Charge of Clan Renegade
Charge of Clan Renegade
by Clan Lord Tennishron
Historical note: The Charge of Clan Renegade describes historic events occuring during The Great Clan War of the yazerian homeworld's Gunpowder Age. Clan Renegade was not originally a clan but a collection of small disaffected, outcast, or unrecognized clans. During the clan wars military units were all organized on the clan level but the outcast and unrecognized clans tended to be insufficient to organize proper clan units so they were lumped together under the designation Clan Renegade.
The Clan Renegade military units, when they were used at all, usually had the poorest moral and elan. The label of renegade became synonymous with deserters and criminals and few generals gladly added them to their order of battle. That changed with the charge described in this poem. It was a very typical Renegade unit lead by a defrocked priest turn Clan Lord that saved an armies flank with a wild sucide charge. In the aftermath of the battle the decimated survivors of this unit swore blood oaths to each other and forged a new clan that would forever welcome outcast to its ranks. The victorious Warhon recognized the new clan on the spot and made them his personal body guards. Clan Renegade became an elite and highly decorated fighting unit with a storied history surviving up to the Great Exodus to the Stars.
Translator's note: As much as possible I've used archaic terms form human history for words that don't translate easily like league and saber as well as a few common words from PanGal to approximate the rhythem and rhyme of the original
Half a league, half a league,*
Half a league onward,
All in the Valley of Death
Flew the six hundred.
'Forward, the Clan Renegade!
Charge for the guns!' he said.
Into the Valley of Death
Flew the six hundred.
Forward the Clan Renegade!
Was there a clansman dismay'd?
Not tho' soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd
Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to rage and die!
All in the Valley of Death
Flew the six hundred.
Cannon to the right of them
Cannon to the left of them
Cannon to the front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd
Raged at with shot and shell
Boldly they flew and well
Into the Jaws of Death
Into the Mouth of Hell
Flew the six hundred
Flash'd all their blades bare
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabering the gunners there
Charging an army
While all the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Clan and Yazerian
Reel'd from the saber-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd
Then they flew back, but not
The six hundred.
Cannon to the right of them
Cannon to the left of them
Cannon behind them
Were slineced of thunder.
Storm'd at with shot and shell
While winged hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the Jaws of Death
Back from the Mouth of Hell
All that was left of them
Left of six hundred.
When can there glory fade?
Oh the wild flight they made!
All the clans wonder'd
Honor the charge they made!
Honor Clan Renegade!
Noble six hundred!
For other reading on Clan Renegade see Killick Toofrick's The Romance of the Renegade.
Romance of the Renegade
Killick Toofrick's, Romance of the Renegade, is a popular history of the storied fighting unit and clan. The work is well researched and documented. Though it lacks in critical analysis of some of the more controversial events covered it still represents a sound history with broad appeal to the general public if not to historians. Of particular value is Toofrick's documentation of the supression of the clan by the Family Of One and of the recent resurgence of interest in Clan Renegade and the explosion of claims of descent from members of the original clan.
The Garden Of Yast & The Yazerian Star Exodus
Despite the title this book only focuses on the rise to power by the Family of One during the Star Exodus and only gives cursory coverage to the yazi-forming of Yast and the mass exodus from the yazerian home world. It represents the comprehensive history of the rise to power by the Family of One and its domination of yazerian society in the early days of the Frontier.
The "bloodless" coop and rise to power of the Family by jettisoning the colonial governor and his Clan Renegade body guard while in suspended animation on the trip to Yast receives comprehensive coverage and is even handed in its treatment. The resulting suppression of Clan Renegade by the Family and the declaration of 'life enemy' of the Family by the clan read more like popular fiction than history.
Several chapters cover the social reforms and reorganization of yazerian society on Yast and its impact on Frontier wide yazerian society. The volume ends with a serious evaluation of the "seeds of civil war," as the author coined the phrase, and a prediction of the eventual break away of all of Yast's daughter colonies.
The Metaphysical Foundations of Dralasite Morality
The Metaphysical Foundations of Dralasite Morality, written by Grod of Truane's Star Civil Service, is an immense monograph that has seen better circulation as an electronic document than a hard copy. Popular only in dralasite communities, it experience a breif resurgence in interest when news of Grod's disappearence on Volturnus surfaced.
The Vursk Atlas
The Vusk Atlas, produced by the Vursk Atlas Corporation, is the gold standard of cartography within the Frontier. It is issued as both an individual edition for each inhabited planet, a system edition and as the Vurst Encyclopedic Atlas of the Frontier for the entirety of the Frontier. Both of the Vursk Atlas, Volturnus and Vustk Atlas, Zebulon editions are dedicated to the memory of Itklikdil, a company employee who died exploring Volturnus.
Glacticana Encyclopedia
The Glacticana Encyclopedia attempts to cover all knowledge and each edition is obsolete as soon as it is published due to the exponentially expanding amount of information. This is why the company focues on mainly electronic editions though owning a hard copy of the encyclopedia is a popular status symbol with the rich.
Ballad of Lt. Johnson
The Ballad of Lt Johnson is a drinking song, popular with the Royal Guard of Clarion. It commemorates a semi-mythical stand made on Laco against the sathar during the First Sathar War.
Ballad of Lt. Johnson
Ol’ Lt. Johnson had troubles of his own
He joined the Army and was sent far from home;
A loyal man was he, willing to serve country and king,
He had answered the call with its Clarion ring;
To Laco’s dusty ball to fight in the fray,
To fight the bloody sathar, come what may.
Stationed on the flank lest the sathar come around,
There he fought all the worms they found.
Chorus
But the sathar came back the very next day,
The worms came back, they did not stay away
But the sathar came back; they couldn't stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea
Ordered to hold, he called for private dralasite,
To the blob he said its time for the kaboomite;
So the blob of a private went to mine the approaches,
Scurry he did fearing the worm’s encroaches.
The worms came on and the private was pinned,
Corporal Vrusk ran forward to get him
But Sathar swarmed on and they could not get away.
So they triggered the explosive and won the day.
Chorus
But the sathar came back the very next day,
The worms came back, they did not stay away
But the sathar came back; they couldn't stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea
To his sergeant Yazirian the Lieutenant said,
Well we’re the last but I fear we are dead;
The sergeant drew his sword and said if die we must
Let’s kill some worms and grind them to dust.
Ol’ Lt. Johnson had troubles of his own,
He fought a valiant battle far from home.
Ordered to hold, come what may.
He gave his life on that fateful day.
Chorus
But the sathar came back the very next day,
The worms came back, they did not stay away
But the sathar came back; they couldn't stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea