OBT Forum

OVERVIEW AND CAPABILITIES

While the origins of the Hooded Eagle predate the so-called "Hellion Surge" by several decades, the design remained only a computer simulation.  It took the Hellion introduction of new OmniMechs in the aftermath of the Dragoon Compromise to spur Clan Goliath Scorpion to turn the Hooded Eagle (and other OmniMechs) from computer simulation possibilities into reality.

Introduced in 2948, the Ice Ferret (itself based upon the Clan Ice Hellion Wolf Hunter design) would quickly become the medium-weight OmniMech of choice of Clan Wolf.  As a close ally, Clan Goliath Scorpion acquired many examples of this design . . . but the Scorpion Warrior caste found several flaws with the Wolf design.

The two fixed double-strength heat sinks banked within the engine core were often superfluous . . . which only exacerbated the meager pod-space of 9.5 tons available for weapons!  Although the armor protection was considered quite good, it could be better; on the other hand, mobility and ground speed were superb.

In 2984, a group of Scorpion Warriors and Scientists began to work on a project to improve the Ice Ferret.  The extraneous cooling units were removed and armor protection was increased to eight full tons of ferro-fibrous plating (for 100% of the maximum possible protection on a 45-ton chassis).  This increased available pod-space to 11.0 tons.

But the project (CGS-45/O-8/2) was shelved despite the theoretical suppority to the existing Ice Ferret.  The leadership of the Clan had no desire to cause a rift between the Scorpions and the Wolves by introducing a design so similar to the Ice Ferret without a Trial of Possession.  Further, they (quite correctly) informed the Scientists and Warriors involved in the quiet little project that the Clan's lack of any production facilities for the 360XL engines required would quickly doom the project to failure, even if it were green-lighted for production.

And so the design sat untouched in Scorpion archives until the first units of the Hellion Surge were unveiled in mid-3004 following the departure of Wolf's Dragoons from Clan space.

As the Hellions introduced one OmniMech after the next, it quickly forced the other Clans to respond.  In 3007, Khan Marcus Solheim ordered the design schematics for Project CGS-45/O-8/2 retreived from the archives and for five prototypes to be constructed. Solheim knew of the project because he had worked on that design group some 23 years earlier in one of his first assignments as a Blood-named Warrior.

The design was christened as the Hooded Eagle in honor of a genetically engineered bird-of-prey introduced to the deserts of Babylon by the SLDF exiles following the Exodus.  The Hooded Eagle is a massive raptor with an average wingspan of some two-and-a-half meters (larger even than the famed Jade Falcon!).  Soaring high on the thermals above the wastes of Babylon, this raptor relies on its keen vision to spot even the smallest of prey on the broken ground far below and then dives to impale its prey on fearsome talons before tearing apart the flesh with a mighty hooked beak.  Blue-white and grey feathers cover the underside of the body, wings, and tail, while the dorsal surfaces are patterned in splashes of red, yellow, and orange . . . which allows the Hooded Eagle to blend into the sky overhead or the wastes below and renders them difficult to spot.  Only the head of this bird breaks the camo-pattern, with jet-black feathers covering the head and neck, resembling nothing so much as an executioner's hood.

Still lacking a production line for the 360XL engine, Scientists, Technicians, and Laborers disassembled and then rebuilt five Hooded Eagles from existing Ice Ferrets.  However, this was accomplished by the fall of 3007.

Just prior to Christmas of that year, Solheim traveled to Strana Mechty (with all five prototypes and full design schematics) to meet with Khan Kerlin Ward of Clan Wolf.  Although Ward was (justifiably) furious at the Scorpions for having "borrowed" the Ice Ferret design, he was also quite impressed with the (theoretical) superiority of the new machine.

Solheim proposed that the Scorpions and Wolves share the design.  Both Clans having rights to produce the chassis for their own Toumans.  In exchange, the Scorpions asked for the right to produce the 360XL engine from the Ice Ferret in their own QuadPlex Alpha complex on Roche.  Ward agreed . . . provided that the Hooded Eagle passed a series of one-on-one combat Trials against Clan Wolf Ice Ferrets.

Twenty Trials would be fought between Christmas Day and the New Year of 3008 . . . and the Hooded Eagle, with its heavier armor protection and greater weapons capacity, emerged victorious in fifteen of the twenty engagements.  Impressed, Khan Ward agreed to the terms--but insisted that while the Scorpions would retain the rights to produce the design for themselves, they could not trade or sell examples of the new design to other Clans. 

To which Marcus Solheim is said to have replied, "Do you think us Scorpions to be Diamond Sharks in disguise?"  And the deal was struck.

Full scale production began on both Roche and Strana Mechty in late 3008, with the new Hooded Eagle engaging the recently introduced Ice Hellion Boreal Wildcat in a Trial on Hector.  A Trial which the mixed force of Scorpion and Wolf Warriors handily won . . . much to the chagrin of the Hellions, who had designed the Boreal Wildcat to outmatch the Ice Ferret . . . and now found themselves facing an OmniMech with even more armor than the older Wolf OmniMech and virtually the same amount of pod-space as their new light design!

DEPLOYMENT

By the early 3030s, the Hooded Eagle design had spread to several Clans that made heavy use of the older Ice Ferret, although production rights remained in the hands of Clans Goliath Scorpion and Wolf.  Until, that is, Clan Cloud Cobra won the right to produce the design for themselves in 3032, acheiving a narrow victory over Clan Wolf on Strana Mechty.

However, the new Khan of Clan Goliath Scorpion (Mikhail Kirov) angered the Wolves in 3027 when he offered to rebuild and retrofit any existing Ice Ferret to the Hooded Eagle standard . . . for a price.  Khan Ward accused Kirov of violating the agreement that Solheim had entered into; Kirov responded by citing that agreement and noting that the Scorpions were not selling or trading any new production Hooded Eagles.  Ward demanded a Trial of Refusal in 3028 over the matter, which was fought on Roche.  The two Clusters (1st Scorpion Dragoons and 4th Wolf Guards) fought each other to a draw.  With both sides exhausted, Khans Ward and Kirov squared off on the battlefield to settle the matter once and for all.

Timber Wolf versus Goliath Scorpion, the two Khans fought for what seemed an eternity, and both Khans managed to cripple their opponent's OmniMech in a final exchange of furious fire.  Undaunted, both Kirov and Ward left their cockpits to continue the battle in hand-to-hand combat, throwing away their sidearms and combat blades, the pair slugged it out, until they both collapsed, exhausted, and began to laugh as their Clans watched and held their collective breaths!

At the last, both Khans stood, offered (and accepted) hegira and agreed to sit down and discuss the matter.  At a later date.  After their wounds had healed!  Two months after this, the two Khans came to an agreement where any proceeds from such upgrades would be split between the two Clans, with the Clan actually performing the rebuild receiving 2/3rds of the sum total.

Because of this program, by 3048 well over 90% of all existing Ice Ferrets in the Clan Touman had been replaced by newly built or rebuilt Hooded Eagles.