This is very interesting. I just lost a Mech warrior in the Battletech game to a grey death legion recruiter. Didn't realize it was actually part of the lore.
Ill say how he took down the locust would probably be worth mentioning, considering that the pilot would become his wife and the only reason she surrendered is because she was afraid of fire and inferno missiles. But I will ask, Northwind Highlanders next?
If they are in either of the books I am using then yes. Though when I finish those I will go through other sourcebooks and the like and make any extra lorewarriors I can about those also.
Simon C Far country involved the draconis combine's DEST commando team. I'm not sure if there is much about the mercenary team in the second Jump ship that was lost in an accident. I really mean lost.
Great vid. Love the Gray Death Novels....it was a bit sad to loose so many of the well known faces of the legion. Storyline since the skye invasion of glengarry had not many good moments for the unit. However, nice lore stuff 👍👍👍
@@ohthreefiftyone You mean like "Prosperina" instead of "Proserpina"? :) I think that one's from MW4 Mercs. I had to see "Proserpina" in a few other locations to determine which one of MW2 Mercs vs MW4 Mercs had it right and which one had it wrong. But yes, I can completely understand how that's frustrating.
@@ohthreefiftyone Yeah, it seems like lack of editing is a growing problem. As though nobody wants to edit publications, anymore, or there isn't anyone available to do the editing. I know one of the Battletech authors of The Twilight of the Clans series (not Michael Stackpole, but I don't remember which one it IS), has terrible spelling, and consistently misspelled the same few words throughout the entire book, never to be corrected. I read online articles, and they look like they were written by a 16 year old who learned grammar from Facebook, etc. None of them ever seem to have editors...
MechWarrior: dark age done right. Still keeping my fingers crossed that the Harebrained Battletech game follows the lore here. Any not the way MWO ended up. The early novels really set the tone that mechs were all powerful, but most planets didn't have the logistics to care and maintain them. Hence why so few were to be found on the make backwater planets of the Inner Sphere. The Thunder Rift novel will always be the Star War (New Hope) of Battletech.
I totally agree! That novel went down as one of my all-time favorites. Followed close by Mercenary's Star for a very similar vibe in their Verthandi campaign.
I don't understand how the GDL infantry was mentioned but Ramage was not... It makes me sad. Ramage was the backbone of the GDL infantry. He was the guy who taught infantry how to kneecap mechs (actually I think he was the guy who told Grayson how to take down her locust?) or take them down in other creative ways. He was fearless... and one of the best characters in the novels. Please do a lore video about him... though it might be shorter.
@@CriticalRocket Ramage is mentioned throughout Decision at Thunder Rift, when he rises from militia sergeant to leader of GDL infantry. Theres nothing "earlier". Looks like your source is kinda later, because after original trilogy hes not mentioned in second one (probably died or retired). But he was Carlyles right hand in terms of infantry when he was building GDL from start during Trellwan and Verthandi campaign (and later on through Helm).
My parents legit named me after Alexander and Grayson and now I have a tattoo for father and son mechs with Grayson’s victor and Alexander’s ARC Archer. And now I’m here to learn my roots lmao thank you for this lore video
Nicely done, albeit an incomplete summary of the history of this superb mercenary force. Regrettably the Legion was essentially wiped out on Hesperus II.
The book I use is written around the 3052 era I believe so certain elements are either passed over, are part of a novel which apparently are not canon or it happened later. For instance the book doesn't highlight the unfortunate demise of the Blue stars.
@@CriticalRocket it probably happened later - I don't recall the exact year though. Still the video is nice. Also Thanks for the reply despite the video being a little older
The end of the Gray Death Legion is hard to read. They ended up on the wrong side of a civil war. Practically all members of the Legion being dead by the end of the book. Only Graysons son survived by the luck of being garrisoned on a different world. Only to have his luck run out some time later because he was still with the unit that was obliterated by a nuclear weapons strike in the opening moves of the Jihad.
I never got why they wanted to kill off so many big merc companies. I am assuming for the shock factor and the feels, but sometimes you want to have something the fans can look forward to seeing as it progresses. I hate the way the Blue stars just get wiped out in such a miserable fashion. It might be more realistic, but after that you can't write anymore books or create more material for them since you just slaughtered them.
@@CriticalRocket but its kinda in correspondence in all BT universe - everything ends, in battle or by bomb. Star league in huge coup, FedCom (and GDL) in civil war, new StarLeague in Jihad... Katherine Steiner, slow and painfull death to that bitch, is responsible for assasination of her own mother, destruction of biggest nation in IS and many other atrocities she could stand as one with Stefan, cursed be his name.
Battletech is a long running RPG/Wargaming franchise that started in the late eighties. It has quite an in depth history and many different battlmechs over the decades. The most popular games for PC made have been things like MechWarrior 2 and it's sequels (MechWarrior 5 is poor compared however) MechWarrior online, a free to play arena shooter (Fun but the developers have all but abandoned it now) and Battletech by Harebrained schemes (A very good game).
Very awesome video CR! Happy to see part of my name-sake featured in one of your videos. GDL is probably one of my favorite merc companies, but that might be because that's where the whole Battletech adventure started for me =]
Well met! Glad to see another GDL fan. You would be surprised by how many people don't get the Grayson or the Sortek references. However, once in a while I will get people commenting in game and it just warms my heart. =]
If I remember right the GDL is annihilated, Grayson dies from cancer, Lori is killed in a battle that destroys almost the entire unit. And while their son petitioned to rebuild the legion, it's delayed by bureaucracy within the mercenary reveiw board, and gutted when Alexander is killed in the nuclear attack on Tharkhad during the Jihad. In short: the Gray death Legion is deader than dead.
Prich319 Alexander had to wait till his stint in the Myrna guard was over. That traitor Kathleen Steiner wouldn't release him. The GDL was loyal to house steiner. Anyway the fedcom civil war was comstar vs both lyran alliance and Federated Commonwealth since Kathleen was running both groups. House Steiner and house Davion had merged together but the kids split it again. At the end of the civil war Kathleen joined Khan Vlad and crusader clan wolf. She had been captured and made a clan wolf warrior after the clan invasion ended but before task force serpent left to destroy the smoke jaguars.
They fought against unit in rebellion against the LC looking to take advantage of the distraction of the LCAF. the GDL was stationed on Hesperus-II defending the mech factories while rebellious unit's staged a coup to seize the factories. Lori Grayson-Kalmar died there. The invasion was stopped and when it was done the GDL still existed and gained a new personell and close ties to Hesperus Industries with the induction of the lord who was titular head of Hesperus Industries as a mechwarrior. When the story left off the GDL was off to rebuild and that's the last we've heard of them until later. Technically the GDL is stood down and I believe back on Glengarry. Alexander is reported killed on Tharkad during the Jihad at the beginning of the "Dark Age" but what the unit did between the battle for Hesperus and the beginning of the Word of Blake launched Jihad is unknown.
@@terranceroff8113 After Defiance Industries defence GDL effectively ceased to exist as combat command. With all core stuff dead - Lori Kalmar-Carlyle and Davis McCall at that time - remnants of GDL were incorporated into Defiance Security Forces because third highest ranking oficer, Daniel Brewer, was also CEO of Defiance. Some members (mainly support stuff) returned to Glengarry (where families of legion personnel lived) and formed Gray Death Technologies to continue to produce GD battlearmor.
So they got rated as "reliable" BECAUSE they switched allegiance to Katherine? Sounds like the reviewing board is a little bit biased, or somewhat under her control... And "I will grant you your freedom, but it will cost you your allegiance, and your firstborn son".
@@CriticalRocket It was because some of the popular companies were straight up IP infringement on one hand and trying to get the number of huge merc forces under control for the DA period on the other.
@@Apocal43 Interesting. So how did they infringe IP I have never heard of that situation before? I assume this was during the period of transition from FASA to Wizkids or TOPPS?
What ad revenue? I don't have ads on the channel, I have asked Catalyst for their permission and they are fine with it and I don't run a patreon or get any donations from streams. So no, I get sweet fuck all cash wise.
Oh and if ads did play on any of my videos, use adblock since that is google adding them and not me. I never ask for money off people or run videos for profit.
The Gray Death novels were some of the first novels I ever read when I was a kid.
lexington476 I'm 36 and reading them now. I'm on the second book. I missed the 20 years ago when I read my first battletech books.
As I understand it, they're the FIRST books written. But jumping between the third and fourth books is pretty jarring in setting.
Same , same. My fav unit.
This is very interesting. I just lost a Mech warrior in the Battletech game to a grey death legion recruiter. Didn't realize it was actually part of the lore.
You can also meet Morgan Kell and I think Kai Allard Liao. Probably more as well.
Ill say how he took down the locust would probably be worth mentioning, considering that the pilot would become his wife and the only reason she surrendered is because she was afraid of fire and inferno missiles. But I will ask, Northwind Highlanders next?
I am going through them using the book so it's alphabetical at the moment. But Northwind will get their day :)
If you're going through the books does this mean there's going to be a video on the awful awful Far Country one day?
If they are in either of the books I am using then yes. Though when I finish those I will go through other sourcebooks and the like and make any extra lorewarriors I can about those also.
Simon C
Far country involved the draconis combine's DEST commando team. I'm not sure if there is much about the mercenary team in the second Jump ship that was lost in an accident. I really mean lost.
Critical Rocket
What about Camancho's Cabaleroes. They had 3 books but they dissapearred before the civil war. Last novel was before the civil war.
My most favorite mercenary unit. A shame they met such a terrible end
thanks for this series of battletech video's, they are great ways to learn more about the universe in a shorter period of time!
Great vid. Love the Gray Death Novels....it was a bit sad to loose so many of
the well known faces of the legion. Storyline since the skye invasion of glengarry
had not many good moments for the unit. However, nice lore stuff 👍👍👍
The fierce( but lovely) Lori Kalmar
Re-read "Decision at Thunder Rift' 2 days ago. Thank for the videos.
I will be re-reading that title this weekend :3
@@ohthreefiftyone You'd think a digital version of a book could have used spell check...
@@ohthreefiftyone You mean like "Prosperina" instead of "Proserpina"? :) I think that one's from MW4 Mercs. I had to see "Proserpina" in a few other locations to determine which one of MW2 Mercs vs MW4 Mercs had it right and which one had it wrong. But yes, I can completely understand how that's frustrating.
@@ohthreefiftyone Ouch. :(
@@ohthreefiftyone Yeah, it seems like lack of editing is a growing problem. As though nobody wants to edit publications, anymore, or there isn't anyone available to do the editing. I know one of the Battletech authors of The Twilight of the Clans series (not Michael Stackpole, but I don't remember which one it IS), has terrible spelling, and consistently misspelled the same few words throughout the entire book, never to be corrected. I read online articles, and they look like they were written by a 16 year old who learned grammar from Facebook, etc. None of them ever seem to have editors...
Love ALL your videos, always love these lore videos. As a huge battletech fan since I was eight, learning more about it is always a pleasure CR.
Plenty more to come as well :)
LOVE the Gray Death!
MechWarrior: dark age done right. Still keeping my fingers crossed that the Harebrained Battletech game follows the lore here. Any not the way MWO ended up.
The early novels really set the tone that mechs were all powerful, but most planets didn't have the logistics to care and maintain them. Hence why so few were to be found on the make backwater planets of the Inner Sphere. The Thunder Rift novel will always be the Star War (New Hope) of Battletech.
I totally agree! That novel went down as one of my all-time favorites. Followed close by Mercenary's Star for a very similar vibe in their Verthandi campaign.
I don't understand how the GDL infantry was mentioned but Ramage was not... It makes me sad. Ramage was the backbone of the GDL infantry. He was the guy who taught infantry how to kneecap mechs (actually I think he was the guy who told Grayson how to take down her locust?) or take them down in other creative ways. He was fearless... and one of the best characters in the novels. Please do a lore video about him... though it might be shorter.
Yeah he isn't mentioned in the book I used which is odd. Possibly his creation was after the printing.
Yes you gotta do Ramage
@@CriticalRocket Ramage is mentioned throughout Decision at Thunder Rift, when he rises from militia sergeant to leader of GDL infantry. Theres nothing "earlier". Looks like your source is kinda later, because after original trilogy hes not mentioned in second one (probably died or retired). But he was Carlyles right hand in terms of infantry when he was building GDL from start during Trellwan and Verthandi campaign (and later on through Helm).
My parents legit named me after Alexander and Grayson and now I have a tattoo for father and son mechs with Grayson’s victor and Alexander’s ARC Archer. And now I’m here to learn my roots lmao thank you for this lore video
🤯
I hope this is no joke.
Nicely done, albeit an incomplete summary of the history of this superb mercenary force. Regrettably the Legion was essentially wiped out on Hesperus II.
The book I use is written around the 3052 era I believe so certain elements are either passed over, are part of a novel which apparently are not canon or it happened later. For instance the book doesn't highlight the unfortunate demise of the Blue stars.
@@CriticalRocket it probably happened later - I don't recall the exact year though. Still the video is nice.
Also Thanks for the reply despite the video being a little older
@@ranekeisenkralle8265 yeah it happened way later it was in 3065 when they were wiped out
The end of the Gray Death Legion is hard to read. They ended up on the wrong side of a civil war. Practically all members of the Legion being dead by the end of the book. Only Graysons son survived by the luck of being garrisoned on a different world. Only to have his luck run out some time later because he was still with the unit that was obliterated by a nuclear weapons strike in the opening moves of the Jihad.
I never got why they wanted to kill off so many big merc companies. I am assuming for the shock factor and the feels, but sometimes you want to have something the fans can look forward to seeing as it progresses. I hate the way the Blue stars just get wiped out in such a miserable fashion. It might be more realistic, but after that you can't write anymore books or create more material for them since you just slaughtered them.
@@CriticalRocket but its kinda in correspondence in all BT universe - everything ends, in battle or by bomb. Star league in huge coup, FedCom (and GDL) in civil war, new StarLeague in Jihad... Katherine Steiner, slow and painfull death to that bitch, is responsible for assasination of her own mother, destruction of biggest nation in IS and many other atrocities she could stand as one with Stefan, cursed be his name.
I still have no idea what battletech is, but these guys are cool. Reminds me of Cadians from 40k.
Battletech is a long running RPG/Wargaming franchise that started in the late eighties. It has quite an in depth history and many different battlmechs over the decades. The most popular games for PC made have been things like MechWarrior 2 and it's sequels (MechWarrior 5 is poor compared however) MechWarrior online, a free to play arena shooter (Fun but the developers have all but abandoned it now) and Battletech by Harebrained schemes (A very good game).
Very awesome video CR!
Happy to see part of my name-sake featured in one of your videos. GDL is probably one of my favorite merc companies, but that might be because that's where the whole Battletech adventure started for me =]
You forgot about the wolfs dragoons and the northwind highlanders
You should add all those companies in your description so I can copy and paste it please. For all of your post you should.
Their symbol looks like Red Skull got his face blown off lol
love this channel!
Be nice to have the info text stay up as long as the associated pic. Not everyone is a speed reader
Yeah sorry about that one. It didn't load the settings from previous vids. Noted though, thanks.
Love it!
Well met! Glad to see another GDL fan. You would be surprised by how many people don't get the Grayson or the Sortek references. However, once in a while I will get people commenting in game and it just warms my heart. =]
"Hacid Rickel" 🤔
So I'm guessing GDL was forced to fight for Steiner during the Fed-Com civil war? (not sure if there were more can't remember off hand)
I think they did, but I can't remember either off the top of my head. I will look it up.
If I remember right the GDL is annihilated, Grayson dies from cancer, Lori is killed in a battle that destroys almost the entire unit. And while their son petitioned to rebuild the legion, it's delayed by bureaucracy within the mercenary reveiw board, and gutted when Alexander is killed in the nuclear attack on Tharkhad during the Jihad. In short: the Gray death Legion is deader than dead.
Prich319
Alexander had to wait till his stint in the Myrna guard was over. That traitor Kathleen Steiner wouldn't release him. The GDL was loyal to house steiner. Anyway the fedcom civil war was comstar vs both lyran alliance and Federated Commonwealth since Kathleen was running both groups. House Steiner and house Davion had merged together but the kids split it again. At the end of the civil war Kathleen joined Khan Vlad and crusader clan wolf. She had been captured and made a clan wolf warrior after the clan invasion ended but before task force serpent left to destroy the smoke jaguars.
They fought against unit in rebellion against the LC looking to take advantage of the distraction of the LCAF. the GDL was stationed on Hesperus-II defending the mech factories while rebellious unit's staged a coup to seize the factories. Lori Grayson-Kalmar died there. The invasion was stopped and when it was done the GDL still existed and gained a new personell and close ties to Hesperus Industries with the induction of the lord who was titular head of Hesperus Industries as a mechwarrior. When the story left off the GDL was off to rebuild and that's the last we've heard of them until later. Technically the GDL is stood down and I believe back on Glengarry. Alexander is reported killed on Tharkad during the Jihad at the beginning of the "Dark Age" but what the unit did between the battle for Hesperus and the beginning of the Word of Blake launched Jihad is unknown.
@@terranceroff8113 After Defiance Industries defence GDL effectively ceased to exist as combat command. With all core stuff dead - Lori Kalmar-Carlyle and Davis McCall at that time - remnants of GDL were incorporated into Defiance Security Forces because third highest ranking oficer, Daniel Brewer, was also CEO of Defiance. Some members (mainly support stuff) returned to Glengarry (where families of legion personnel lived) and formed Gray Death Technologies to continue to produce GD battlearmor.
LOOOOOOOOHRRRR!
3:50 my nephew paints similar pictures
he is 6
So they got rated as "reliable" BECAUSE they switched allegiance to Katherine? Sounds like the reviewing board is a little bit biased, or somewhat under her control...
And "I will grant you your freedom, but it will cost you your allegiance, and your firstborn son".
I loved the fiction of Grey Death Legion but how they killed them off was a disgrace.Most of us don't even recognize the single book that did it.
It was a weird habit of the writers to kill off big companies like this for some reason. They did the same bullshit to the Blue stars as well.
It was part of the civil war period. I don't think it was a book of their own. Grayson, Lori, and Davis assassinated iirc.
@@CriticalRocket It was because some of the popular companies were straight up IP infringement on one hand and trying to get the number of huge merc forces under control for the DA period on the other.
@@Apocal43 Interesting. So how did they infringe IP I have never heard of that situation before? I assume this was during the period of transition from FASA to Wizkids or TOPPS?
So, are you just reading the source books and pocketing the ad revenue then?
What ad revenue? I don't have ads on the channel, I have asked Catalyst for their permission and they are fine with it and I don't run a patreon or get any donations from streams. So no, I get sweet fuck all cash wise.
Oh and if ads did play on any of my videos, use adblock since that is google adding them and not me. I never ask for money off people or run videos for profit.