Volume XIV: Honor and Tradition – The Ways of the Falcon
From the Falcons’ Clan Council Chamber, a great 17-story dome on Sudeten, the warrior caste rules more than 40 worlds with the near-absolute authority of martial law. The Clan Council represents a system of legislation and jurisprudence that extends back to the days of Nicholas Kerensky himself, almost unchanged since the start of Golden Century.

Since conquering these worlds eight decades ago, the Jade Falcons have focused their energies on remaking these various worlds, with their various native governments, in their own image. Today, though the region is still called an occupation zone, there are few inhabitants who recall a time when the Falcon’s flag did not fly overhead, when the currency was not the C-Bill or the kroner, when they did not live in the rigidly structured caste society of the Clans. Many of them, with the mercantile heritage of the Lyran Commonwealth behind them, became merchants themselves in the new order, as have their progeny. Others became laborers, and still others had the mental gifts to become scientists or technicians. Their descendants have continued to serve the Clan ever since, born into a society their forebears had thrust upon them, forbidden to learn of their past except through Clan-approved media sources.

A privileged and gifted few, however, became warriors, and today a significant portion of the Jade Falcon’s martial strength now includes the freeborn heritage of these captured peoples. But even today, thanks to the strict beliefs of the Jade Falcon Clan, virtually no native-born warrior exists who can claim a Bloodname, or a vote in the Clan Council.

Nowhere but in their hallowed eugenics program are the Clans so opposed to change, and there is no Clan in which such opposition is so strident than the Jade Falcons. Though exceptions to the rule have emerged from time to time – such as the case of the freeborn warrior, Diana Pryde – such exceptions were flukes, and caused tremendous uproar within the Clan in order to allow them even once. Like a cancer, this bone of contention has waxed and waned within Clan Jade Falcon. At times this matter has lain completely dormant, with such events rarely occurring, and barely tolerated, but with each infrequent instance when a freebirth is allowed to participate in a Trial of Bloodright (even if the warrior fails in the bid) the uproar once again rocks the foundation of Falcon traditions. In one such case, in fact, such uproar even led to the downfall of a Khan. How long can the Falcons ignore this issue and survive more such traumas, one must wonder? Or will they face it, sooner or later, and cut it forever from their flesh?
--Dr. Lorenzo Torres, PhD., Professor of History, University of Thorin

The freeborn/trueborn issue thus takes on whole new meaning for Clan Jade Falcon than it does for other, more flexible Clans. Effectively speaking, the chances for any freeborn ever to become part of the eugenics program or earn a Bloodname (and with it, the right to vote) is related to how much “trueborn blood” flows through his or her veins, and even then, he or she had better be a truly exceptional warrior to boot. With none of that going for the average native descendant of the Jade Falcon OZ, the chances of a “home grown” Bloodname holder drops so low it doesn’t even register mathematically.

The traditionalism of Clan Jade Falcon is almost legendary, extending from the six Trials of combat to the other rites and traditions that take on almost religious overtones in this Clan. The rite of surkai, for instance, offers a ritualized method to atone for one’s errors. As the successful conclusion of a Trial provides a final resolution to any conflict by Clan law, so does willingly practicing surkai, which may involve any manner of self-punishment from fasting to self-mutilation, depending upon the severity of the crime. In rare instances, the offer of surkai may be refused by the wronged party, a decision that may then result in a Trial of Grievance. But for the Jade Falcons, their strong sense of personal honor and the sacredness of this rite has ensured that most who invoke it do so with the utmost respect and sincerity.

The rituals of Adoption and Abjuration are two other important rites acknowledged by all Clans, but practiced most piously by Jade Falcon. Essentially two sides of the same coin, the Adoption is the ceremonial acceptance of a new warrior into the ranks of the Clan, while the Abjuration rite expels troublesome individuals or groups.

Falcon children, trained from birth to become warriors, often experience the Ritual of Adoption shortly before their first Trial of Position in the warrior caste, while bondsmen captured during battle – in those uncommon cases where they are deemed worthy – undertake a similar rite before regaining their warrior status as abtakha. In either case, the adoptee must face a test of courage (such as running toward the blade of an outstretched katana) and one of strength (such as personal combat with a challenger symbolically opposing the adoption) to complete the ceremony and symbolize the individual’s acceptance into the ranks of the warrior caste. A formal Trial of Position then ratifies the ceremony, providing physical proof of the candidate’s martial skills.

The Ritual of Abjuration allows the Clan to peacefully eliminate disruptive or shameful elements from within the Clan without wasteful combat, and is generally invoked by the civilian castes. Essentially similar to a court trial, the offender or offenders are sentenced to exile, and are expected to depart within a specified time, leaving all Clan equipment behind. Offenders who remain past the exile date may then be killed as an invader to the Clan. The abjured may appeal with a Trial of Refusal, but would be doing so on borrowed time, as a loss in such a Trial leaves him or her closer to the deadline stated in the original ritual.

But today, not all traditions are held as sacred as these rites and rituals. Tempered by defeat at the hands of the Inner Sphere barbarians they so long sought to conquer, and by what many within the Clan have viewed as treachery by their fellow Clans, Jade Falcon reserves the honor of fair combat – zellbrigen – only for their own kind.

For the cultures of the Inner Sphere, whose populations are not driven by the rigid principles of this warrior society, the concept of Clan battle customs might seem trivial, but for Jade Falcon, they are a defining truth of the universe. Nicholas Kerensky believed that war could not be taken out of humanity, and so sought to control it by transforming it into a ritual – a clearly defined arbiter of success and progress. To that end, he came up with the Trials and the concept of zellbrigen, reducing all military affairs to clean one-on-one duels far from civilians or properties of value.

The Jade Falcons, like all the invading Clans, soon realized that the Inner Sphere wouldn’t honor such principles, but it took almost two decades before they resorted to similar tactics en masse. For them, such a move was sickening, another sign of barbarity they sought to destroy. Council meetings and internal Trials were fought over how far these “tactical necessities” would be allowed to “infect” the Clan. Even today, the question of “how far must we sink to win?” has become a rallying cry for countless Falcon warriors, who see constant contact with the Inner Sphere as an ongoing corruption of the Clan soul.

Now, ask yourself this: If you felt the universe around you had forced you to become something you truly abhor – and you are actually introspective enough to realize that – how would you react?
--Dr. Lanz Rettig, PhD., Professor of Inner Sphere History, University of Academia, Kessel

Tradition and honor define the Clans, and for Jade Falcon, they are as all important as the principles of any religion mankind ever held dear. They combine to form a Clan that is both strong and proud, and provide a sense of cultural identity that goes beyond the mere “might makes right” philosophy of the Clans. A sense of destiny still drives these proud people, but what is that destiny? Join us next time as we explore the hopes and dreams of the Jade Falcon Clan.

Join us for part three of our four-part look at Jade Falcon, to see how this Clan of honor and tradition contributed to the highlights of the 31st century. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.