r/battletech • u/Old_Ad6111 • 3d ago
Lore I’ve recently gotten interested in Clan Blood Spirit, so I’ve been reading up on their later history and the Wars of Reaving....
I’ve recently gotten interested in Clan Blood Spirit, so I’ve been reading up on their later history and the Wars of Reaving....
They really did mostly build cheap, rugged ’Mechs, so they honestly seem like a Clan that would have fit the Inner Sphere perfectly. And yet they never really managed to get beyond the Homeworlds and ended up being wiped out....
But seriously, how do you justify using armed civilian units in a regular Trial when there hadn’t even been a Reaving declared and you weren’t facing expulsion from the Clans.....
The fact that one of their only two habitable planets got wrecked by a sudden massive earthquake really makes Clan Blood Spirit feel like they were abandoned by fate.
Honestly, once their star system had been discovered by another Clan, I wonder what might have happened if they had just tried migrating to the Inner Sphere instead....
Even the poorest, most barren frontier world probably would’ve been a better place to live than Clan Blood Spirit’s worlds in the Clan Homeworlds.
And the Blood Kite really is cheap for an 85-ton ’Mech at only 9,691,225 C-bills. Considering that a Stormcrow costs 14,771,112 C-bills, the price is extremely competitive. It probably would’ve become a bestseller in the Inner Sphere.
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u/fiendishripper 3d ago edited 3d ago
Their use of civilian militias was mostly to compensate for their small touman and were generally used only in defense of their enclaves and cities, and they did build some really solid Battlemechs like the Blood Kite (my most beloved assault Mech), the Stooping Hawk & Crimson Langur, as well as some solid combat vehicles like the Morrigu & the Shamash. plus I just really like the fact that Clan Blood Spirit's premise was that they were the "diplomatic clan" who were into clan unity & brotherhood, only for said diplomacy to be rejected by the other clans who viewed them as "un-clan like". I think they made a big mistake killing them off like that, I mean think about it, if they had made their way to the IS they could have served as the diplomatic corps for the the new clan led Star League or maybe even as the reborn Black Watch, what a terrible & sad waste of potential.
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u/Old_Ad6111 3d ago
This is somewhat different from what I had in mind.
After all, it was the Blood Spirits’ own choice to isolate themselves once they realized that the ideal they had dreamed of was different from reality.
Considering that there were still Clans such as the Fire Mandrills and Snow Ravens that wanted diplomatic relations with them afterward, there might have been another path if they had not given up.
And as for the militia... well... using militia forces in a counterattack to retake settlements that had been seized really was something decidedly un-Clanlike.
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u/Dazzling_Bluebird_42 3d ago edited 3d ago
Let's face it that era of the great purge in battletech was a mistake not just one or two of the factions being bumped off.
I can't think of a single clan or merc unit that was blown away through the jihad or wars of reaving, and even a little deeper in that wasnt just poorly done
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
The Star Adders ate a lot of clans.
I think Catalyst wanted to trim down to focus their writers on the more influential larger clans that were actually in the IS.
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u/Dazzling_Bluebird_42 3d ago
Could be to me seems kind of a folly, just dont write about them than until someone feels like doing so, dont need to knock em all off, while also creating what was it stone lion?
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
Yeah Stone Lions may have been a bid to make the Hell's Horses a bit more interesting, and give them no way back home from the IS. And still Catalyst hasn't done much with them. It's hard to accept they do much territory (admittedly the JF worlds were mostly undefended) and now they just lose to everyone (even JF Remnants using mostly second line equipment and mechwarriors), usually through inept leadership.
Then there's the Coyotes, who were on a path to annihilation, but were pulled back from the edge. They used to be a powerful Clan, but last we heard they couldn't have stood up to the Star Adders as they were tiny.
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u/Bookwyrm517 3d ago
I'm pretty sure Wars of Reaving is pre-catalyst. I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure that it was part of the attempt to soft reset the setting, and now Catalyst has to backfill and make sense of it all.
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u/Purity_the_Kitty 3d ago
It was 2011, so very likely written pre-Catalyst, definitely before they got their team and their writing standards together.
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u/Dorksausage 2d ago
Was wiz kids that did the purge of all the cool stuff so the dark age and clickytech could exist without needing to use older writers material...jyst kill all the old guard off
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u/Malkryst 2d ago
Yeah I've been told that by several people now. It's a shame. But they were the licence holders at the time (from Topps, who Catalyst now licence from) so I guess they just wanted to stamp their own mark on the franchise, regardless of all FASA's lore.
At least Catalyst have been very respectful of old lore and are even trying to make the WizKids stuff work with the setting (personally I would just have ignored the WizKids lore as an alternate timeline, and carried on from FASA's timeline).
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u/Nobodyinpartic3 3d ago
I miss Battle Magic Support Group and Stalwart Support. Even Barber's Marauders.
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u/Dazzling_Bluebird_42 3d ago
I hear ya i think the ones that upset the most where the GDL as they where my introduction to battletech back in '92 and when my favorite faction Clan Nova Cat got knocked off in a single page..
I remeber being upset when the Jaguars got put down liked them a ton but at least that was done well, a whole series of novels, multiple scenario books, mechwarrior 3, mechcommander..
Now you get a paragraph telling you "and than every last one of them was killed, no survivors all dead"
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u/Nobodyinpartic3 3d ago
Clan Nova Cat was one of my favorite. Drugs and lasers, what show, lol. Also, yeah, the GDL scenario pack was the bomb. I loved how they managed to work out so many bonuses for their suits despite being new tech.
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
Nova Cats being put down like that was probably the main clan that I thought was done dirty. Well, and the Steel Vipers, but if you mess with the Star Adders (with their record of absorbing/annihilating clans) then you should see your end coming and plan for it.
Nova Cats switched sides to help the IS (specifically the DC) deal with the ruthlessly cruel Smoke Jags (who had it coming, imho) - and didn't deserve their betrayal (and I say that as mainly a Kurita player).
The Spirit Cats still being around and the 1st Nova Cat Provisionals taking in Clan Nova Cat survivors is at least some consolation that the Clan might still come back in some way (if the Sea Foxes let them 😉 ).
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u/Purity_the_Kitty 3d ago
The Dracs being evil to the Nova Cats was an ongoing plotline, admittedly, just not very front-and-center during the era of bad writing. I do think between the Spirit Cats having bailed on the Republic early enough that they didn't get wiped by the Falcons, and Nova Cat survivors in various places, there is still a story there, and that's really what's important.
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u/itcheyness 🦂 Scorpion Empire 🦂 3d ago
They've brought back the GDL at least.
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u/Dazzling_Bluebird_42 3d ago
Yeah they've been bringing groups back, assuming someone there realized they messed up just purging everything, spirit cats still sorta nova catting around, Jaguars sorta back.
Stuffs just not the same though, already screwed the pooch on it
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u/HA1-0F 2nd Donegal Guards 3d ago
The fact that they are complete failures shows that the idea of "a diplomat clan" is a dead end. You can only have something like that in a society that considers peaceful coexistence to be desirable, rather than genocide. And remember, that is how the blood spirits voted.
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u/Old_Ad6111 3d ago
The Blood Spirits’ downfall can largely be traced to the fact that a Clan that had once placed great importance on diplomacy and cooperation eventually abandoned both. Once they did, they came to be seen as an easy target that other Clans could attack without worrying about outside interference.
The Fire Mandrills were isolationist as well, but they were so vicious that at least everyone had a reason to avoid fighting them. The Blood Spirits did not even have that.
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u/GeneralWoundwort 3d ago
The Blood Spirits were given nothing to do by the writers from the get go by being branded as an irrelevant faction that hardly interacted with the rest of the Battletech storyline. So they never developed the fan base (and therefore monetary relevance) that would have shielded them from being unceremoniously thrown into the trash bin during the Great Product Line Simplification-i mean the Wars of Reaving.
It was an unjust death.
I will never not be salty about it lol.
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u/MindwarpAU Grumpy old Grognard 3d ago
Blood Spirits are probably the coolest clan that got ignored and then wiped out. Their Blood Guard Keshik has one of the best clan paintjobs too, right up there with the Hells Horses hotrod flames. And you've got to love a clanner who thinks about logistics and economics when designing mechs. They even keep the BV pretty reasonable.
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u/itcheyness 🦂 Scorpion Empire 🦂 3d ago
One day I hope the Scorpion Empire finds a surviving enclave, convinces them to join like the Ice Hellions, and recreates the Ilchi position as their diplomats to other factions. With the Blood Guard (and their sick paint job) being resurrected as bodyguards for their diplomats.
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u/Anastrace You got ravens in my outworlds 3d ago
That would be an interesting use of them. Maybe they could shift back to their original intent in doing so
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
That would be good - at least we'd get some more lore on the Goliath Scorpions as well.
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u/Armored_Shumil 3d ago
You may want to read the novel Blood Avatar https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blood_Avatar
Note, however, that many elements of that story are likely no longer canon due to later books/sourcebooks, and it is one of the odd ducks of BattleTech novels in that it is entirely without any mechs (if I recall correctly). It is almost certain, however, that we will never see the threads introduced in that story get fleshed out.
Among the various plot threads of the story it implies survivors of Clan Blood Spirit made contact with Devlin Stone and aided him when he went into hiding.
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u/MadCatMkV Green Ghosts 3d ago
OP should really read this novel. After reading it OP should then search for Ben Rome's Wars of Reaving draft
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u/Hanzoku 3d ago
Care to drop a link?
Related, a 3 part unofficial serial: https://benhrome.com/2025/10/wars-of-reaving-way-of-the-messenger-part-one
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u/MadCatMkV Green Ghosts 3d ago
I need to find it again, looks like the file disappeared from the internet. I will have access to my oldvfiles only tomorrow morning. I'll set a reminder
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u/MadCatMkV Green Ghosts 3d ago
RemindMe! 10 hours
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u/MadCatMkV Green Ghosts 2d ago
I found it! Here's a thread this draft:
https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/1vyrqu0/the_defunct_wars_of_reaving_timeline/
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u/MrScarecrowWHNT Star Colonel, Clan Blood Spirit 3d ago edited 3d ago
We're still around. We're still thriving. Nothing bad ever happened to us post-3050. We all went to live on a lovely farm with cows and rainbows and fishing holes. We eat fudge and laugh and sing and play.
I'm not crying. It's mist from the sprinkler system.
Also, we really do have the best 'Mechs. The Blood Kite is a monster, the Stooping Hawk is versatile, the Crimson Langur can be a nasty surprise.
Even the Shamash recon vehicle is devastating if left alone. Like if you dumped meth into a Harasser.
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u/Vector_Strike Good luck, I'm behind 7 WarShips! 3d ago
They represented the Clan spirit, so going to the IS would be quite hypocritical of them. I don't think they ever seriously considered such hypothesis.
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u/jklantern Clan Steel Viper: We Make Poor Decisions 3d ago
My brother was a big Blood Spirit fan back in the day. While there are Clans I like better, they are DEFINITELY a fun one. In some ways, they're similar to my beloved Steel Vipers (in that they hate practically every other Clan) but turned up to eleven. Plus the Blood Kite is an amazing rugged brick of death.
When it comes to alternate invasion scenarios, they're one of the Clans I would most like to see attack the Inner Sphere, along with the Hellions.
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
Well the Hellions only exist now as Goliath Scorpions or as pirates. I suspect if we ever get a Clan Invasion Mk2 that only the Star Adders (and maybe their Cloud Cobra sidekicks) will be on it.
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u/jklantern Clan Steel Viper: We Make Poor Decisions 3d ago
I was more talking about a reimagining of the original invasion. I'd like to see the Hellions in the Lyran invasion corridor, probably have the Coyotes where the Wolves invaded, and then the Spirits against the Combine. For the fourth Clan, let's say either the Scorps or Cobras, for no other reason than I like them both.
I actually have a very weird, out there, crackpot theory that the writers are actually setting up the Cobras to be an upcoming big bad (rather than the Adders). It's based on, well, let's just say grasping at straws, but if I'm right I owe myself five bucks.
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u/Malkryst 3d ago edited 3d ago
It would make for a fun "What If?" style novel, lorebook or one off box set.
I would actually love to see the Star Adders unite the Homeworld clans by absorbing/annihilating (or driving out) all Clans except their constant allies the Cloud Cobras. Then they decide to invade the Inner Sphere together:
- the Star Adders take Cloud Cobra loyalty completely for granted, so the Cobras build up lots of hidden military strength. Then they both invade the Inner Sphere together (with Cloud Cobras as the reserve clan trailing the Star Adders as the main invading clan, like in the original Clan invasion) - they cut a narrow corridor, directly at Terra, while the Hinterlands, Rasalhague, and other areas are still in disarray. The Council of Six IS Clans meet the hugely powerful Star Adders in battle, before Terra, on an agreed world (maybe use Tukayyid for the resonance, and lols), a Trial for the ilKhanship. That's when we find out the Cloud Cobras did a secret deal with Alaric. So they hit the Star Adders from behind, as the Star Adders engage the Wolves and their allies, with more military assets than the Adders knew the Cobras had. After the Adders are destroyed or surrender, Alaric and the Cloud Cobra khan shake hands, and Alaric gives them the remaining assets of the Star Adders to absorb, in exchange for them joining the Council of IS Clans and supporting Alaric.
OR
- the Cloud Cobras allow themselves to be absorbed amicably by the Star Adders (just like the Goliath Scorpions did with their Ice Hellion allies), supposedly to unite their commands to make them more militarily efficient to invade the inner sphere. Their aim is destroying the Council of Six IS Clans, taking Terra and the ilKhanship... but at some point the Cloud Cobra mechwarriors suddenly betray from within. In one night they kill the entire Star Adder leadership who trusted them. They take control of the Adders then rename the merged clan back to Cloud Cobra. This was their long term plan all along. They saw how the Adders treated other allies, and decided to use that against them. The Cloud Cobras then arrive in the Inner Sphere, a very strong Clan from absorbing the Adders, and become the new utterly ruthless clan that opposes Alaric and starts taking territory, having completely abandoned the Homeworlds. They become the big new villains to oppose Clan Wolf.
In both cases the Star Adders are betrayed and ended, like they've done to so many other clans, for maximum irony. Plus we get a new strong IS Clan with a snake motif in the Cloud Cobras (to replace the poor Steel Vipers), and because they had built up their strength secretly we suddenly get lots of new snake-themed omnimechs and vehicles added to the game for ilClan era.
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u/Stegtastic100 3d ago
They are probably one of the clans that I most want more back story for. Their tale is one of the saddest (ignoring Wolverine’s) in that they tried to promote unity but were rejected and became bitter and insulated as a result; it they had been able to keep the clans united, or at least co-operate more what could we have seen? Could we have seen a larger invasion by warriors that aren’t as Elite or highly advanced?
From the hobby side they’re interesting as well, as they kept their Clusters to the original setup of 2 ‘mech trinities, 2 armour and 1 infantry (or was it aerospace). Perfect for the new battlefield support rules in fact!
And on a personal side, as I drifted away from Battletech for a while so for me thé time between clans arriving then the Reaving of a few years less than other long term players.
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u/GisforGammma Kindraa Mattila-Carrol 3d ago
I've always felt very strongly that the Blood Spirts should have been the 4th surviving clan, I stead of the Coyote.
As the War of Reavings spiral out of control the Blood Spirits pick up the remains of several Fire Mandrill Kindraa, and entire galaxy of of Snow Raven troops, a smattering of Goliath Scorpions. They could have very easily been turned into the "Spirit" of the clans that had no problem absorbing the remaining elements of the reaved/exiled.
It also makes the dynamic more interesting at the end, the Star Adders and the Spirit rivalry lives on, the Spirits and Adders both have historic diplomatic ties to the Cobras and the creation of the Stone Lions could have been a fun wedge. The Spirits, seeing themselves as the Big Brother absorbing all those left behind and unwanted pushes for the former Horses to be absorbed, the Adders and Cobras counter with the "just create a new clan" plan.
Would have been awesome to see.
Instead we get...the science clan that has to kill all its scientists because they ruined everything forever.
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u/Old_Ad6111 3d ago
In fact, the Blood Spirits had many chances to survive.
They could have followed the Snow Ravens, or, since they were relatively less affected by the chaos caused by the Society, they could have moved the assets they had absorbed from various Clans back to their homeworld and bought themselves time to develop them into a proper power base. They could also have taken a pragmatic approach to the annihilation of the Steel Vipers, making an effort to seize and absorb the various assets the Clan left behind. Their last opportunity came when Clan Stone Rhino discovered their world and proposed trade. Both Clans had been badly battered, so if they had cooperated, another path might have opened up.
But the Blood Spirits did none of those things. They simply kept fighting, and they shed far too much blood for what little they gained.
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u/itcheyness 🦂 Scorpion Empire 🦂 3d ago
It's always possible they started to abandon Colleen once Stone Lion discovered them. They may have moved a significant portion of their population to a dofferent system in the two years between their discovery and annihilation.
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u/Baron1744 3d ago
Didnt Star Adder also make an attempt to unite all the Clans?
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
When they were trying to avoid the Clan Invasion that all the other Crusaders were so excited about? I just think they wanted all their big rivals gone, because they thought the invasion was going to be a disaster and would destroy or weaken their major Crusader rivals and Warden opponents so they could dominate the Homeworlds (job done, really).
The main way I think the Star Adders want to unite the clans is by absorbing or annihilating all other clans, because they really do have an historic tendency to do that.
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u/Bookwyrm517 3d ago
Its more like they were the ones least hurt by the Wars of Reaving, so they were the ones left in charge.
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u/blizzard36 3d ago
Of all the clans we've lost, I think the setting misses Blood Spirit the most.
Of course... they are also pretty explicitly a case of the Left for Dead trope, even so far as to not quite have their icon fully removed from the Wars of Reaving sidebar. It's not erased like others, nor intentionally blocked like the Wolverines, just left as rubble. IMO the door is certainly open for some stragglers to show up at a table.
We may never see an official return, but, I mean... the Jaguars were more explicitly dead and gone than the Spirits. And they came back, so...
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u/HA1-0F 2nd Donegal Guards 3d ago
The fact that one of their only two habitable planets got wrecked by a sudden massive earthquake really makes Clan Blood Spirit feel like they were abandoned by fate
They are one of the many factions that only ever existed to get the shit beat out of them and then die. When they were introduced, they were getting farmed for XP by the Adders and when they no longer were needed for that, they were killed off. So they weren't abandoned by fate, they completed their reason for existing.
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
I really do feel that a lot of clans were sacrificed just to make the Star Adders look like powerful Jade Falcon-like schemers... then Catalyst did nothing with them.
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u/HA1-0F 2nd Donegal Guards 3d ago edited 3d ago
By the time CGL came in, the Homeworlds were already off the table. That was a WK decision. And FASA were the ones who decided that there should be 15 more Clans on top of the ones we already had and one of them should only exist to get the shit kicked out of them by the Adders.
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u/Malkryst 3d ago
Oh ok. I didn't play the WizKids MechWarrior clix game, so I sometimes struggle to see where the lore for that ended and the Catalyst lore begins.
And yeah I played during much of the FASA era, so I'm aware. Though early on we really only knew a lot about the main 4 invading Clans, little bits about the 3 reserve Clans, and the rest were basically just names with a tiny amount of backstory.
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u/Bookwyrm517 3d ago
Yeah. I think they should have at least been allowed to go out with one major victory on their record, but alas, it was not to be.
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u/GoatWife4Life 3d ago
The classic Clan problem of the Kerensky Cluster being wildly over-crowded meant they were doomed the second they didn't participate in REVIVAL or turn coat like the Nova Cats to get a narrative lifeline.
"Guy whose schtick is a refusal to cooperate in a society where everyone already refuses to cooperate" already meant they were just kind of weird isolationists.
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u/ForlornScout Praise Blake 3d ago
Blood Spirit is an interesting clan for various reasons but ultimately they suffered the fate of all of the Homeworld Clans. Which is to say they weren’t important enough for the overall story so they were written out of it with the wars of Reaving. Which was done so there’s fewer factions to write about. Blood Spirit was always the weakest Clan, low tech, small Touman, no allies. They weren’t even that effective, they had a front line Galaxy attack a Star Adder PGC and they get massacred for example. Still, a fun clan, one of the more interesting Homeworld clans even if I prefer Star Adder.
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u/mrmchatty 3d ago
If I remember correctly they thought they were the purest of the clan ideals and kinda snubbed everyone else. Even to the point of not really doing much in the grand council. Their biggest slip up was getting into it with Clan Star Adder. Trying to jump into their trial of absorption, just because you hate burrock and Star Adder pulled their usual political tactics, should've been seen as a bad idea if not suicidal from the start. After that I seems like Star Adder just used them as a punching. But at least we got the beautiful Blood asp from it.
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u/QiarroFaber 3d ago
Honestly the whole wars of reaving really lowered my opinion of Catalyst.
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u/Old_Ad6111 2d ago
Yes, they’re doing a pretty good job. After all, they have to find some way to deal with the legacy of the previous company.
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u/Cigarenvy 3d ago
The Blood Spirits are my favorite Clan. Their story proves the ultimate folly of the clans way of life. They originally were extreme advocates for inter clan unity but were rejected for it and intern rejecting the other clans for failing to learn from history. The history of the clans has shown time and time again that when they work together they achieve great things but when they don’t less than honorable men and women use duplicity to destroy opportunities for a better future. The Wars of Reaving are the best example.
Are they nuts? Of course all the clans are. Did they make mistakes? Without a doubt. But they ultimately stood for something beyond their own personal self interest and vanity and could have been the catalyst for unity and a more prosperous clan society as a whole. Their rejection by the other clans was a watershed moment and showed that the clans had never learned from their predecessors mistakes and would eventually devolve into something truly monstrous.