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Sir Owen Hardcastle
Company Commander – Lance Commander -Mechwarrior
Sex: Male
Year of Birth: 3022
Place of Origin: Free Worlds League
Gunnery: 2
Piloting: 3
Pilots:
Lance: Strikers’ Knight Lance – Enforcers
…Albatross Photo Link
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Ex-Knight of the Inner Sphere
Owen Hardcastle was born in 3028. Growing up with his family’s farming
lifestyle provided him with a strong set of ideals. Though he was ill-educated,
his parents provided him with every opportunity available. After deciding to join
the Free Worlds League Military Owen was able to display his talent for piloting
AgroMechs by controlling their counterparts, the BattleMechs. He placed in the
top five percent of his class and was soon given lance commander rank after
his skills were tested on the battlefield.
Sir Owen Hardcastle is actually an ex-Knight of the Inner Sphere. While working
with Word of Blake elite pilots on Gibson, his lance became a target of the
Toyama faction of the Word of Blake. Learning of the conspiracy, Owen plotted
his own strategy to protect the Knights’ reputation. After taking the fall for the
Word of Blake sabotage to frame the Knights, Owen was tried and robbed of his
position in the elite Marik team. The sabotage consisted of the framing of a
Knights of the Inner Sphere lance, making it seem as if they had destroyed a
civilian apartment complex on Gibson.
Deemed unhonorable, dishonest, and incompetent, he was placed under
suspension from the Free Worlds League Military. The only person who had
known of Owen’s actions was Melissa Fox of the Toyama faction, who had been
forced to shame her lover by her Toyama superiors. Melissa and Owen had
made acquaintances at earlier military meetings. Their brief romance destroyed
when Owen was removed from the Knights, the two were unable to say
goodbye.
Expelled to the backwater planet of Wasat, Owen became part of a general
Marik militia after his trials had been carried out. He was no longer a Knight,
but for his talents he earned a Lance Commander position in the militia. Facing
further hatred by local Toyama units, Owen became an outcast because of his
past. The only thing that brought him some peace was spending time working
on his Mech, which he had been able to purchase from the Marik military after
offering payment some four times that of the machine’s original cost. He soon
began drinking mildly again, which he hadn’t done in years. This slowly turned
more extreme, and Owen soon found himself demoted further and further as his
alcoholism progressed.
After watching a bar fight at the Dagen’s Lair bar, Owen took interest in two
mercenaries that were looking for news about their kidnapped commanders.
Knowing the Toyama faction was probably involved, he crowded with other
spectators to watch the two mercenaries, one in a Guillotine and one in a
Striker armored car, take on two enemy BattleMechs. Offering to help the
Strikers, Owen joined the team on their first mission without compensation.
After losing his 95-ton Albatross to rescue the Striker command lance, Owen
was overjoyed when Strider’s promise of a repair actually happened. Joining
the team permanently, Owen added firepower to the Striker’s impressive assault
lance. After capturing and actually saving Melissa Fox from the Toyama unit
known as the Purifiers lance of the Denouncement, Owen’s complete history
was revealed to the Strikers team. For his honorable fall and true efforts, Owen
was promoted to lance commander. He was joined by his friend Sir Christopher
Steiner (an ex-Knight also), ex-Solaris contender pilot Daryl Zero, and freelancer
Ted "Big Unit" Conrad. With a further restructuring of Strider’s Strikers, he was
promoted yet again to company commander of the reinforced Assault Company.
In 3068, Owen was called off-world for business with other Ex-Knights of the
Inner Sphere. The group of Ex-Knights had created a mercenary unit called the
Crusaders. Its leader, Sir Alec de Payens, was a good friend of Owen. Owen
traveled off-world to consult with Alec and his unit, giving them advice on their
contracts with Clan Nova Cat and House Kurita. It was during this time that his
company was attacked by a Blakist firebombing.
Owen returned to Miranda to find most of his command decimated. He lost his
close friend Sir Christopher Steiner and numerous other trusted pilots. He took
the losses extremely hard and fell into a severe case of alcoholism again.
Owen’s recovery has been understandably slow. Though he still fits the bill of
an honorable Knight of the Inner Sphere, his personal problems have nearly
destroyed his lifestyle and sense of discipline. His opinion is highly valued
among the Clan members of the team. For this reason, he is finding new
support from friends within the Clans Nova Cat and Steel Viper.
This profile was last updated in 3068.
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