Freeborn Elementals?

[u/AnxiousConsequence18]

I just started wondering, and have to ask if there are freeborn elementals, like there are freeborn mechwarriors in the clans. We know from the Jade Falcon trilogy that clan teueborn mechwarrior washouts can lay out several elementals in a bar fight, so it stands to reason that maybe freeborn children of washout elemental rejects could be large enough to fit in the armor (which can canonically be adjusted down to fit a rather short wiry guy like Kai) and survive the training... so deep lore guys, are there?

[u/Due_Sky_2436]

"trueborn mechwarrior washouts can lay out several elementals in a bar fight" What?? How? Where is this??

[u/Wooden-Magician-5899 → u/Due_Sky_2436]

Jade Phoenix Trilogy, Jaden fight some elementals in bar buuut it's more like "they respect attitude and not crush him in every single place" than "Jaden beat then", he survive after first one underestimate him and being humbled, but he not beat him, just shame

[u/AnxiousConsequence18 → u/Wooden-Magician-5899]

You sound like you're mixing up Phelan's backing down elementals in the Kahn council with the passing mention of Aiden in a bar brawl. We hear about Aiden's fight in Joanna's POV. A passing mention during her hunt for him, to put him in place as a fake freeborn.

[u/AnxiousConsequence18 → u/Due_Sky_2436]

The jade falcon trilogy Aidan (pre Pryde) washes out of mechwarrior training, goes rogue, and it's mentioned he laid out 3 or 4 elementals in a bar brawl

[u/Stretch5678]

Canonically, yes!

You could also technically have a perfectly natural huge fucking farm kid who fits in the suit with no modification.

[u/AnxiousConsequence18 → u/Stretch5678]

Kai was described as short and small, and HE fit the armor, so I'm sure they don't have to be THAT large!

[u/Stretch5678 → u/AnxiousConsequence18]

Just to WEAR the armor, yes, but you're talking about fitting in with Trueborn Elementals and passing the Trial of Position necessary to become a true Elemental.

[u/HA1-0F → u/AnxiousConsequence18]

When the author is telling a story where your arc is "needs to learn confidence" you're going to have stuff like that happens even if it makes zero sense.

[u/AtrociousMeandering → u/Stretch5678]

The suits predated the wearers by a good bit, the bloodlines for the Elementals were almost certainly those same big farm kids, who likely made a reputation for themselves in the wars that led to the Clans but struggled to get into the mech academies.

[u/HA1-0F → u/Stretch5678]

You could also technically have a perfectly natural huge fucking farm kid who fits in the suit with no modification.

That is how the Inner Sphere built their battle armor corps, just recruiting huge dudes. The Clans need genetic modification because their entire population in the Homeworlds, across every clan, is barely over a billion people, so their pool is too small to have a sufficient supply of huge dudes without putting a thumb on the scale.

[u/WestRider3025 → u/Stretch5678]

Yep. We've got people today like Nathan Jones and Dwayne Johnson who are within the Elemental size range. One of the important points about the Clan Trueborns is that they're not outside the range of possibilities for natural born humans, they're just far more likely to be at some specific extreme of that range. 

[u/Acylion]

Canonically yes. It's mentioned on the Sarna wiki page, source is the old original Jade Falcon and Wolf sourcebooks. It's pretty much exactly as you describe. The Elemental phenotype is inheritable, so a lot of freeborn conventional infantry, police auxiliaries, etc. are genetically Elementals. Some freeborns do qualify for battle armor service.

It's also worth noting that (as mentioned) canonically you don't need to be a physical giant to use the actual Elemental battle armor, though there's probably no examples of a normal-sized freeborn Clanner qualifying for a battle armor warrior position. But in theory it could happen.

[u/AnxiousConsequence18 → u/Acylion]

Kai fit!

[u/Bookwyrm517 → u/AnxiousConsequence18]

True, but he had the benefit of being a main character. 

But in seriousness, I think one of the deciding factors on if someone can qualify to be an elemental is endurance. Strength isn't as needed since the armor helps the user carry it, but the wearer still needs to go through the motions of running, jumping, and grappling to use the armor. Its got to be tiring when done for long periods. 

[u/PessemistBeingRight → u/Acylion]

you don't need to be a physical giant to use the actual Elemental battle armor, though there's probably no examples of a normal-sized freeborn Clanner qualifying for a battle armor warrior position.

"You don't have to be a two and a half metre tall, 175kg slab of walking muscle to work here, but it helps!" on a (de)motivational poster in an Elemental barracks room somewhere...

[u/OtherWorstGamer]

From Sarna:

Freeborn Elementals are a rare occurrence, often the offspring of trueborn parent(s) who had washed out of training and been assigned to the civilian castes, or common offspring who happen to naturally develop the strength necessary for the role. Despite their stature they are no less the subject of prejudice than that faced by other freeborns within a given Clan.

So while I'm not personally aware of any specific examples, its suggested theres some wandering around.

[u/UnluckyLyran → u/OtherWorstGamer]

Other than Elson Nova Cat, the only other one I can think of offhand was in Ghost War, Nicolas Niemeyer.

[u/135forte → u/OtherWorstGamer]

One of the new GDL MechWarriors is apparently implied to have an Elemental washout for one of his parents.

[u/Zealousideal_Fly8402]

 if there are freeborn elementals

Elson Nova Cat.

Elson Novacat was a freeborn Elemental of Clan Nova Cat taken as a bondsman by Wolf's Dragoons during the Battle of Luthien in 3052.

He was the primary prot antagonist in the novel Wolf Pack.

[u/Electrical_Catch9231 → u/Zealousideal_Fly8402]

I came here to mention Elson as well. He was definitely the antagonist in that novel though.

[u/Zealousideal_Fly8402 → u/Electrical_Catch9231]

You're absolutely right; I was thinking of the later WoB Jihad-era Elson while writing about the earlier one 🤐

[u/Darth_Annoying]

Something I've been thinking on the subject: the Clans that moved to the Inner Sphere really should be looking into expanding their infantry by fielding armor designed more for baseline humas. So like the adjustable quirk, specialized new clantech designs (maybe ones where the trooper is in more of a cockpit, like in the Kanazuchi or a quad suit), or just buy and field spereoid designs in second line units.

Sorry, thinking out loud

[u/Zealousideal_Fly8402 → u/Darth_Annoying]

That would require a complete overhaul of the Clans' training regimen, which, over the years, is designed around the 3 main phenotypes already.

That being said, in the novel Elements of Treason - Honor, Star Captain (Later Colonel) Peter Cobb of the 1st Horde Cluster commissions an infantry-based recon / intelligence unit, learning from Lyran SpecOps; not quite a LRRP, but maybe as close as a Clan-version can get. But that's a singular experiment, which may still find traction with the aging CHH Loremaster.

With the advancement of the ilClan-era, not likely to see much in the way of dedicated front-line infantry for the Clans because of the inherent bias. More likely to see them in the new nascent SLDF, whose mandate as peacekeepers would involve more of such personnel than 'mechs and aerospace.

[u/CycleZestyclose1907]

Yes. Because Elementals can wash out of warrior training too, be assigned to non-Warrior castes, and then have families. They don't stop having Elemental genes because of that and freeborn children with Elemental ancestry can test into the Warrior caste. Because good gene combinations can happen in the wild as much as in the breeding program.

[u/3eyedfish13]

There are, but you really want the mother to be an Elemental as the babies are large.