~ Bloodname History ~
~ Known Leroux Family History ~
-Introduction-
The Leroux Family originated in Jamaica. In 2777, during the initial stages of Terra's liberation, Tero Leroux Major of the SLDF, lost his whole family due to a total genocide. General Kerensky mounted an assault on Moscow during this time in order to rescue his wife and her underground rebel cell. Following him in his excurtion was Tero and Captain John W. Hunter. Knowing what happened to his native country before the operation, the Major lead his lances into a outstanding victory. This all created a small vendetta by destroying the primary lines of defence on earth making the work much easier for the the major attack. He was claimed for his acts and his family had the right to a funeral with full military honors. It was during this sad moment that General Kerensky discoused the Jamaican Genocide. This moment, and Tero's help in Moscow, brought the two men closer together than the previous military relationship.
The remembrances of the genocide never vanished from Tero Leroux's mind. Entering the field of battle with the thoughts of his dead family made of him one of the best mechwarriors the SLDF had to offer. His high honors and good friendship with the general made him one of Kerensky's prime helpers in the preparation for the Exodus.
Once the great voyage was under way, Kerensky shuttled between ships as much as possible to address his followers during the layovers between jumps. He made sure that each man and woman understood the ideals of the Star League. As much as he tried to visit every ship, the task was overwelming. So he sent a few trusted to deliver his words to the ships he did not have time for. Tero, being the rank of Chief Administrator, was one of them with the help of John. He helped explain why those ideals were best served by the Exodus rather than by staying and trying to force the House Lords into submission.
The ships of the Exodus traveled through barren star systems for another month without further incident, but the general must have realized by this time that unless he called and end to their journey soon, his followers would become truly desperate. The fleet, now more than 1300 light years away from Terra, arrived at a cluster of five marginally habitable star systems. The systems lay less than one jump apart and only a few jumps away from a large globular cluster. A thick dust-nebula soon christened Kerensky's Cloak hid them from the Inner Sphere. Short supplies and short tempers prompted Kerensky to announce that the fleet had reached its destination. The date, 24 August 2786, is still celebrated by the Clans as Founding Day.
During the trip and colonization, Tero Leroux married Katrina Leroux, and had a son who he named Cal. John Hunter married as well, son to Captain John W. Hunter was Alex W. Hunter. Alex, Cal, and Nicholas grew together forming a great bond. These three families became greatest of friends. But not all was well, despite the efforts of General Kerensky and his staff, it gradually became obvious that not all was right. discontent among the civilians grew from grumbling about a lack of once-cherished luxuries to full-scale rioting on all five Pentagon worlds. The problem seemed to be linked to the resentment of demobilized soldiers who could not accept their new roles in society. To be treated as just another civilian was not the reward they thought they deserved for their faithful service to the general. These malcontents agitated for the creation of planetary militias in which they felt they would regain pride in their place in society.
General Kerensky sent Leroux and a detachment of troops to put down the rebellion. During the firefight, Tero was killed in his BattleMech by a fluke rebel hit from a hand-carried missile system. The cache was intact, but the loss of his closest aide and friend was a heavy price for the aging Kerensky to pay. At this time Tero's son Cal took over his father's responsibilities. He was still young, but after being around Tero and the general he had learned enough to take on the role.
By any standards, the general's response to Tero's death was brutal. Citing General Order 137, he ordered the execution of all rebels, ignoring any legal concerns. Whole settlements were razed and their remaining populations dispersed in what became known as the Tero Massacre. However, instead of preventing further trouble, this overreaction only sowed the seeds of further resentment against General Kerensky and the standing military.
Cal Leroux, still a good friend and loyal follower of the general was by his side, along with Kerensky's son Nicholas, at the time of his death. By now more than a hundred years old, had been kept alive only by pushing the limits of Star League medical technology. Deprived of his closest friend and wife, who had died five years earlier from a mysterious fever, the burden of fighting another civil war proved too heavy. While preparing plans for a campaign to secure Eden, General Kerensky suffered a massive heart attack and died at his command post. Most people reacted to the news of the general's passing by igniting further civil unrest rather than mourning.
The young Kerensky, thanks to the personal advise of Cal and Alex, saw that the eventual salvation of his people and the preservation of his father's ideals were far more important than fighting a "political squabble." Thus did Nicholas call for his own "Exodus" to the cluster world of Strana Mechty. Kerensky knew that he must save the civilians and scientists so vital to the survival of his people. He issued pleas through the media of all five planets, urging them to join him. For several tense weeks, loyal Navy ships collected those willing to flee, often under the guns of what were now enemy units. The last ship leaving for the cluster marked the exodus of almost 25 percent of the civilian population, including most of the scientific community.
He declared the traditions of the Regular Army hopelessly trained by its sinful past. He organized his strike force of 800 into 20 "Clans" of 40 warriors each. Putting his most trusted warriors in leader positions of each clan, Cal Leroux and Alex Hunter lead the newly created Clan WidowMaker. Now as Khans, they returned with Nicholas to the pentagon worlds to reclaim them.
When the newly formed Clans returned to the worlds of the Pentagon, they found a nightmare situation. From the descriptions of the Loremasters and the intelligence holotapes taken by Nicolas' forces, it is clear that the Exodus Civil War was far more devastating than any of our Succession Wars. The soldiers who survived faced the Clans in barely functional 'Mechs. Even though the rebels on each of the five worlds had numerical superiority, the firepower and reliability of the Clan BattleMechs won the day. Battles were bitterly fought, and many Clan warriors died. Nicholas Kerensky suffered personal losses. In the final battle for Eden, his younger brother Andery was ambushed and killed by five rebel BattleMechs. Within a year, however, the Pentagon worlds were beaten and forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Nicholas and his Clans.
Cal and Alex were given the right to Eden, one of the first founded pentagon planets. Here is where they made Clan Widowmaker glorious. They grew to three times their Terran size. Their aggressiveness and the strength of their poison increased at the same rate. But there was trouble in the home lands. It was during a Trial of Possession between Clans Widowmaker and Wolf that the merchants of Clan Widowmaker lodged a formal protest against their parent Clan with the Grand Council. The cause of the tensions between the freebirth merchants and their Clan is unrecorded, but the warriors' response is well documented. Mass arrests and the execution of the protest's leaders were carried out with ruthless efficiency.
Emotions on both sides were running high, and they reached a flashpoint when Khan Cal Leroux publicly accused Clan Wolf of having agitated the Widowmaker merchants to rise against their Clan. Khan Jerome Winson of Clan Wolf vehemently denied any involvement. He countered by claiming that Clan Widowmaker's massacre of its own people invalidated their right to govern. Clan Wolf demanded before the Grand Council that Clan Widowmaker be absorbed.
Clan Widowmaker eventually lost the debate, but immediately invoked a Trial of Refusal. Clan Wolf competed for and finally won the right to defend the Grand Council's decision.
The trial took place on the Steitz Plains of Ironhold. Widowmaker was defending with a Cluster of ten Stars against eleven Stars from Clan Wolf. Off the battlefield, warriors from the other Clans watched the trial through a system of monitors and satellites. The Khans of the Grand Council, led by Nicholas Kerensky, officiated the duel to ensure that the rules of this bitter battle were strictly enforced.
The initial exchange was fierce, with both sides committing large forces to frontal attacks. Well into the battle, Khan Jerome Winson and Khan Cal Leroux mutually declared a Trial of Grievance. As the combat around them gradually died down, two Khans squared off. When it became clear that Khan Jerome Winson was about to disable the 'Mech of Khan Cal Leroux, a Star of WidowMaker BattleMechs leaped into the Circle of Equals and attacked the Khan of Clan Wolf. Whether they attacked orders or on the spur of the moment will never be known.
Nicholas Kerensky and the rest of the Grand Council immediately moved to defend Khan Jerome Winson from this cowardly action. A moment later, one of Khan Cal Leroux's large lasers discharged at point-blank range into ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky's cockpit. The melee came to an abrupt end as technicians and medics tried desperately to extricate the stricken leader from his 'Mech. By the time they reached him, ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky was dead.
Devastated, Cal could not believe he had just killed his closest friend. Noticing the weakness and in a fit of rage, Clan Wolf attacked Clan Widowmaker with full force. The battle, which lasted for three days, was marked by uncompromising brutality. The Wolf Clan warriors, with the aid of the other Clans, tracked down and captured or killed all warriors of Clan Widowmaker.
The Widowmaker symbol, a red hourglass against the abdomen of a black widow spider, was removed from Clan records. It became synonymous with disregard for Clan rules and traditions. But even after the clan had such horrible end, Khan Natasha Kerensky adopted the symbol as her own because she believed and knows what Cal and Alex were. Honor and fond memories helped bring the Leroux and Hunter names back to their honorable state.
Many years have passed and to this day it is not know what became of Hunter and Leroux, but their genetics were found within old WidowMaker blood archives. Now as WidowMaker is reborn, the Leroux blood line has helped the clan become great once again. Its leadership and hero like traits have made the finest of warriors, which prove them selves to this day in the battle field.
~ Noteable Blood Name Warriors ~
Trukdriver 1st Winner of this Bloodname in Clan WidowMaker.
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