubts about him in the intro, Kamea immediately shuts him down and notes that if she can't trust Alexander, she can't trust anyone, Raju included.
- White Sheep: His mother, Lady Branca Madeira, and the rest of their House officially back the Directorate. Alexander notes grimly that they'll have to be punished when the Restoration wins.
Simon Karosas
- Grumpy Old Man: White-haired, elderly and very brusque. Kamea's comments implies he was much the same way before the rise of the Directorate, though recent events haven't helped.
- Last of His Kind: He and his son Otto were the sole survivors of House Karosas. Unfortunately, due to his son being Brainwashed and Crazy, both of them died because of Victoria and Ostegaard, extinguishing the house.
- Plotline Death: Shot In the Back of the head by Victoria once Ostergaard springs her.
- Sour Supporter: He starts out not-too-kindly disposed to Kamea (for obvious reasons) and needs you to perform a task for him before he'll help you. He warms up somewhat once trusted with keeping Victoria imprisoned.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Wonders why Kamea doesn't just shoot Victoria Espinosa, making it subtly clear the only reason he's not doing it himself is because she asked him not to. He was right, unfortunately, since Victoria kills him when the Taurians break her out.
Your Crew / "Markham/[Player Character]'s Marauders"
A ragtag bunch of surprisingly professional mercenary support officers for a periphery outfit.
Player Character
A MechWarrior pilot trained by Raju. After being separated from Raju and Kamea during Santiago's coup, they are rescued by a mercenary troop, and are leading it by the time Kamea recruits them to her cause three years later. Their default signature mech is the Blackjack BJ-1 medium mech, though as a mercenary leader, the player can have any pilot control any mech available to deploy.
- Ancestral Weapon: Their ancestral family mech is a BJ-1 Blackjack medium BattleMech. After the events of Castle Nautilus, they obtain a SLDF Royal-Grade Highlander HGN-732B with a Gauss Rifle. After defeating Victoria and restoring Kamea as High Lady, she gives them the Atlas II she retrieved from the cache.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How they got their position as a mercenary leader.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Some of your pilots are eccentric at best and manchildren at worst. Knowing when to encourage them and when to reign them in is half of what can make the random events work in your favor (the other half being luck).
- Dangerous 16th Birthday: Whatever causes their split from their family occurs on their sixteenth birthday.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several dialogue choices allow them to be witty and/or sarcastic to people. Some of your snark can result in Kamea calling you out for inappropriate choice of words for the moment.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Their first name, last name, and MechWarrior callsign are all chosen by the player.
- Heroic Mime: Zigzagged between battle and the Argo/Leopard. They're pretty talkative in mission-related cutscenes aboard their ship, but unlike your regular MechWarriors they don't say a peep in combat. Their character editor simply doesn't allow you to choose a voice set for them despite there being about two dozens available.
- Justified Trope: This may be because the player character is specifically supposed to be you, the player; which is why your pilots ask for orders when you select them, and why, instead of the player character themselves delivering lines in combat (like your other pilots), the PC's 'Mech's Computer Voice delivers status updates instead: it's supposed to be you hearing it from inside the cockpit, and also presumably commanding the squad from in the cockpit as well.
- Implacable Man: Due to Plot Armor, they cannot be killed no matter how many injuries they take, though they can still be knocked unconscious during battles and will need to spend time recovering.
- Impoverished Patrician: Your character will always come from a noble house and will always be down on their luck, though whether it was voluntary exile or your family dying in a suitably dramatic fashion is up to you to decide.
- It Amused Me: One potential background is that they're currently a mercenary because they stole the Blackjack and ran off with it because they were bored.
- It's Personal: Several possible dialogue choices can shape them to be out for revenge against the Directorate over the death of Mastiff, and it is heavily implied that despite being a mercenary they refused to take missions from the Directorate and sided with Kamea's Restoration all the way to the end precisely because of it.
- Long-Range Fighter: While the abilities and weapons they use are entirely up to the player, their default Blackjack uses a pair of AC/2s as its main weapon and they canonically used a similarly armed Jagermech in at least one battle during the Aurigan Civil War.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Literally. The player chooses their backstory, which can affect what decisions they can make during events. Consistently in all cases, they were from a noble house that moved to the Aurigan Reach and were trained in the martial art of BattleMech combat by Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery, and they eventually fell in with the Aurigan Royal Guard when Mastiff picked them back up after a family departure and previous career path as a MechWarrior.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: A legitimate way to role-play your character, and Kamea will mention during the intro that this could have been your motivation all along even if you said otherwise.
- Plot Armor: Your character can't be killed, and will always survive anything that would otherwise be lethal, like a destroyed 'Mech head. However, this will not save them from being laid up in convalescence for possibly months after such a would-be-lethal event.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Several options in the game allow you to be a good boss to your fellow mercs.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: An equally valid way to role-play, essentially treating your company as Kamea's Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards or even her Praetorian Guard because of personal loyalty.
- Supporting Protagonist: You are the protagonist of this game, but the character who has a Hero's Journey and goes from a well-meaning but inexperienced, entitled and out-of-touch aristocrat to a humble, hardened but not jaded servant of the people is Kamea.
- Take a Third Option: Yet another way to role-play your character is to be personally loyal to Kamea, but acknowledge the fact that you're still running a mercenary company and have bills to pay.
- Vague Age: Your character's age is never discussed; the only time age comes up will be when you say you were doing your chosen career since you were sixteen during certain dialogue options.
Markham
The former leader of the mercenary troop. Died during the attack on Coromodir in the prologue.
- Egocentric Team Naming: Implied to have founded the Marauders, given the unit's Alliterative Name with his last name.
- Posthumous Character: Died during the prologue and never appears on-screen.
- The Social Expert: According to Darius, he was an expert negotiator and very good at making clients feel welcome. For instance, he called Reynauld Yamaguchi "Bob Kurita" in a boisterous manner, which Reynauld always thought was hilarious.
Darius Oliveira
Voiced by Drew Hobson
- Consummate Professional: Believes strongly in good PR for the company and that some employers are genuinely better than others, and is the main holdout who speaks out against going outside the Mercenary Board for contracts.
- Drink-Based Characterization: Prefers a scotch that's flavored with a smokey peat as he grew up on a Space station. Campfire smoke was unheard for him growing
- The Gambling Addict: Regularly holds poker evening with the other officers on the Argo, and plays to win unlike Yang, Sumire, Farah and potentially the player.
- Mission Control: Arranges the crew's contracts, and gives tactical advice & mission updates during battles.
- Number Two: He's the Marauders' executive officer, handling much of the logistics of running the outfit while you handle the higher management and the parts that involve blowing stuff up.
- Working-Class Hero: His father loaded crates on a space station. He took up the life of a mercenary so he wouldn't be stuck doing the same himself.
Sumire Meyer
Voiced by Patty Pomplun
The Navigator of the mercenary unit that the player leads. She is of Taurian nobility in origin, having gotten professional training as a dropship pilot in part due to old family connections.
- Ace Pilot: The Argo is hardly a regular dropship, yet Sumire manages it well enough, to say nothing of the tricky flying she does in your crew's Leopard during certain campaign missions. She manages to fly the Leopard through an orbital debris field without ground-station guidance on a moment's notice for a campaign mission - without damaging the Leopard.
- Fail O Sucky Name: Has this opinion of her family's ancestral world. It's called "Pomme de Terre", which is French for "potato".Sumire: My ancestors came from the planet Potato. It took some time for me to accept that, but hey, here we are.
- Gamer Chick: Every single simulator upgrade to the Argo has Sumire making increasingly obvious allusions to treating them like a game, up to and including pro gamer style team jackets, to say nothing of her suggestion to add an arcade to the Argo while name-dropping a flight sim.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a pair of straight, photogenic scars beneath her eyes.
- The Hedonist: Downplayed. Her suggestions on what to do next in the post-game all involve snazzing up the Argo with luxury items and wood paneling and spending your money on good food.
- Impoverished Patrician: She's minor nobility like the Player Character, but her parents are dead and her house fortunes are gone.
- Last of Her Kind: Sole survivor of House Meyer, a lesser noble family from the Draconis Combine.
- Must Have Caffeine: A random event with Glitch and Medusa fighting over the last of the coffee can resolve with Sumire standing behind you holding an empty cup, and making a comment that she's going to speak to Darius about shopping priorities.
- Only in It for the Money: Sumire doesn't care about your employers' politics or any shady business they might be up to, so long as their C-bills are as good as everyone else's.
- Properly Paranoid: Sumire is extremely skeptical of LosTech and believes that getting involved with it is a fool's errand that will get you attention of the bad kind from the Inner Sphere's power players. The hunt for Castle Nautilus directly leads to the Tauran Concordat entering the war against the Restoration, with Kamea and Alexander believing Director Santiago promised Protector Calderon the Lostech inside the castle. Sumire has the good graces to deliver a "I told you so" with resignation instead of glee.
- The Spock: In general, Sumire points out the more practical perspective on flashpoint and event decisions, such as cautioning against reckless adventurism and breaking contracts.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sumire hates birds, as her homeworld had an ecosystem full of them.
Yang Virtanen
Voiced by Rick Roemer
- Asian and Nerdy: A giant robot engineer of Chinese descent. And an enthusiast in the weirdest 'Mechs out there.
- Berserk Button: Common people dying due to nobles squabbling over particularly petty causes. In one flashpoint, he even mentions that he'd like to Bitch Slap Graf Stieglitz-Bradford for endangering an underground settlement's population in order to humiliate a political rival.
- Career-Ending Injury: His arm got mangled while he was adjusting a rumble seat on a Capellan 'mech. This was one of the events that led him to leave the regular military.
- Closest Thing We Got: Was the Company's Chief Ship Engineer due to a lack of options. He even admits he's surprised he hadn't gotten them all killed by now.
- Cyborg: He has a mechanical prosthetic arm and possibly leg as well, courtesy of being in a 'Mech that blew up.
- The Engineer: He is your chief MechTech.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Justified. His coveralls are cut and hemmed without a right sleeve or right shoulder, likely to avoid having the harness rig and cybernetic arm catching on the fabric.
- Lethal Chef: A random event during travel has Yang discover some burger meat in your latest provisions and attempt to recreate a popular burger in the Federated Suns. The result will either increase morale or knock out your tech squad, penalizing your 'mech repair ability.
- I'm Standing Right Here: When discussing his past, he uses the slur FedRats to refer to the Federated Suns he was up against at the time of his story, even if your character came from the Federated Suns. The game even highlights the term to explain it.
- Likewise, he makes his low opinion of most nobles well known, which unlike the above example you can call him on. He explains that he finds you and Kamea to be all right because of your willingness to get your hands dirty in person.
- Mr. Fixit: By ''BattleTech'' standards, Yang is a fantastically skilled MechTech and could probably command a salary way beyond his current employment. He likes the mercenary business because of the freedom it gives him to tinker with non-standard 'Mech designs. Depending on the difficulty options selected, he can even repair cored 'Mechs, which is extremely hard to do. Usually, 'Mechs with a destroyed central torso are considered damaged beyond repair and scrapped for parts.
- No Man Should Have This Power:He destroys the Outpost Castle Nautilus with explosive charges to keep its Lostech arsenal away from Taurian and Directorate hands.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Or Engineer... and averted. He is elated and relieved when Murad joins the crew, since he no longer has to double as a ship engineer which is not his forte, and can focus solely on being the chief MechTech.
- Token Evil Teammate: More like Token Cynic, but out of all of your crew he's the one that expresses the more callious options and more centered on helping out the company, not others. That being said, he won't get upset if you decide to do the right thing.
- Working-Class Hero: He was a MechTech of commoner background, and had experienced Capellan nobles taking credit over his successes. He retired from being one when he was denied a promotion.
Dr. Farah Murad
Voiced by Alaji Marie
- Awful Wedded Life: Farah married the host of an Edutainment TV show that got her into her field of study, the fact she describes him as a "chain-smoking nihilist who taught children the magic of chemistry such as making thermite with aluminium cans and a belt sander" is probably a good hint as to why she had the marriage annulled some six months later.
- Challenge Seeker: She joins the Company just to get the chance to work with the Argo when she would have a open invitation at any research institute in the Inner Sphere and beyond.
- Drink-Based Characterization: Prefers Quillar Fizz over any alcohol, as she's effectively the designated driver of the Argo since she's the only one that can keep it running. (Being a Muslim, she's presumably not allowed to drink alcohol anyway.)
- The Engineer: Unlike Yang, she is a spacecraft specialist, and she oversees the Argo's upgrades and maintenance.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She manages to restore the Argo from crashed on a moon to (barely) flyable state, and then further refurbishes and restores the old Star League colony ship on your orders and specifications as the game progresses. When Darius investigates who she is, he says the reputation he read about paints her as a "wunderkind".
- The McCoy: In random events and flashpoints, she typically suggests whatever immediately seems like the moral option, to hell with professional reputation and profit.
- Naïve Newcomer: Note the above. Then note that she's just recently joined a mercenary outfit.
- Nice Girl: With the few exceptions of some really nasty pieces of work, she treats everyone nicely. Even when the Player makes the Pragmatic decision to have to Shoot the Hostage in a Flashpoint she doesn't yell at the Player Character. She accepts that it's to prevent future suffering and goes to her quarters to pray for the hostages.
- Not So Above It All: Despite her naive and idealistic ways, she has shown satisfaction at some of the targets meeting their end. All of them being people the galaxy is much better off without.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Says the trope virtually word for word- she's a spaceship engineer, not a medical doctor.
- Only I Can Make It Go: Effectively the only person that can keep the Argo running without ulterior motives.
- Religious Bruiser: Downplayed. She never directly fights anyone, but her first on-screen action is storming the Argo when it was still occupied by pirates, capable of moving heavy machinery around, and is a devout Muslim.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: She wears a sleeveless vest. In her case this is less about looking tough and more for practicality: no sleeves to get caught on an edge when she is elbow-deep in machinery.
- Token Good Teammate: Well more like Token Idealistic Teammate. She's a well educated engineer from the Inner Sphere who's on the Argo for the chance to work with something that would be considered LosTech to the Star League in its prime. Which means that a lot of the realities of working in the Peripheral horrify her.
- Wrench Wench: Being the engineer, she is one.
The Pilots
The various MechWarriors that can be hired across the galaxy, many of which were designed by backers on Kickstarter. Your crew always starts out with four predetermined Mauve Shirts: Behemoth, Dekker, Glitch, and Medusa.
One of the Ronin pilots you start with. Initially pilots a Shadow Hawk SHD-2H.
One of the Ronin pilots you start with. Initially pilots a Spider SDR-5V.
One of the Ronin pilots you start with. Initially pilots a Vindicator VND-1R.
One of the Ronin pilots you start with. He doesn't come with a 'Mech, being benched during the tutorial since the Player Character is leading the lance personally. He's essentially provided as a spare pilot while Dekker is recovering from the injuries he'll probably sustain in the tutorial.
- Fighting Irish: At least one voice set has a distinct (and terrible) Irish accent and, true to form, a pretty eager and bloodthirsty personality.
- Hidden Depths: Random Events can reveal interesting sides to your pilots: they may start painting murals on interior walls of the Argo, or ask to celebrate Diwali.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Called Shot Mastery gives any pilot an impressive 18% chance to hit an enemy 'Mech's head with a Called Shot. This works completely independent from the target's Evasion charges, so it's not uncommon to see your elite snipers take down light 'Mechs that're running at full sprint speed with a few well-aimed hits to the cockpit in a single salvo.
- Made of Iron: Leveling the Guts skill can double the amount of injuries a MechWarrior can suffer before going down for the count, which allows them to survive their entire 'Mech exploding around them section by section (unless something destroys the cockpit of course, but even then these pilots have a massively increased chance of survival where others would be turned into Ludicrous Gibs). This is heavily implied to also involve a combination of Heroic Willpower and being a Determinator in addition to their peak physical condition.
- Magikarp Power: Some of these pilots start as outright rookies. That doesn't stop them from gaining experience and skills as they mature over gameplay into veteran and then elite MechWarriors.
- Master of All: You don't need to worry about accidentally landing your pilots in some Crippling Overspecialization corner by choosing wrong skill paths. All four skills can eventually be maxed out, and all specializations are useful in some way if you know how to utilize them.
- Mauve Shirt: Behemoth, Glitch, Dekker, and Medusa, the four pilots that the player begins with, are so-called Ronin, unique characters that have more expanded backstories in their service records. Other Ronin have a low chance to spawn in any Hiring Hall, usually with vastly superior stats over basic recruits. Most can't be hired until your company has made a name for itself by attaining a high rank with the MRB. Additionally, the backstories of Kickstarter backers are more detailed than regular pilots, and they start with higher stats.
- Mr. Fixit: Medusa, as well as any other MechWarriors with the 'technician' background, have events where they can start tinkering with their living quarters, 'mech weaponry or with the Argo's systems, often with a positive outcome.
- Red Shirt: With the exception of the main character, anyone can die if they take too many injuries in battle.
- Dekker in particular not only has a red pilot's suit, but has an entire meme about ending up dead. There's even an achievement for finishing the campaign with him still alive.
- Nom de Guerre: Though they all have first and last names, they are most commonly referred to by their MechWarrior call signs.
- Permanently Missable Content: Unlike the randomly generated pilots you can find everywhere and anytime, Ronin are explicitly mentioned to be unique, irreplacable characters. If you fire them or they get KIA, they're gone and won't reappear in the recruitment roster until you start a new campaign. That said, the only thing that sets them apart from normal pilots is their expanded background story, so in gameplay terms you don't really lose anything that a basic recruit can't do just as well once they reach the same skill level.
- Squee: Everyone with voice set 4 (Glitch has this one by default) automatically turns into an extremely excitable Genki Girl that geeks out over pretty much anything, from the beauty of jungle worlds to making snowmen on polar worlds to landing particularly impressive hits/kills on enemy 'Mechs. Funnily, even some of the more reserved voice sets get in on it from time to time. Don't be surprised to suddenly hear a gleeful cheer upon initiating a Death From Above attack.
- Token Evil Teammate: Amongst your starting pilots, Glitch is a former convict and Behemoth is noted to have left her previous pirate gang after they got too non-violent for her tastes. Downplayed for Glitch given her Genki Girl personality, and that she was actually innocent of the crime she was accused of when she was thrown into jail. It took so long for her to be cleared of charges, she ended up learning her criminal skills from other inmates and found it hard readjusting after being freed
Miranda "Behemoth" Aguilera
- Ace Custom: The Umbra bonus skin is apparently meant to be the canonical appearance of her Shadow Hawk, at least going by a short tie-in story in Shrapnel Magazine.
- The Big Guy: Gender Flipped. Behemoth enjoys bruising around, with starting skills inclining her toward battlefield survivability (she has the highest Guts stat of any of the default pilots).
- The Lad-ette: Behemoth was always a large woman found of carousing with her comrades and getting into Bar Brawls afterward. She could drink anyone under the table, still hold her own in a fight afterward, and left groups she felt were going too soft for her taste.
- Token Evil Teammate: She have the Criminal tag and is said to have always been a violence-seeking troublemaker (with her bio hinting that this stretched back all the way to her childhood, if the line about being "a tall kid who made a name for herself as 'the girl you don't mess with.'" is true), routinely sparked BarBrawls with her original mercenary crew, eagerly went along with said mercs when they turned to piracy, and when the mercs went straight again, THEN she left, because she wanted to find "a tougher crew".
Amir "Dekker" Kowalski
- Army Scout: His main job as a light 'Mech pilot. Dekker starts with the "Sensor Lock" skill and initially pilots a lightly armed Fragile Speedster Spider.
- Blue Blood: Dekker is a scion of a noble house loyal to House Liao, which rules the Capellan Confederation, and is a Capellan Military Academy graduate. While he'll never get in trouble with Yang over it, there are events where impromptu class warfare can break out between noble and non-noble MechWarriors.
- Butt-Monkey: Lampshaded. Because he starts out in one of the most Fragile Speedsters that exists in the game, he's prone to getting injured or killed. Darius tells you an anecdote about him losing a 'Mech leg piloting a Locust years earlier and being rescued by Mastiff, and Harebrained Schemes added a secret achievement if you manage to keep him alive for the entire campaign.
- Ensign Newbie: He served an unremarkable tour of duty as a junior officer on a Capellan DropShip before transferring to MechWarrior duty and distinguishing himself.
- Target Spotter: One of the better ways to use him before you can get him a more durable 'Mech is to spot targets so you can snipe them with your big guns (Behemoth and Glitch by default).
- True Companions: A random event can have him get a job offer from another 'Mech company, with them buying out his contract from you. If he turns it down, he decides that it's because your company has become his family.
Jessica "Glitch" Chernovskaya
- Boyish Short Hair: Her portrait has an unruly mop of black hair. A picture of her in a random event shows the sides are shaved.
- Friendly Sniper: She may be a Genki Girl, but she's also an assassin. Her Vindicator comes with a PPC and LRM-10 by default, and she gets an accuracy bonus when using indirect fire.
- Genki Girl: Glitch has an extremely excitable personality and makes small comments during missions like wanting to make snowmen post-mission on arctic planets.
- Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: A wrongful conviction got her sent to a maximum-security prison. After getting out, she put the skills she'd learned in the joint to use as a Professional Killer.
- History Repeats: An event that's exclusive to just her involves the crew adding a biometric scanner to the 'warrior's lounge to enforce curfews and punishments for misconduct. Just like in her backstory, the scanner freaks out every time she tries to use it and she ends up locked out of the lounge for no reason at all most of the time - either you pony up some cash to make a second, non-biometric source of entry or she ends up incredibly bitter over the whole thing. Just like her backstory.
- Miscarriage of Justice: She was an ordinary middle-class girl from the Federated Suns when a faulty bioscan got her locked up in a maximum-security prison. She was exonerated ten years later, but not before the ordinary girl had turned into a hardened criminal. She got her nickname from the "glitch" in the bio-scanner that got her put away.
- Must Have Caffeine: A random event while you're still using the Leopard has her arguing with Medusa over the last of the coffee.
- Professional Killer: What she became after her prison sentence.
Mohammed "Medusa" Benitez
- The Eeyore: Medusa's voice is extremely downcast and he generally delivers mission comments in the form of one complaint or another.Medusa: [upon starting an operation] This place reminds me of my childhood. I hated my childhood.
- Mr. Fixit: He has the Technician trait, as his backstory has him attending tech school on Katinka before stowing away on a merc DropShip.
- Must Have Caffeine: A random event can have him fighting with Glitch over the last of the coffee.
- Really Moves Around: He's originally from a lunar colony of the Aurigan world Mechdur, but his prospector parents took him all over the system before eventually moving to Katinka.
- Space People: He spent most of his childhood moving between various space colonies.
Backer Pilots
Aside from the foursome you start with, most of the MechWarriors available in the game's hiring halls are randomly generated. These Ronin, however, were created by Kickstarter backers who supported the game at the $5,000 Mercenary MechCommander level or above (fifty-seven in all), and have unique background stories like Behemoth, Dekker, Glitch, and Medusa.
A former Federated Suns special forces operator, and former regular soldier, and former gladiator, he finally ended up becoming a merc.
A son of a wealthy commoner family in the Lyran Commonwealth, he puttered around the Lyran Guard in a desk job for several years before serving a five-year tour as a MechWarrior. He quit and trucked out to the Periphery after missing a promotion due to his lack of connections.
Born to an extended family of merchant shippers, Ariamaki Risenki found the family politics was just too much. He struck out on his own, worked as a 'Mech gladiator on Solaris VII, and then found his way to the Periphery.
A Lyran war orphan, Bearclaw served as a Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces special warfare operator before PTSD led to his medical discharge.
Aidan "Adrenaline" Slipais
- Colonel Badass: His actual final rank in the FedSun military isn't stated, but he was a MechCommander in the regular army before turning mercenary.
- Military Brat: His parents were FedSuns military reservists, and he chose to one-up them by going to the Military Academy, ending up a special warfare officer... for a while at least.
- Red Baron: "Adrenaline" is a bit of a misnomer: working as a merc provides him just the right balance of excitement, downtime, and money.
James "Arbiter" Bixby
- Famous Ancestor: Inverted. His goal as a 'Mech merc is to raise his family's status.
- Nouveau Riche: His family was wealthy, but not aristocratic. As a consequence, while he was able to get into the Military Academy, he lacked the political connections necessary to secure a promotion.
- Passed-Over Promotion: He resigned his commission in the Lyran Guard after missing a promotion due to his lack of family connections.
- Red Baron: His callsign refers to his desk job evaluating survivors of destroyed 'Mechs to see if they merited a replacement.
Ariamaki Risenki
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: He initially enjoyed working with his extended family, but after the grandparents started dying off, he found himself getting caught amidst power struggles between his aunts and uncles and couldn't deal with it.
- Mr. Fixit: He has the Technician tag, having been a tech on the family merchant ship.
- Name Order Confusion: His bio gives his name as "Risenki Ariamaki", but he's listed as "Ariamaki Risenki" in the files. It's not clear which is his given name and which is his surname.
- Red Baron: Averted, oddly enough: he simply uses one of his real names as a callsign.
- Space People: He's spent most of his life in space.
Bjorn "Bearclaw" Hummel
- The Big Guy: He has a starting Guts score of 6, even higher than Behemoth starts with. His Gunnery score is almost as good at 4, but he only has a 2 for Piloting and 1 for Tactics.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He's found that the only time he can sleep soundly is if he's engaged in a cause he believes in.
- Orphanage of Love: He grew up in a group home that was reportedly pretty good, and maintained close relationships with many of his foster siblings after they joined the LCAF.
- Shellshocked Veteran: The deaths of many of his foster siblings in combat, coupled with a letter full of undescribed secrets he received from a brother before his death, led to a nervous breakdown that resulted in him being medically discharged from the military.
Big Sly
Bootcamp
Bronzite
Brother
Bullet Trap
Coach
Corsair
Deadeye
Death Krusade
Deedah
Dragon 66
Dust Raker
Eck
El Duce
Exodus
Falcon
Finn
Flatline
Gearhead
God
GV
Hacker
Hammer
Ice Trey
Jester
Kingwolf
Livefire
M4J35T1C
McWraith
Mummy Bear
Munin
Omega
Paladin
Paradox
Pathfinder
Phantom
Popo
Ronin
Rook
Sabercat
Sabrewolf
Scrub
Skyros
Spenthia
Strider
Succubus
T-Bone
Tinker
Varangian
Von Kobra
War Boar
WeaselCakes
Whisper
Beta Pilots
The following pilots are pre-made characters originating from the Beta version of the game. Akin to the above-mentioned Backer Pilots and Mauve Shirt crew the player starts with, they all have backstories and higher base stats to make them distinct.
The second child of a runaway Magistracy noble and a retired MechWarrior, who was exclusively raised by her father after her mother was compelled to return to her duties. Due to events she never quite understood, the older brother she respected ran away when she was still a teen, taking their father's BattleMech with him. A sense of responsibility kept her at her father's side, but when the Espinosa's coup occurred, she received permission to unleash her talents on an unsuspecting Periphery.
Starting by nearly being crushed by space debris on the day he was born, the Panzyr-born Ozone has lived a life of misfortune. As soon as he was able, he left his township, with Panzyr's citizens hoping the bad luck would go with him.
Farida "Apex" Lamb
Following the conclusion of the Aurigan Civil War, she was inducted into the Aurigan Coalition's elite Rampart Company, participating in the mop-up of various Directorate remnants.
- Canon Immigrant: Plays a minor role in the short story Operation Restored Hope in the House Arano sourcebook for the main tabletop game.
- The Gunslinger: She has a starting Gunnery score of 8, as well as high Guts, though it's balanced by her low initial Piloting and Tactics.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: To quote a line from her full backstory, "She grew up being trained on BattleMech simulators by her father, who incorporated the training into their lives so naturally that she never quite realized what an excellent MechWarrior and trainer he was."
Arclight
Blockade
Buckshot
Kraken
Mockingbird
Einar "Ozone" Aliyev
- Ace Pilot: Ozone's highest starting score is an 8 in Piloting, with his other scores in the mid-tiers.
- Death World: Panzyr itself might be the true source of Ozone's bad luck, given that orbital debris fell there on a weekly basis when he was born.
- The Jinx: From the day he was born, he barely survived a multitude of life-threatening accidents. It's stated that the trait seems to have either vanished or been directed at his opponents when he became a MechWarrior, though he tries to avoid staying in one company too long just in case.
- Properly Paranoid: He has the Cautious tag as a result of a life of near-fatal bad luck.
- The Scapegoat: He had no control over the accidents that occurred to him, yet kept being lectured for not being careful enough, leading him to grow up Properly Paranoid.
Paradise
Showboat
Sumo
Wildfire
Witness
Aurigan Directorate
Director Santiago Espinosa
Voiced by Trendane Sparks
I'll show you how a man who follows in Amaris' footsteps can fight.
Kamea's uncle, who sparks major conflict by taking the throne from his niece in a coup.- Abusive Parents: What we see of his interactions with Victoria paint him as the controlling type - after appealing to her reason fails, he resorts to ordering her to stand down, prefacing it with "You will attend to my words and obey me as you always have."
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Appropriately for a cold, calculating Non-Action Big Bad in a late 2010s work, he looks a lot like Giancarlo Esposito. Their surnames are even similar.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Over the course of the campaign, the Arano Restoration discovers a secret Star League base on Artru, filled with a priceless cache of pristine Star League-era Battlemechs. Had Espinosa been patient enough, Kamea may have uncovered the cache under a united Reach, and they could have been studied, used to safeguard the Reach, or, as he possibly chose to do with the Taurians, dangled as bargaining chips for negotiations with a stronger power. As is, Yang blows up almost the whole cache to deny it to Espinosa and the Taurians, and the drive that held the data on the Artru base's location is infected with the Locura virus, so nobody gains anything from the Argo's secret information except for the handful of Battlemechs Kamea and her guards escaped in.
- Do with Him as You Will: Kamea hands him over to the Taurian Concordat for trial over his role in the Perdition Massacre. She notes that they are all but guaranteed to execute him as a war criminal. The House Arano sourcebook confirms that he was indeed executed.
- Evil Chancellor: Filled this role to Kamea until he overthrew her.
- Evil Uncle: To Kamea.
- False Flag Attack: Masterminded the Perdition Massacre and fingered the FedSuns for it, making the Taurian Concordat amenable to an alliance. Needless to say House Calderon is not happy when the truth comes out.
- Foil: For those with knowledge of the Battletech-universe, Espinosa is a foil for Stephan Amaris. Both conquered a political entity through a coup (after the last ruler died in a JumpShip accident no less), using subterfuge, befriending the ruler and strategically placing their house guard on the capital, before instituting a centralized dictatorship in place of a heredetary monarchy supported by violent purges and a wave of propaganda. Both face an invasion by Former Regime Personnel hell-bent on restoring the old order and are slowly pushed back to their throne world. The foil comes in that Espinosa genuinely wanted to strengthen the Reach as opposed to Amaris wanting to destroy Star League, and Espinosa surrenders once it's obvious he's no longer in any position to make a comeback to save the Reach further suffering. Also, unlike Amaris, Espinosa didn't kill Tamati Arano.
- Killed Off for Real: After the Restoration, he was executed for his crimes against his own people and the Taurians. He is survived by a few heirs, among which is Kamea, the daughter of his sister Sara, and his niece.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He surrenders once Ostergaard is taken out of the picture, realizing that his last chance of a quick victory is gone and trying to struggle to hold on will only weaken the Reach further.
- Non-Action Big Bad: He is never directly encountered in-game, and no indication is ever given that he is a skilled MechWarrior or a front-line general.
- Realpolitik: The Directorate secures an alliance with the Taurian Concordat due to this trope, by providing them a stable border so the Taurians can focus on the FedSuns.
- Rousing Speech: Provides one that also doubles as something of a Motive Rant after the tutorial.
- Villain with Good Publicity: By centralizing the Directorate's authority, diverting more resources to its core worlds (especially Coromodir) at the cost of the more peripheral worlds and with the help of a propaganda machine, Santiago has a popular base that supports him during the entire Restoration War.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Santiago's goal is to make the Aurigan Reach a stronger, more centralized state more able to resist outside interference by the neighbouring (and much larger) Taurians, Canopians, Capellans and FedSuns.
Lady Victoria Espinosa
Voiced by Lauren Pearsall
Santiago's daughter. Was trained by Raju as a pilot alongside her cousin Kamea, but chooses to side with her father. Her signature mech is the Kaga, a Catapault K-2 heavy mech, although she ultimately upgrades to using a King Crab KGC-000 Assault mech in her final battle.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She's an enthusiastic supporter and agent of her father's coup and tyranny.
- Death Seeker: She challenges Kamela to a final duel after the Directorate falls, preferring a death in battle to having to live on with her guilt over Perdition.
- This is even reflected in how her AI plays in the game itself. Victoria has an odd tendency to ignore her heat gauge in favor of laying down continuous Alpha Strikes. She will almost certainly lose more than one turn to overheating in the final battle, assuming you don't kill her the first time it happens.
- The Dragon: With Santiago being a Non-Action Big Bad, Victoria is the one to take the field against you.
- Dragon Ascendant: She is also the Final Boss of the game, carrying on after Santiago has surrendered.
- Evil Gloating: She tends to run her mouth when she has an unfair advantage over her foe.
- Faux Affably Evil: During the opening, she gives Kamea quite a few opportunities to surrender herself before deciding to just kill her and be done with it. However, three years later and she's become a "cartoon villain", as the Player can choose to retort to her at one point. Her Villainous Breakdown hints that this is her coping mechanism for everything she's done.
- I've Come Too Far: Why she keeps fighting even after the Directorate falls and her father orders her to surrender, unable to accept that her part in the Perdition Massacre and leaving Raju to rot and die ended up All for Nothing.
- Plot Armor: She cannot be outright killed even if you take her mech down in lethal fashion, at least until her final battle with you, as she will always somehow eject before the killing blow lands.
- A Pupil of Mine Until She Turned to Evil: Old Mastiff was proud of Victoria as one of his students, at least until she showed her willingness to commit atrocities and gloat about them in the coup.
- Smug Snake: She is extremely given to gloating when she holds the upper hand. This is best seen in the opening mission, where she gloats over your mech being helpless due to sabotage, leaving Raju Montgomery to fight all on his own and acting like she's clever for it.
- SNK Boss: Her King Crab is flagrantly over-weight and has unique autocannons that inflict an accuracy and stability debuff on every hit. Unfortunately for her, she's also single-mindedly obsessed with trying to kill Kamea, her mech's armaments are extremely short-ranged, and said crab is hardly that fast. A good player can take her down before she even gets the chance to fire a single shot.
- Suicide by Cop: A reasonable interpretation of the final battle. She can't live with all the horrible things she's done being for nothing. So either she prevents you from winning as well, or she dies fighting.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: She's fully convinced that her father has the right of it, where the Aurigan Reach has to project strength to avoid being taken over by its neighbors. If that requires jailing dissidents, betraying her cousin, or perpetrating a False Flag Operation, then so be it.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Averted. Victoria shows up three times during the campaign (albeit only in a cutscene the first time), piloting progressively heavier and deadlier mechs each time.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Upon being defeated and captured, she's reduced to impotently ranting and raving at you and Kamea from her prison cell. You can actually comment in-story on how cartoonishly over the top her breakdown is.
- She has an even worse one when her father surrenders
, as it means her part in the Perdition Massacre was All for Nothing and she can no longer justify her actions by following orders.Santiago: The Directorate has already fallen, Victoria. We've lost. Continuing to fight would only cost more lives.
Victoria: Cost lives? Cost lives?! You ordered me to kill eleven thousand people on Perdition, and now you care about bloodshed? There is an ocean of blood on my hands, Father! I spilled it because you told me it was necessary!
- You Sound Familiar: Lauren Pearsall is also the Computer Voice.
Magistracy of Canopus
Ana Maria Centrella
- Big Good: The Magistracy is bankrolling the entire Restoration, thus making her your de facto source of funds.
- Enlightened Self-Interest: Is open about the fact that she's helping in order to put a neighbour into the Magistracy's debt, to stabilize the periphery and to create a friendly buffer state against the Concordat. She's choosing a brushfire Proxy War with House Calderon in hopes of avoiding the outbreak of a much larger one.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: That said, she is just as horrified as the Restoration over the degree of dog-kicking the Directorate and the Concordat goes to, reminds Kamea of her importance to her people, and offers the Marauders a very lucrative contract to test your skills.
- Secret Test of Character: The retrieval of the Argo mission serves as one for the Marauders.
Amalia Cortez
- Out of Focus: Due to the Magistracy having no Flashpoints and Ana Maria being the Marauders' liaison during story missions, she is the least characterized of all the quest givers.
- Quest Giver: She hires mercs such as the player character for missions on MercNet and begins granting quests near the Magistracy after the Marauders are hired by Ana Maria.
The Taurian Concordat
Protector Thomas Calderon
Constitutional monarch of the Taurian Concordat. Never actually shows up in the game.
- Arch-Enemy: The Concordat has a 300+ year old rivalry with House Davion, to the point that he easily accepts that the Perdition Massacre was carried out by the FedSuns.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The Concordat is at least four times the size of the Aurigan Coalition and many times more militaristic, and their involvement in the Restoration War dramatically shifts the balance of power.
- Berserk Button: Invoked. As Director Espinosa astutely notes, most informed people know that the Periphery, and the Concordat along with it, is beneath Hanse Davion's notice. However, the Taurians are so paranoid about any Federated Suns influence that he doesn't stop to question why the Suns would stoop to a terrorist attack on his nation for no particular reason. Espinosa takes full advantage of this fact.
- The Ghost: He never shows up on-screen.
- The Paranoiac: Lord Madeira notes that the Calderons are notably paranoid about FedSun incursions into Taurian space (given what happened to them during the Reuinification War, they'd say they were Properly Paranoid), and Thomas Calderon would probably be a lot worse if not for the moderating effects of his heir. This foreshadows what will happen to him later in the Battletech timeline, when his two oldest sons both died.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In-Universe this is something House Calderon is famous for. When the truth behind the Perdition Massacre comes out he immediately withdraws all support from the Aurigan Directorate, as well as draws down the rising tensions with the wrongfully accused House Davion. Kamea, in turn, sends Santiago Espinosa to him for his part in the war crime.
- This is played with a bit, though; House Calderon, and Thomas in particular, constantly blames the FedSuns for everything that goes wrong (which means they're immediately willing to accept that they were responsible for the Perdition Massacre). The unreasonable part of this is that virtually everyone else knows that, while the Taurians are probably the most powerful of the Major Periphery Nations, they are nowhere near as strong as even the weakest of the Successor States of the Inner Sphere (the Capellans, at this time), let alone the FedSuns, who at this time is generally considered the strongest. The only thing that keeps the Taurian's sabre-rattling from angering the Suns too much is that they need to keep the majority of their military strength along the Capellan and Kuritan (ESPECIALLY the Kuritan) borders.
- Space Cold War: The Concordat is in a state of Cold War with most of the Inner Sphere and the FedSuns in particular, still bitter about the last time the Star League came knocking. Allying with the Concordat during the Wide-Open Sandbox mode comes with one of the biggest enemy lists in the game, second only to the Space Pirates.
- Unknown Rival: To House Davion, in a slightly downplayed version. The Concordat is about a tenth of the size of the FedSuns, and House Calderon knows this, so their best move is to act as though the FedSuns are mortal enemies who may invade at any moment. Staying completely on the defensive and maintaining a big enough military to make it untenable for the FedSuns to invade without leaving them vulnerable to their Inner Sphere enemies who actually matter. The Perdition Massacre fits into this narrative as the FedSuns testing to see if they can get away with it, or as a prelude to such an invasion, which rapidly mobilizes the Concordat.
Samuel Ostergaard
Voiced by Elias Toufexis
- BFG: His Fortress-class Dropship sports a Long Tom heavy artillery cannon.
- Determinator: Say what you will about him, but nothing will stop him from vengeance against Kamea. Not his government withdrawing from the war, not a mutiny on his Drop Ship, nothing. He will kill her or die trying.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His son was killed on Kamea's order when said son was commanding a materiel supply dropship to the Directorate under a false flag and refused to surrender. What does he do? Go on a war crime spree, targeting wounded, civilians and noncombatants left and right in an attempt to draw his target out of hiding.
- Evil Counterpart: To the player character. Much like the Argo, the Iberia is a powerful Drop Ship not directly under either Directorate or Restoration command, the very presence of which shifts the balance of power, and which undertakes special operations against the enemy. Unlike you, however, Ostergaard is fighting on the Directorate's side.
- Evil Gloating: Spends a lot of time on the airwaves taunting his opponents.
- Expy: To Wayne Waco. The death of his son drives him to declare a vendetta towards Kamea, and the player. Similar to Wayne's hatred towards Wolf's Dragoons as his son was killed by them in an accident.
- Fiery Redhead: Red-haired and revenge-driven.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: It takes uploading the Locura, a weaponized Computer Virus that immediately sabotages any vessel it gets in contact with, directly to his super-powerful Drop Ship, to kill him. Given that the Argo- barely- survived contact with the virus only through everyone on the ship helping out, one has to wonder if any of the crewmen who mutinied against his defection and insanity would have been able to help him.
- It's Personal: Says outright he volunteered to aid the Directorate because of his grudge against Kamea.
- Kick the Dog: Orders his troops to commit war crimes like targeting civilian evacuation shuttles, food shipments, and hospitals with wounded soldiers in them.
- Moral Myopia: He is a bereaved father who wants to kill Kamea for ordering his son's death (he was captain of a dropship under a false flag supplying Kamea's enemies)... but how many bereaved loved ones did he make, military and civilian alike, in his war crime spree against the Aurigan people to draw Kamea out?
- Revenge: His main motivation, even stating openly that he volunteered for his assignment to get revenge over the death of his son.
- Revenge Before Reason: When the Concordat learns the Directorate was behind the Perdition Massacre they immediately cut all ties and support. Ostergaard doesn't care and openly renounces his Concordat citizenship to get another shot at killing Kamea, even needing to suppress an Anti-Mutiny in order to do so.
- Spanner in the Works: Twice. In his introduction he chases Kamea away from Castle Nautilus, springs Victoria from jail and helps her kill lord Karosa. Then, after you think Calderon has removed the Concordat from the civil war, he shows up again in an attempt to kill Kamea during the battle for Coromodir.
- Tragic Villain: He'd probably be a perfectly swell guy if he wasn't so out of his mind with grief over the death of his son. Unfortunately, this event is unavoidable and makes him go off the deep end hard.
- The Unfought: He's built up as an eventual boss fight, perhaps even one of the final bosses, but only ever shows up in cutscenes and radio transmissions.
Elena Marisol-Chaplin
- Bling of War: More subtle than Graf Stieglitz-Bradford, but she does contact you in full military uniform.
- Interface Spoiler: Her absence as a contact for the player during Campaign Mode foreshadows that The Taurians are actively involved in the Aurigan Civil War.
- Mouth of Sauron: For the Taurian ruling house.
- Out of Focus: In Career Mode, due to the lack of Concordat Flashpoints.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her storyline role is very limited, but her findings dramatically changes the fortunes of the Restoration.
- Quest Giver: Aside from her story role, she gives out missions for the Taurian Concordat after the end of the campaign and in Career Mode.
The Inner Sphere
Alexandria Cunningham
- Ambiguously Brown: Justified Trope, the Inner Sphere tend to boast mixed population that a dark-skinned person with an Anglo name (or vice-versa) is not uncommon.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Bad guy is overselling it in the Grey-and-Gray Morality setting of Battletech. But she is the person that does the dirty work for House Davion in the Rimward Periphery, usually using you to keep her own hands clean.
- The Beautiful Elite: She's a high-ranking scion of one of the FedSuns' most powerful noble families. Her bio also points out that she's beautiful, stupidly wealthy, wildly popular and something of a prodigy in general. Why does someone like her spend her time doling out jobs to mercs, you ask? Because her family was promised expanded holdings if Alexandria is successful in advancing FedSuns interests in the Periphery, and everything indicates that she's pretty darn close to achieving this goal.
- Bling of War: She is finely dressed based on her portrait.
- Foil:
- She is this to House Davion. In contrast to their noble image, she does the dirty work to make sure Davion's interests are represented.
- She is also one to Reynauld Yamaguchi. Both she and Yamaguchi represent values that are not necessarily in line with their house's public image, but while this is a kinder side for Yamaguchi and Kuritan, it's a darker side for Cunningham and Davion, as she represents the shrewdest, most utilitarian, and morally-gray side of the Federated Suns. This is even apparent in how they present themselves - Cunningham is probably the most prim and proper (at least in her public image) of all of the liaisons and clearly sees the job of wrangling mercenaries in the Periphery as beneath her even though House Davion generally has little issue working with mercenaries, while Yamaguchi is a disheveled lush who is clearly at home working with mercenaries and the Periphery as a whole despite House Kurita's disdain for mercenaries and substantial distance from the Rimward Periphery.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: In Story Mode, Cunningham first becomes available as a Quest Giver shortly after the Perdition Massacre as border tensions alongside the FedSun-Concordat border heat up. She is also the only quest giver active in that region, as the Concordat begins backing the Directorate instead.
- Quest Giver: She will start contacting the player once the Perdition Massacre takes place.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's a powerful FedSuns noble. See The Beautiful Elite above for more details.
- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: She may well be the least trustworthy of any of your liaisons, rivaled only by Marina Liao. Like the Great House she represents, she's willing to commit brutality for the sake of her own ambitions while maintaining the guise of an enlightened liberator, and won't do you the courtesy of warning you when she's using your company for Plausible Deniability. As far as she's concerned, taking the blame is part of your job.
Davinder Singh
- Commanding Coolness: His official title is "Force Commander", and he's one of two liasons who have definitively seen action.
- Cool Uncle: The new flashpoint introduced in Urban Warfare has Singh hire you to support his niece when the house she serves decides to betray the rest of the FWL. Said niece is sadly killed off-screen after the second deployment.
- Game-Breaking Injury: He was put on merc liason duty after being wounded in battle.
- Mission Control: Provides objectives for the players when taking contracts for Free Worlds League.
- Nice Guy: He's easily the most straightforward and pleasant of the liaisons, especially when compared to Marina Liao, or even compared to Graf Stieglitz-Bradford (considering one of House Steiner's missions involve stomping over helpless civilian settlements) - the most underhanded he gets is using the player's team as "deniable assets" to get classified military data from a joint Draconis-Capellan facility on behalf of the Free World's League, due to the FWL technically having a defensive pact with the other two factions against the FedSun/Lyran alliance. And considering the targets are the Draconis and Capellans, they're both far from innocent...
- His Flavour Text description even goes so far as to refer to him as one in-game, noting his dedication to making sure his merc liasons are paid correctly and on time.
- The "Unwelcome Guests" Flashpoint is because he and House Marik refuse to just bombard a Steiner Military base in their territory because they would kill the farmers that live around the base. And bonus points in that he pays extra for a second Merc company to help you out during it.
- Retired Badass: Downplayed. Worked for SAFE as a Special Ops agent until he was so badly injured he couldn't recover enough for field work. He was given a much safer desk job afterwards, most likely to make use of his skills.
- State Sec: He's a former member of SAFE, the internal security and spy bureu in the Free Worlds League.
- Quest Giver: For House Marik and the Free Worlds League.
- Sikhism: Between his turban, the surname of Singh, distinct kirpan blade on his belt, and the large Indian population of the Free Worlds League, he is definitely of Sikh origin.
- We ARE Struggling Together: What kicks off the entire "Prototype" Flashpoint. When he contacts you, he's about ready to bang his head on his desk out of frustration that a part of the Free Worlds League decided to randomly steal a very valuable prototype from House Liao without telling anyone. To the point that it took their own intelligence agency to realize they were under attack. The equivalent would be if Rhode Island stole China's latest tank design, and the CIA only found out about after China was laying siege to the state.
Marina Liao
- Consummate Professional: Freely admits that there are parts of her job that she finds unsavoury or just morally wrong, but still does her best to see those tasks through.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: During the "Criminal Minds" flashpoint, she and the Capellan forces she has you work with don't bother to mention that they're trying to recover an SLDF Royal Griffin and instead just sternly tell you (and Yang) not to touch the mundane goods that you're supposedly helping them recover (and Yang, of course, does just that and discovers the 'Mech). Since they never tell anyone about the Griffin, it's not on any salvage manifests and exists in a legal gray area that can justify your company seizing it for themselves as the finders. Had the simply Capellans been upfront about their objective and perhaps accordingly paid a little extra, their claim to the 'Mech would have been ironclad and they wouldn't have had to risk the mercenaries they hired declaring finders keepers on their actual objective.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: During the Urban Warfare flashpoint Marina doesn't even bother with any speeches about balances of power or similar: Her pitch basically boils down to "give us back the prototype, we give you money."
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The left side of the head shows burn marks.
- Metaphorically True: She rarely, if ever outright lies to you, but she's got no qualms with giving you incomplete information and otherwise omitting details that make her flashpoint requests seem less unsavory than they are. The discovery of the other half of the truth (eg. the dissidents are a small religious sect that would just as soon relocate to the Periphery) prompts many opportunities to double-cross the Capellans rather than do their dirty work.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Enforcing Capellan law is part of her job, and she'll do everything she considers necessary to make it so whether she agrees with the laws in question or not. A bunch of unfortunate seditionists may find this out the hard way in the "Flattened Earth" Flashpoint.
- Nothing Personal: Says this verbatim to the ranting Volkovite seditionist leader. Ordering them wiped off the face of the galaxy is just part of her job; she takes no personal pleasure in it.
- Also why she doesn't take the company working against her in several Flashpoints too hard. She knows how the game is played on the Periphery.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: During the Criminal Minds Flashpoint, she'll actually undercut and chastise one of her own operatives for ripping into you if you make the right choices. Afterall how many Mercenary companies are honest enough to find a SLDF Griffin in near perfect condition and not steal it from their employer? She needs a tool that is that trustworthy to like her and House Liao.
- Old Soldier: Her description text notes she's served the Capellans as both a commander and a MechWarrior.
- Quest Giver: Her main task is to contract mercenaries, including the player, to eliminate threats from the periphery that ranges from assassinations of unruly rivals to anti-piracy operation. She becomes available for missions after the Marauders pay off their debt.
Reynauld Yamaguchi
- The Alcoholic: Is repeatedly mentioned to be one. That he's still fully capable of doing his job indicates he's also a Functional Addict.
- Bilingual Bonus: His official title, shugo, is Japanese for 'constable'. In-universe it's an inheritable title in the Draconis Combine equivalent to a baron.
- Butt-Monkey: No other character is the butt of as many jokes as this guy. Fortunately, he seems to be A-okay with all the teasing, which arguably makes him the most likeable Quest Giver in the game.Yang: Y'know, I've always had a suspicion that every one of our Great House liasons is wildly incompetent on one level or another. It's refreshing talking to one who just wears it right out on the surface.
- The Dandy: Gives this impression, with his styled hair, portly physique, and glass of wine prominent in his official artwork.
- Expy: To Chandresakr "Uncle Chandy" Kurita, albeit not quite so overtly. He isn't bald, profoundly corpulent, or a shrewd business mogul, but his good-natured attitude towards mercenaries, hedonism, and insistence on fair treatment means that he fills in the same 'reasonable Kuritan' niche that Uncle Chandy did for Camacho's Caballeros.
- The Hedonist: Enjoys the part of his job where he gets to drink wine and pay you to do all his dirty work.
- Insult of Endearment: Darius reveals that one of Markham's negotiation strategies was referring to Yamaguchi as "Bob Kurita," always in a deadpan tone and using the full name. Eventually, Yamaguchi came to find it genuinely amusing."You tryin' to pull the wool over my eyes, Bob Kurita? Tell me more about that assassination contract, Bob Kurita. BOB KURITA, YOU LOOK TENSE. DO YOU NEED A GLASS OF WINE?"
- Sumire picks up the name during Flashpoints in-game and refers to him as 'Bob'. Yamaguchi doesn't seem to mind.
- Kicked Upstairs: He's not exactly a paragon of Kurita virtues, so his superiors gave him the important but inglorious job as the Combine's mercenary liaison to get him out of their hair without wasting his skills.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: One of the Kurita Flashpoint involves hunting down a war criminal who killed one of Yamaguchi's friends and devastated a rural farming community, getting a firsthand view of the carnage severely rattles him to the point that he contacts you while stone cold sober. Your command crew immediately points out how odd that is (while he's still listening, mind) and then teases him with their relief about him picking up his bottle again once the Flashpoint is over. He takes it in stride.
- Only Friend: He seems to have a fondness for your company in particular, and at the end of the Heavy Metal campaign, catching up with you just a bit too late to offer you a contract, invites your command crew to his dropship to play baccarat, outright stating that you're the closest things he has to friends in this "backwater." You can accept his invitation, or turn it down.
- Quest Giver: His role is to hire the players to cause disruption and "unfortunate setbacks" throughout the Federated Suns.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In direct contrast to how unyielding and dismissive of mercenaries the Draconis Combine is usually portrayed as (both in-lore and in some flashpoints), Yamaguchi is pretty much the exact opposite. In the "Long Hunt" flashpoint, once the FedSuns war criminal you've been sent to kill traps you on the planet, Yamaguchi immediately gives you permission to take whatever measures are necessary to save yourself and get off-world, contract be damned. If you decide to continue, Yamaguchi is extremely grateful, but after each mission re-iterates that you have the freedom to withdraw.
- Reassignment Backfire: The job of mercenary liaison is pretty far down the Combine's military hierarchy and was clearly meant as an insult to Yamaguchi after he disappointed in more prestigious positions. However, Yamaguchi took to it like a fish to water and is enjoying himself immensely, much to his superiors' chagrin.
- Token Good Teammate: He embodies precisely none of House Kurita's virtues, and precisely none of their vices either. This, amongst others, means that he actually values mercenaries instead of viewing them as disposable, and his Flashpoints are remarkably morally grey from what you'd expect for Kurita missions (the worst he'll have you do is to hunt down a Rasalhague separatist who bombs civilians).
- Unwitting Pawn: In the "Red Hunt" flashpoint, Yamaguchi is ordered to hire mercenaries — any mercenaries — to defend a Combine installation. This installation turns out to be a trap to trap the Gray Death Legion so a duke of the Combine can settle a grudge with them, and both the Marauders and the Legion are quickly targetted for death by DEST who want no witnesses. Once Yamaguchi realizes he's been set up he pays you in full, since you technically held the installation, he doesn't like to be played either, and he considers you way too valuable to be Cannon Fodder and wants to be able to hire you again.
- Upper-Class Twit: A very self-aware example, as he's fully aware that his only skills lie in getting drunk while paying you to hurt people and break stuff. Consequently, he comes off as rather sympathetic.
- A World Half Full: He expresses a sentiment close to this at the end of The Long Hunt if you tracked down Colonel Lee. Yes there are far worse people out there that got away with far worse. But, Colonel Lee is in his brig screaming in rage. He will face justice for what he's done. And he got justice, or at least vengeance, for all of his victims. It's a small victory but a victory nonetheless
Graf Stieglitz-Bradford
- Affably Evil: Despite using Flashpoints to hire you to settle personal scores and field-test new FedCom developments on Capellans, Graf Stieglitz-Bradford is nothing but exceedingly polite and well-spoken to you no matter the circumstances. He actually contacts you halfway through one anti-Steiner Flashpoint with an offer to finish the mission chain for his faction instead. He rewards you handsomely if you agree but bears you no ill will if you decline.
- Bilingual Bonus: "Graf" is a German title of nobility; the English equivalent would be "Earl" or "Count". It keeps with the Lyrans' German descendence.
- Bling of War: While relatively understated, the two rows of medals under the Steiner emblem on his uniform is something his fellow uniformed liaisons, Liao and Singh, refrain from. It alludes to the phenomenon of the "Social General" in the LCAF.
- Disproportionate Retribution: "The Steel Beast" Flashpoint has Graf Stieglitz-Bradford hire you to take revenge on a Solaris VII gladiator who killed one of his nephews in an exhibition match. Said revenge involves killing the gladiator's posse and fanclub back on his homeworldnote and then storming the broadcast studio that promotes him (killing the security contractors hired to protect the place in the process).
- Honor Before Reason: Downplayed during "The Steel Beast" Flashpoint. He's using official House Steiner time and resources to hire you to kill the man who killed his nephews. However he's paying for it out of his own pocket and it doesn't hurt House Steiner.
- I Was Just Passing Through: During the "Unwelcome Guests" Flashpoint for the FWL, Graf Stieglitz-Bradford just so 'happens' to be on the planet you're operating on and offers you a fat contract on the exact opposite side of the planet from where a Steiner kill squad is making examples out of another mercenary squad who gave you fire support on the prior mission of the Flashpoint.
- Mission Control: His role as mercenary liaison often includes providing intel and locations of the targets.
- Quest Giver: He represents the interest of House Steiner among their chief mercantile rivals in Free Worlds League space.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: His Flavour Text notes that he considers his job as mercenary liaison to be this.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: If his title is anything to go by.
Mechs
Bull Shark BSK-MAZ
Gunners are a race apart, hard of head and hard of heart.
A mysterious but powerful 'Mech.- All There in the Manual: Following the Battletech 'Mech construction rules (which all 'mechs except the Final Boss and Superboss follow in-game), it's plainly obvious the 'Mech requires certain Clan tech elements (specifically, Clan XL engines, ClanTech autocannons for the MAZ variant, and EndoSteel structure) to have the space and tons for its weapons load, armor, and speed. Strengthening the supposition that it's a Clan Wolverine designnote .
- Always Accurate Attack: The Bull Shark's Thumper Cannon ignores the game's normal attack rules and simply hits everything inside its targetting reticule automatically. It ignores evasion pips, cover, and bracing as well, and deals damage to every single part of a 'mech.
- Arm Cannon: Its arms are little more than big double-barrel autocannons.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The MAZ version has a fixed and immovable Thumper cannon mounted in the right torso, eating up a HUGE amount of its tonnage and crit space. For those who prefer a bit more customization, there's an M3 version that does not include the Thumper (or any of the transferrable Los/ClanTech goodies)... But good luck finding one, or affording its 45 million C-Bill price tag.
- Canon Foreigner: The Bull Shark was designed wholly for this game, and has so far not be given stats or referenced in any other official BattleTech work, even though much of the rest of the content of the game was canonized. note
- Gatling Good: The only mech in the game whose default loadout includes Ultra Autocannons.
- Long-Range Fighter: The stock loadout of the Bull Shark favors a medium to long-range engagement profile, and for all of its generous outfitting options (and befitting it's Clan heritage), it's very much ill-suited to close-range combat between its poor melee attack stat and complete lack of support weapon hardpoints.
- Mighty Glacier: The Bull Shark has very heavy armor, incredible firepower (and capacity for firepower customization with unmatched free tonnage and excellent hardpoints when stripped), but its 285 XL Fusion Engine gives it the same plodding movement profile as an Atlas, Stalker, or Awesome, while the Clan-spec XL engine (and the game's generous treatment of XL engines) spares it the durability penalties an XL engine usually imposes. And just like most Assault 'Mechs, it doesn't come standard with jump jets.
- More Dakka: The MAZ comes with two Ultra-5 Autocannons standard, letting it spit out as much damage as an AC/20 at much greater range. Even the M3 is nothing to sneeze at in this regard, coming with two AC/10s and two AC/5s, which is damn impressive dakka all on their own.
- Mythology Gag: The Bull Shark is a less-ludicrous take on the April Fools write-up of the Orca, right down to its (alleged) Clan Wolverine origin.
- The Scottish Trope: The 'Mech is heavily implied to be a Clan Wolverine original design. When you first obtain it, it's noted it came with a sigil bearing a resemblance to a Wolverine painted on it. Natasha Kerensky has a violent hate-on for destroying it and everything else that came off the Dobrev. "Dobrev" is also a Clan Wolverine Bloodname. Finally, the Bull Shark has some design similarities with the other Clan Wolverine original assault 'Mech, the Pulverizer (mostly around the cockpit area).
- Shoulder Cannon: The mountings for its two energy weapon hardpoints in each torso evoke this, but the real winner is the Thumper cannon slung down its back. Similar to the Marauder, the Thumper is actually installed in a side torso (as it takes up too many critical slots to fit into the centre torso) but is presented as being built in down the middle of the 'Mech.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: The MAZ variant has two LB-10X Autocannons in addition to its two Ultra-5 Autocannons.
- Stuck Items: the BSK-MAZ’s large and heavy Thumper cannot be removed under any circumstances. If you want a Bull Shark without it, you'll need to find an M3.
