
Related Category: Bloodnames





Creation of New Bloodnames[edit]

Although these traditions are rare, it is a little known fact that new Bloodnames can be created by the Clans. The first way a bloodname can be created is from the decree of an ilKhan. If a freeborn warrior has proven themselves worthy enough to the clan, the ilKhan may take their genetic legacy to form a new bloodname for them. One example of this was when Ulric Kerensky created the Kell Bloodname for Phelan after he relocated in the Inner Sphere during the Refusal War[4]. Another tradition is that individual clans can create bloodnames. If an individual freeborn is considered worthy enough or is truly exceptional, they may become progenitors of a new bloodname based after them. This is the only way a freeborn can keep their original surname, while at the same time, earn a bloodname officially[5]. However, it is used as an ultimate reward among individual clans, such as Clan Wolf offering Jaimie and Joshua Wolf a chance to have their surnames induced into bloodnames for future generations and Clan Ghost Bear creating the Magnusson Bloodname after Ragnar Magnusson, of the Ghost Bear Dominion.

Bondsmen and exclusivity[edit]











Main article: Trial of Reaving



Those that could have been[edit]

Though history sometimes tend to forget them, there are four warriors that were selected to be part of the eugenics program but died prior to the start of the breeding process on the warrior caste and got their names lost to history, though for two of them not their "Bloodname".

  • Clan Steel Viper saKhan Antonius Zalman died just two years after Nicholas Kerensky founded the Clans (in a "training accident", though there are more than a few references that indicate he perished in a trial meant to give him some measure of honor in his death). It wasn’t hard to believe that there were others that also died before the Clans’ return to the Pentagon. His position was taken by his granddaughter, Shandra Zalman who took his place in the operation to retake the Pentagon Worlds. His Bloodname survived.[9]
  • SLDF Major General James Carson from Clan Mongoose died in an attack meant to kill Nicholas Kerensky. Carson was afforded full and public honors during his burial within a crypt in Clan Mongoose's sector of Svoboda Zemylya. Clan Mongoose held an abbreviated series of trials before adding Gregory Carson (former general's second son who had apparently just missed the cutoff seven years earlier, but had continued to serve Clan Mongoose in an auxiliary capacity) to their rolls. This was done with the full support of Nicholas Kerensky, though there is evidence that at least the leaders of Clan Star Adder objected, as the Mongoose leaders had not opened up competition to anyone but Carson’s son. His Bloodname survived.[9]
  • Pilot Archiel Tranns from Clan Blood Spirit was a child during Kerensky’s drive on Terra, and followed both Kerenskys into the Exodus. She graduated near the top of her class in the DeChavilier Military Academy, and readily won a position within Nicholas Kerensky’s new Clans. In September of 2810, while flying a training sortie, her fighter experienced a catastrophic mechanical failure; both she and the fighter were lost. Ultimately Blood Spirit technicians concluded the crash was due to substandard equipment and faulty maintenance. Tranns' name was cleared, but she had no children. Khan Colleen Schmitt presided over a series of trials to choose Tranns' replacement: Stepan Pitcher. A small pillar within their section of Svoboda Zemylya bearing the name "Archiel Tranns" is what is left as memory of her acts. Keeping the surname was an honour only given to bloodnamed warriors during history of Clan Blood Spirit.[10]
  • Clan Smoke Jaguar MechWarrior Alexandre Marsden developed cancer sometime after winning his slot in the Clan, and apparently sought treatment in a civilian facility to keep his sickness a secret. By 2816 Marsden had died (likely of the cancer; however, there is evidence to suggest he met an unnatural end, though by his own hand or another is unknown). The Smoke Jaguar Council met behind closed doors, ultimately ordering Marsden's name purged from all official Clan records. The Jaguars chose a replacement warrior after conducting a closed trial; Terrisa Osis, cousin to Khan Franklin Osis, became Jaguars' fortieth warrior.[11]

There are rumors that other original warriors were replaced in this manner, though the elimination of a quarter of Kerensky’s Clans, and the splintering of two others, make tracking down any others all but impossible. Certainly, it seems logical that more than four out of 803 original warriors could have died in the fifteen-year lull between the creation of the Clans and the start of Operation KLONDIKE, though by the time the eugenics program came online, the roster of 803 was finalized.[12]




Main article: Honorname

An off-shoot of the Bloodname tradition, started among the warriors of the Wolf's Dragoons.[15]

See also[edit]


  1. Bloodname, chapters 21 through 27
  4. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, pg.54 - "ilKhan"
  5. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, pg.39 - "Gaining a Bloodname"
  6. The Wars of Reaving, p. 195
  7. 7.0 7.1 The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 40 - "Bloodcount and Reaving"
  8. 8.0 8.1 The Wars of Reaving, p. 254 - "Reaving"
  9. 9.0 9.1 Historical Operation Klondike, p. 29 "The Fallen"
  10. Historical Operation Klondike, p. 30 "The Fallen"
  11. Historical Operation Klondike, p. 30-31 "The Fallen"
  12. Historical Operation Klondike, p. 31 "The Fallen"
  13. Way of the Clans, chapter 28
  14. Falcon Rising, chapter 4
  15. Wolfpack, chapter 1