All right, grunts, meet the boss!

[b]Character: Col Gaius Wayne[/b]

[hider=Gawain]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/82eBLiTm.jpg[/img][/center]

[b]Character Name:[/b]
[color=Olive]Colonel Gaius Anthony Wayne[/color]

[b]Callsign:[/b]
[color=Olive]Gawain[/color]

[b]Character Archetype:[/b]
[color=Olive]Battle-Hardened Idealist[/color]

[b]Character’s Guiding Motto:[/b]
[color=Olive]"We do the job, and we do it right."[/color]

[b]Character’s Fatal Flaw:[/b]
[color=Olive]Savior complex. Gaius believes that it is his job to save everyone all the time, which leads to him hesitating when it comes to making the hard call.[/color]

[b]Character’s Expertise:[/b]
[color=Olive]Leadership: Gaius has plenty of experience in command, and knows how to get the best use out of those who work for him.
Tactics (Short-Term): Gaius has memorized the AFFS field manual and put it to good use for years, always ready to use the right plan for the right job, at least for the immediate situation.
History Knowledge: Gaius has the benefit of a formal education and is an avid reader in his downtime, which means he can recount the history of the Inner Sphere and its triumphs and tragedies better than most.[/color]

[b]Nationality/Allegiance:[/b]
[color=Olive]Federated Suns (House Davion), politically indifferent expatriate[/color]

[b]Background:[/b]
Gaius Anthony Wayne was born in 2979, on the planet of Fairfax, a world near the frontlines of the Draconis March in the Federated Suns. He was born into a privileged life; the Wayne family had made their fortunes over a thousand years ago as industrialists on Terra, and generations of prudent investments and solid leadership had allowed them to remain comfortably wealthy for centuries. He had grown up hearing stories of his heroic ancestors, mostly Mechwarriors loyal to House Davion, crusading for freedom and justice against the corruption and tyranny of the other Great Houses. Gaius was an avid student of history, though his interpretation of that history was often romanticized. Like his father, grandfather, and so forth, he was a firm believer in the [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Lorix_Order]Lorix Creed[/url], a chivalrous philosophy that professed the idea that a Mechwarrior was the pinnacle of what a warrior should be, and that their highest duty was loyalty to the people under their protection and to the state they served.

During his teenage years, Gaius prepared for training in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, believing it was his duty and his destiny to serve House Davion to the best of his abilities. At sixteen he enrolled in the prestigious Albion Military Academy, and graduated with honors in the year 3000 at 21. His marks were solid enough to land him command of a lance in the Robinson Rangers, where he gained experience in border skirmishes against the Draconis Combine. When one of his commanding officers repeatedly misspoke his name by mashing his first and last names together, Gaius Wayne was given the callsign 'Gawain.' By 3010, he had been promoted to the rank of Captain, commanding a Battlemech company in heavy fighting against his hated Kurita foes. Now into his thirties, Gawain was a seasoned veteran, and a die-hard believer in the just and righteous cause of Davion.

In 3013, the Robinson Rangers were deployed as part of a larger Davion force to defend the agricultural planet Mallory's World from a Kurita invasion. While Gaius had seen plenty of short skirmishes and brushfire battles thus far, this was his first taste of long, heavy combat. Three grueling months of scorched-earth warfare left huge swaths of the verdant planet in ruins, and Gaius watched many of his longtime friends and comrades cut down by the Draconis Combine's guns. Still, Gawain persevered, driven by the inspiring image of his First Prince, the gallant Ian Davion himself, who led the fighting on the front lines against the elite Yorinaga Kurita...

...right until the moment Yorinaga cored out the Prince's [i]Atlas[/i] and shot him dead.

Watching the head of state, the very embodiment of the Federated Suns and everything it stood for, die in front of him shook Gaius Wayne to his very core. All of the romance of Davion's 'Sword of Freedom,' the high-minded idealism of the Lorix Creed, counted for nothing in the face of enemy firepower. Just as his faith was drained, he saw it kindled again when Yorinaga Kurita attempted to claim Ian Davion's corpse as a trophy, only to have it stolen out from under him.

It wasn't a loyal Davion warrior who preserved the body of the First Prince, who embarrassed the dreaded Yorinaga, and who turned a crushing defeat into a victory that day. It was a band of mercenaries-- in particular, a hitherto unsung command known as the Kell Hounds, who had long been dismissed as 'rich kids playing soldier' that stepped up and cemented their reputation as heroes, and soon after, legends. Gaius had always turned up his nose at mercs, seeing them as money-grubbing contract killers little better than pirates, but on Mallory's World, he saw them in a different light. They weren't blinded by flags and fanfare, by patriotism and politics. In every way that mattered, they could be the ideal warrior personified, could uphold the image of the Mechwarrior purely through grit, skill, and loyalty only to each other and to the job.

Shortly after his time on Mallory's World, Gaius Wayne requested and received his honorable discharge from the AFFS. Spending the vast majority of the Wayne family fortune, he made his way to the mercenary hub world of Galatea, founded a small command of his own, Gawain's Green Knights. He brought with him some of his comrades from Mallory's World, such as Raven Rivers, and began looking for work as a Mech lance for hire. Within a year, he met Captain Sally Roth, owner of the DropShip [i]No Leaf Clover[/i], and the two became business partners. Since naval tradition declared that a force cannot have two Captains on the same ship, Gaius accepted the role of Colonel.

Gaius's relationship with Sally was...complicated, but mutually beneficial. Where he was strict, she was freewheeling. Where he was taciturn, she was brash. Where he was tactful and diplomatic, she was blunt and direct. In most situations, Gaius would see the options they had available and their consequences, while Sally would push him to make the hard decisions. As the command grew from a lance to a company, many saw Colonel Wayne and Captain Roth as the 'mom and dad' of the command. For years, rumors have circulated among the Knights of a torrid romance between Gaius and Sally, though according to both of them, anything between them is strictly professional.

By 3022, the Green Knights had established themselves as reliable pirate-hunters out on the Rimward Frontier, and were working for the Aurigan Coalition during the outbreak of the Restoration War. Gaius led the Green Knights through three years of bitter fighting against Directorate forces, as well as meddling House warriors who had heard rumors of LosTech caches being found in the region. While the Green Knights lost several Mechwarriors during the war, they also gained others, and ended up coming out ahead when House Arano was restored to power. Gaius was offered a knighthood for his efforts, but declined for reasons he has never disclosed.

After the war, Gaius returned to pirate-hunting, signing a contract with the Free Worlds League to protect their border worlds. From 3025 to 3028, he took the Green Knights on campaigns into the Periphery, primarily against the ruthless raiders and slavers of the Marian Hegemony. During one particularly nasty encounter, a shell from an enemy AC-10 caught his [i]Battlemaster[/i] in the head, breaching the cockpit. The shrapnel from the breach mangled his left arm, and in the aftermath, Gaius had to have the arm amputated at the elbow.

The loss of his arm devastated Gaius; while he had enough C-Bills stored away to have a high-end prosthetic replace the limb, the cybernetic implants needed for fine motor control would interfere with the Neurohelmet needed to control a Battlemech. Even attempting to operate in a simulator pod caused headaches, dizziness, and nosebleeds; to pilot an actual 'Mech for more than a few minutes would cause irreparable, possibly fatal brain damage. After a lifetime of chasing the ideals of the Lorix Creed, his time as a Mechwarrior was well and truly over.

After the heavy fighting in the Restoration War and the Marian campaign, Colonel Wayne felt the need for some down time, both for the Green Knights to recover and rebuild, and for himself to adjust to his new role as a hands-off commander. Signing a contract with the Capellan Confederation for easy garrison duty, he believed, would give everyone plenty of time to heal their wounds. The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War, the CCAF's calamitous defeat, and the chaos breaking loose on Espia, however, has taken that recovery time away.

Now Gaius, still feeling as though he is half the man he once was, has to lead his warriors through a treacherous and desperate situation, knowing full-well his orders could get them all killed, and he has no way to save them if things go wrong.[/hider]

[b]Battlemech or Vehicle:[/b]

[hider=Mobile HQ][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/OYbRKvBm.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=Olive][b]SLDI Mobile Headquarters, 'Gawain Actual'[/b][/color][/center]

Designed by the Star League for coordinating large-scale planetary operations, Mobile HQs boasted sophisticated communications equipment and tactical computer systems, allowing a crew to effectively command battalions across an entire planet. When linked to satellites, drone networks, and even far-away JumpShips, a fully-functional Mobile HQ with a capable crew can turn the course of a battle, or even an entire war.

Unfortunately, the loss of advanced technology caused by the Succession Wars has led most of the surviving chassis, such as Gawain Actual, to undergo significant downgrades. The holographic map table, for example, is long-gone, requiring the Green Knights to rely on conventional maps. The fusion power plant has been replaced with an internal combustion engine, making Gawain Actual reliant on fuel, and reducing its power output--for its comms arrays to function effectively, the vehicle must come to a complete stop, making it vulnerable to enemy fire. And without a satellite network to link up to, the Mobile HQ's range is greatly diminished. It is, however, still more than capable of coordinating a single company, which at the moment is all the Green Knights need.

Gawain Actual is armed with a single turret-mounted Medium Laser, allowing it only nominal defensive capabilities. The vast majority of its mass is taken up by its TharHes HQ CommSet and Diplan IX Sidesweeper target tracking system, which combine to provide accurate intel from dozens of friendly units at once. In addition to a driver, the Mobile HQ also requires a gunner for the turret-mounted laser, three comms officers to operate the CommSet, and a commander to issue orders.[/hider]

[hider=Battlemaster BLR-1G (Mothballed)]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QedEzmNm.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=Olive][b]Battlemaster BLR-1G, "Galatine"[/b][/color][/center]

Named after the magic sword of the mythical Sir Gawain, Galatine is a standard 1G model [i]Battlemaster[/i] that has been handed down through the Wayne family for nearly two hundred years. While it doesn't boast the withering firepower of the [i]Awesome[/i] or the sheer terrifying presence of the [i]Atlas,[/i] the [i]Battlemaster[/i] is a versatile and robust 'Mech that sees regular service throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery alike. Its single Donal Particle Projector Cannon gives it middling-at-best long-range firepower, but it is devastating at short to medium range, carrying six Martell Medium Lasers, a Holly Six-Pack SRM Launcher, and a pair of Sperry-Browning .50 caliber Machine Guns.

Colonel Wayne piloted Galatine for a solid twenty-five years, for the Federated Suns and as a freelance mercenary, until the loss of his left arm left him unable to pilot a Battlemech. While he can no longer drive his ancestral 'Mech, he can't bring himself to part with it either, thus the [i]Battlemaster[/i] has sat in the Green Knights' storage bay for three years, slowly gathering dust and occasionally being stripped of weapons and armor for active 'Mechs. Galatine, though still functional, is a shell of what it used to be...much like Gaius himself.

Currently, Galatine is aboard the [i]No Leaf Clover[/i], in the custody of the Espian Guards. Its cockpit is Neural-locked, making it impossible to override without an expert hacker to keep it from melting a potential hijacker's brain, but the mere fact that his 'Mech is in enemy hands drives Colonel Wayne up the wall, regardless of whether he can even pilot it anymore.[/hider]

[b]Supporting Characters:[/b]

[hider=The Colonel's Cast][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/gnne0YDm.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=Orchid][b]Captain Sally Roth[/b][/color][/center]

A born spacer, Sally Roth inherited command of the [i]No Leaf Clover[/i] from her parents at a young age, and she has spent a lifetime learning the hard lessons of life in the Periphery. She is brash, smart-mouthed, quick to act, and highly protective of her ship and crew. Sally will more often than not be the first to call Colonel Wayne to task if she thinks he's in the wrong...and the first to shut down anyone else speaking ill of him. Any rumors of an illicit affair between herself and the Colonel are usually met with a month's worth of latrine duty for anyone caught spreading them.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/juuvPulm.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=YellowGreen][b]Deck Chief Solomon "Sol" Aadil[/b][/color][/center]

A veritable "walking TRO," Sol memorized every Technical Readout available. Studying 'Mech Engineering at the New Avalon Institute of Science, he lost the shirt off his back (as well as his arm and leg) searching for LosTech during the Restoration War, and found himself in need of a job around the same time Colonel Wayne needed a new chief technician. Since then, Chief Aadil has become a tireless leader of the Techs and AsTechs under his supervision, his thin and somewhat mousy frame belying a lion's temper and a razor-sharp wit. Many Techs fear a tongue-lashing from the Chief more than they fear enemy fire. Despite this, Sol encourages the crew to play as hard as they work, personally refereeing the 'Scrap Yard,' the weekly off-the-books fighting ring in the Vehicle Bay that the Captain and Colonel pretend not to know about.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/85S38wQm.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=SandyBrown][b]Master Sergeant Roger Dalton[/b][/color][/center]

The commander of the Green Knights' infantry platoons, Master Sergeant Dalton embodies the phrase "beware the old man in a profession where men die young." A tough old bastard originally from the Taurian Concordat, Dalton has survived three decades of combat, eight bullets, and three divorces. He is gruff and irascible, and has a grim sense of gallows humor, but can always be depended on to lead his team through hell and get them out on the other side, even if he has to drag them kicking and screaming. Dalton's First Knights Foot Platoon, better known to the other Knights as "The Buckshot Boys," almost exclusively favor shotguns over assault rifles as their primary weapon.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RdlNnmhm.jpg[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/ys9RXdTm.jpg[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/CgP3ncjm.png[/img][/center]

[center][b]Communications Crew: [color=Aqua]Stephanie Lyons[/color], [color=Khaki]Marcus Higgins[/color], and [color=Crimson]Zack Windham[/color][/b][/center]

The three officers that operate the Comms suite in the Green Knights' mobile HQ, collectively known as "The GDK" (or "Those God-Damned Kids," as the Colonel refers to them), Lieutenant Lyons and Cadets Higgins and Windham would never be caught dead with each other if it weren't for the fact that they function so well as a team. Lieutenant Lyons is uptight and quotes regulations as if they were holy scripture, Higgins is little more than a walking libido, and Windham seems to think he's on the set of the latest [i]Immortal Warrior[/i]. When they are not bickering or picking at each other, they somehow manage to come together to make the Mobile HQ's equipment sing.[/hider]