The noble sea fox once belonged to us, bit it has proven weaker than we. We have
survived where it has not, by becoming one with the predator that killed it.
The diamond shark prowls through the ocean in search of prey, scorning the smaller
creatures of the sea in favor of the more powerful opponents. It sees the sea fox,
graceful and lethal, but knows itself more lethal still. Here is a foe worth
fighting...here is an enemy against which the diamond shark may test its mettle!
The gray shape glides through the water, every inch of it a weapon so silent that its
victim cannot hear it coming. It bides its time, watching and waiting, plotting the best
moment to strike. As the sea fox rises from the water, the diamond shark leaps out of the
waves behind it and arrows down in a deadly arc. It plunges back into the surf a hair's
breadth from the sea fox, so close that the diamond-hard ridges on its side draw the
doomed fox's blood. Too fast for the fox to react to the danger it only now sees, the
shark leaps again, this time catching its prey in its powerful jaws and snapping its neck
with the slightest downward pressure...
-- Clan Diamond Shark story of former and current namesakes.
Clan Diamond Shark occupies a unique position among the Clans. Within a rigidly
hierarchical blueprint for society, they have come closest to democracy; among people
convinced that military strength depends on tight controls and reverence for the chain of
command, the Diamond Sharks have achieved remarkable battlefield prowess through the kind
of flexibility other Clans disdain. Clan Diamond Shark is also the only Clan ever to have
changed its name, a startling shift for a society that values order and stability above
virtually all things. In changing its name, Clan Diamond Shark adapted to a unique set of
circumstances. Its ability to do so most clearly demonstrates this Clan's unorthodox
nature.
Clan Diamond Shark began its existence as Clan Sea Fox, named by Nicholas Kerensky for
a seallink reptilian predator found in Strana Mechty's freshwater oceans. Nicholas admired
this animal for the honor it apparently paid to its prey, seeming to bow to its opponent
before attacking. Nicholas saw the ability to honor one's enemy as one of the essential
traits that set the true warrior apart from the barbarian killing machine. Clan Sea Fox
remained admirably faithful to that trait, as well as to the idealism and adaptability
bequeathed to it by its two most influential Khans. Though born more than a century apart,
Khan Karen Nagasawa and Khan Damon Clarke did more to shape Clan Sea Fox than any other
leaders in this Clan's history.
As with the invasion itself, Khan Ian Hawker failed to earn his Clan a pre-eminent
place during the bidding for this historic battle. Over-eager to win the right of first
landing and over-confident of his warriors' strength, Khan Hawker initially bid a mere six
Clusters, and dared not go too far below his opening gambit. The Khans of the other Clans
all surpassed Clan Diamond Shark in the number of concessions they could make, and so Clan
Diamond Shark ended up landing second to last. Adding insult to injury, Clan Smoke Jaguar
won the right to land first.
The Diamond Sharks' target cities, Kozice Prime and Urcunat, lie a mere 20 kilometers
from each other on the far side of the Kozice Valley. All five Clusters of the Shark
assault force landed in the valley; Alpha Galaxy's Nineteenth Heavy Cluster and
Thirty-ninth Striker Cluster headed toward Kozice Prime, while Gamma Galaxy's 222nd
Assault Cluster and 369th Striker Cluster headed toward Urcunat.
Alpha Galaxy's Nineteenth Heavy Cluster met the 182nd and Eighty-fifth Divisions of the
Third ComGuard Army in the foothills overlooking Kozice Prime, while the elite
Thirty-ninth Striker Cluster clashed with a division of the Eighth Army as the Clan 'Mechs
entered the narrow end of the Kozice Valley. The Nineteenth Heavy fared well against the
Eighty-fifth, but could only make a little headway toward their objective before the 182nd
Division outflanked them. The 182nd held Alpha Galaxy' forces down in a brutal slugging
match, while the remaining 'Mechs of the Eighty-fifth joined the Thirty-first and
Fifty-sixth in an attempt to disrupt the Sharks' supply lines.
Gamma Galaxy's Clusters quickly turned their attention to this new threat, and the
222nd Assault Cluster won the honor of destroying the raiders. The conflict between the
222nd and the ComGuards' Eighty-fifth Division was particularly brutal, with neither side
able to gain the upper hand for some time. Finally, Star Colonel Seth Davis grew so
frustrated that he called upon the remaining Clusters of Gamma Galaxy for help. The added
'Mechs enabled him to crush the Eighty-fifth, only to lose all but a single MechWarrior to
the avenging Thirty-first and Fifty-sixth Divisions.
While Gamma Galaxy battled the doomed Eighty-fifth and the divisions of the Eighth
Army, Precentor Burkenbine's Fifth Army executed a combat drop behind the Sharks' front
lines, neatly cutting Alpha and Gamma Galaxies off from their landing zone and supplies.
Meanwhile, the ComGuards troops already in the valley received reinforcements from the
Eighty-second, 301st, and 182nd Divisions. The shocked Diamond Shark Khans found their
Galaxies completely surrounded and dangerously low on ammunition.
Khan Hawker regrouped the surviving Alpha and Gamma Clusters for an all-out frontal
assault in a desperate attempt to break through the deadly ring of ComGuards 'Mechs.
Meanwhile, Khan Sennet called upon the reserve 'Mechs of Omega Galaxy to rescue the
front-line units from the trap. While Omega Galaxy fought its way past the 323rd and 299th
Divisions of the Fifth Army, the rest of the ComGuards cut down the charging Alpha and
Gamma Galaxy OmniMechs like so much wheat. The frontal assault, so prized by Khan Hawker
because he considered it more Clan-like than more devious tactics, proved a fatal mistake
in the brutal contest with the well-equipped and far trickier ComGuards.
Despite the heavy damage done by ComStar's forces, Omega's reserve 'Mechs finally
managed to punch a hole in the ComGuards' iron net. The remnants of Alpha and Gamma
Galaxies limped back to the landing zone, the ComGuards harassing their flanks and rear
all the way. Just as the Clan drew within sight of its DropShips, the ComGuards massed for
a final killing assault. The Diamond Sharks waited for the deadly blow, but it never fell.
Instead, the freebirth MechWarriors of Omega Galaxy silently spread out and met the enemy
head-on. The ComGuards destroyed Omega Galaxy, but the freebirths' sacrifice cleared the
way for the remnants of Alpha and Gamma Galaxies to make good their escape.
In recognition of the incredible bravery shown by a class of warriors he had always
de-valued, a chastened Khan Hawker formally rescinded his ban on freebirth warriors
serving in front-line OmniMechs. Despite the courage of its troops, Clan Diamond Shark
lost almost all of the troops it had committed on Tukayyid.
The Remembrance is an ongoing heroic saga detailing Clan history from the time of the
Exodus from the Inner Sphere to the present day. The Remembrance is continually expanded
to include contemporary events. Each Clan has a slightly different version reflecting
their own opinions and experiences. All Clan warriors can quote whole verses of this
marvelous epic from memory, and it is common to see passages from the book lovingly
painted on the sides of OmniMechs, fighters, and even battle armor.
Then Karen Nagasawa said,
"The past holds wise men as well as fools;
Why, then, do we listen only to the foolish
When we have another choice?"
-- The Remembrance (Clan Diamond Shark), Passage 12, Verse 14, Lines 4-7
Bid the Sea Fox farewell;
Noble he was, but not strong enough.
The diamond shark has devoured him;
The shark is the greater warrior.
-- The Remembrance (Clan Diamond Shark), Passage 127, Verse 35, Lines 6-9
As each warrior plays his role in battle,
So each caste plays its role for the Clan.
Growers of food and makers of 'Mechs,
Those who discover and those who enrich,
All look for justice to the warrior who governs.
-- The Remembrance (Clan Diamond Shark), Passage 96, Verse 12, Lines 1-5
The near-total destruction of their forces on Tukayyid cost the Diamond Sharks many of
their finest officers as well as much of their pride. As if to add insult to injury,
within a year of the Tukayyid debacle, they lost Nyserta to several Ghost Bear Clusters
determined to take their world back. Since the end of 3053, no sources have sighted any
Diamond Shark military forces anywhere in the Inner Sphere. Some experts believe that the
rest of the invaders forced the Diamond Sharks out of the Inner Sphere as punishment for
the magnitude of their defeat; others believe that Tukayyid served as the nail in the
coffin of the warriors' political supremacy in that Clan, and that the economically
powerful merchant caste has taken over.
Activities observed by several sources within the Clan occupation zones seem to suggest
that the merchants are taking a far more prominent place in Diamond Shark society than
they did previously, but to infer that the days of the warrior caste's ascendancy are over
is a dangerously sweeping assumption. The merchants seem to be making enormous profits
from one end of Clan-occupied space to the other, keeping supply lines open to garrison
and front-line troops from all the invading Clans.
In the years since 3056, Clan Diamond Shark has slowly recovered some of the
considerable honor it lost by losing so clearly on Tukayyid. Khan Ian Hawker himself was
one of the fourteen Khans present at the Grand Council and with his scorn for the
pragmatic, voted against Clan Jade Falcon Khan Elias Crichell's nomination for ilKhan. It
was the negative votes of the Diamond Shark Khans that allowed Khan Vlad Ward of Clan Jade
Wolf, a Clan formerly named Wolf, declare a trial of refusal against the election of
Crichell to ilKhan and kill Elias in that trial.
The Clan Diamond Shark's ability to adapt and adjust to their situation and
surroundings is the thing that differentiates them from the other Clans and may be the one
thing that allows them to recover from their disastrous loss to ComStar on Tukayyid,
regain their honor, and return to their position of power as one of the invading Clans.
[Back to Clan History]
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