Kamea Arano
Kamea Arano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | 2999[1] |
| Died | 3101[2] |
| Affiliation | House Arano |
| Career | |
| Title(s) | Countess of Coromodir[1] |
| Position(s) | High Lady[1] |
| Profession | Noble |
| Family | |
| Parents | Tamati Arano II (father)[1] Serena Espinosa (mother) |
Kamea Arano was the High Lady of the Aurigan Coalition.[1]
History
Kamea Arano was the daughter and heir of the previous High Lord, Tamati Arano II, and she was raised from birth to assume the throne after him.[1] When her parents died in a JumpShip accident in 3022, the Coalition was in the midst of diplomatic talks with the Taurian Concordat over the status of systems along their shared border, though these had reached deadlock. Her uncle Santiago Espinosa, who had been chief adviser to her father, recommended dissolving the Founding Council and taking direct rule over every planet in the Coalition, which Lady Kamea firmly rejected.[3]
Santiago and his daughter Victoria Espinosa responded by launching a bloody coup, during which Lady Kamea was presumed killed. Lady Kamea survived and was able to escape, however, and returned a few years later with the covert support of the Magistracy of Canopus and the overt assistance of Markham's Marauders.[4] Leading the Arano Restoration, she reclaimed world after world[4] until the Restoration War ended on her home planet of Coromodir VI. Her uncle was executed for treason[5] and her cousin Victoria died piloting a King Crab.[6]
After the war, High Lady Kamea set out to rebuild her realm's defenses,[6] strengthen diplomatic ties with neighboring states, and suppress domestic dissidents and treason.[1] She retained many of the changes to the Coalition's governing structure made during the Directorate without adopting the title of Director, though she stated her intent to restore the Council to its former authority.[7]
Her chief advisor was Alexander Madeira, who assisted with domestic[7][8] and diplomatic[1] matters and also functions as General of the Aurigan Coalition Military. Rampart Company, however, reported directly to her.[9]
As daughter of Serena Espinosa, she had a valid claim to House Espinosa after the death of Santiago and Victoria, though as of 3025 the Espinosa holdings remained in legal limbo.[7]
The Collapse
The collapse of the periphery nation was inevitable after such a violent upheaval. Quickly after the victory of Kamea Arano over the Aurigan Directorate all Magistracy support vanished. Attempts to reach out to Canopus were met with near outright hostility. While there was so much turbulence among the Aurigan Reach the true motivations of the Magistracy of Canopus were never discovered. However, there were clues with missing equipment, resources, and military personnel.
The periods of the Clan Invasion and Jihad were not kind to this small periphery nation, even though they did not directly interact with either instigator of the conflicts. Consistent pirate raids combined with endless small scale revolts, riots, and uprisings slowly ticked off each coalition world remaining from the star charts. Eventually the coalition shrunk to become one House, Arano. Kamea's daughter, Lucy attempted to the rule the broken nation. However, Kamea did not totally step out of leadership.
With the Magistracy having turned their backs on her, Kamea reached out spinward to the Brotherhood of Randis at Lucy's request to help her save the nation. The Aurigan people had essentially become a final refuge of civilization on Coromodir. With few to no jumpships arriving in the system in the late 3070's. The spaceport had fallen to disrepair with any remaining focus being on maintaining the dropships. The public outside the gates of Cordia City initiated another riot when Kamea's dropship lifted off to travel to Randis IV.
Returning a couple of months later with the Brotherhood's second battalion, Kamea arrived to find the final city of her people in chaos. She activated the heavily unreliable global satellite network and pleaded across all holovid and radio frequencies to quell the violence so she can take the people to a new home. They would not have it. Between purchasing a pair of transport dropships and the space the Brotherhood intended to provide for the civilians on their own dropships, the Aranos could bring tens of thousands of people on multiple round trips. Prioritizing those with knowledge of the sciences and construction Lucy and Kamea departed for a habitable, vacant world that the Brotherhood was aware of Spinward. They also brought the Aurigan Royal Guard to protect against raiders.
A new hope and path forward for their people, Lucy called it Coromodir II. Spending a few months on world, the building began. Those creating the layout of the city built upon Star League, Federated Suns, Capellan, and Brotherhood construction layouts to solve so many problems that had cropped up in the periphery nation's decay. Once large scale housing was complete in 3081 Kamea returned to Coromodir to show the immense progress to the people. She hoped that it would restore the entire planet's population to faith in the nation.
Instead, she found absolute squalor. The council Lucy left in charge only had two members remaining alive and acting as petty tyrants. She didn't even make landfall after she communicated with them and a Brotherhood flyover confirmed the city had fallen into ruin. Returning to Coromodir II, she informed her daughter of the lost nation. Lucy's fortitude gave her strength to continue to build with her people that did seek a better future.[2]
Hope for her people
While she was aging, she did not stop being an inspiration for her people. In her early 80s she still found work that she could perform to help build their new home. Her daughter, High Lady Lucy Arano had a son, Terrance, who she could spend her time telling stories to of what the Aurigan people could accomplish, what they had accomplished in the past. She was often out among the people encouraging them, regardless of being a farmer, miner, or tradesman.
In her final year, 3101, a celebration was had for Kamea. She had lived in three separate centuries. But for the people it was to celebrate her efforts to save the nation, not just in the Restoration war but, in their collapse in the 3070's as well. She passed away in her sleep and her body was the first to be honored in the Arano crypt outside the Arano Bulwark's palace. It is a stunning display that is a partial museum and history of the nation. The public can view all the recording she made during the Restoration war, her speeches in the collapse and rebuilding, and it was designed so that her Kintaro and be seen from the side, through throne room windows above.[2]
BattleMech
For most of the Restoration War, Lady Kamea piloted a KTO-18 Kintaro. For the final assault on Coromodir, she was in an "unusual" Atlas.[10]
Titles and Positions
In addition to being High Lady, Kamea Arano was also Countess of Coromodir, or Ali’i nui of Coromodir.[1]
| “ | For the Reach! | ” |
- —Kamea's battle cry in combat.
Kamea Arano was the leader of the Arano Restoration. She is described as "brave, idealistic, and determined.[11] She was set to inherit the throne of the Aurigan Coalition after her father's unexpected death, but was betrayed and driven into exile where she watched as her people were subjected to a cruel dictatorship.[11][12]
She fights to free her people from the brutal dictatorship led by the Espinosa family known as the Aurigan Directorate.[11] She is known to have been a MechWarrior, utilizing the Arano family BattleMech, a KTO-18 Kintaro, at first and later a recovered Atlas II that was regarded as the most powerful individual 'Mech in the entire region.
History
Running into a Coup
As Raju, the MechWarrior, and Kamea were making their way to the Coronation, two Arano Royal Guard 'Mechs turned on them after being found out. As expected, she would be attacked by Directorate forces led by her cousin Victoria soon after. She would later escape to the DropShips thanks to the assistance of the MechWarrior and Raju. However, shortly after takeoff her DropShip was attacked by Directorate aerospace fighters, which brought down the DropShip with both Lady Arano and Lord Alexander aboard. With the destruction of the DropShip, Kamea was presumed dead by the Aurigan Reach, and the Directorate.
Phoenix Rising
As it turned out, both Kamea and Alexander survived the DropShip's destruction and went into hiding for over three years, whilst Raju also survived and was pulled from the wreckage of his 'Mech, eventually being transferred to a prison camp on Weldry which housed many other political prisoners. Kamea meanwhile would begin to gather sympathetic citizens within the Reach, and with the backing of the Magistracy of Canopus (which, pragmatically, did not want to see the Capellans or Concordat gain more power by absorbing Aurigan territory, but also didn't want to provoke direct conflict) providing connections and financial support, she began to raise a restoration movement, hiring a team of mercenaries to act as deniable assets. Initially she was simply gathering supporters to gain back her birthright, but when she personally participated in the strike against the prison camp on Weldry and found Raju (who is implied to have died only a short time before the camp was liberated), she saw the awful conditions there and became even more motivated, not just for herself but for the common people who had also suffered terribly under her uncle's tyrannical rule. While she would gather ruling house members and civilians to join her cause, Kamea used the mercenaries to handle important tasks and weaken the Directorate forces.
Retaking the Throne
After a series of operations that left most of the Directorate in shambles and denied the support of its Taurian allies, Lady Kamea offered both her uncle and her cousin the chance to stand down. While Santiago realized his mistakes and conceded, Victoria broke down in the face of realizing what she had done and refused, insisting that if Lady Kamea wanted to save her friend then Kamea would have to fight her to the death. A somewhat one-sided battle ensued between Kamea (backed up by the mercenaries) and Victoria, and with the death of Victoria the Aurigan Directorate ceased to exist. Kamea would take the throne, restoring peace to the Reach at last. To show her gratitude to the mercenaries who aided her, she canceled their debts, released their services to her, gave her Atlas II away, and as a bonus, also gifted the crew the one-of-a-kind Argo.
BattleMechs
Kamea Arano piloted a KTO-18 Kintaro, a family heirloom.[12] Upon finding an ancient Star League base on Artru, she upgraded to an Atlas II,[12] which she gave to the mercenary unit that helped her to regain her nation.[12]
Behind The Scenes
Kamea Arano's voice was portrayed by actress Gin Hammond.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 27: Kamea Arano profile
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Resurgence
- ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), pp. 11–12
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 12
- ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 13
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 6
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 17
- ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p.18
- ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 25
- ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 24
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Harebrained Schemes LLC: Kickstarter Update #33: "Introducing the Main Characters"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 BattleTech (video game)