Editing Natalie Breen

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Natalie Breen.jpg
| caption             = Natalie Breen
| name                = 
| birthdate           = [[3014]]<ref name=ER:3052p91>''Era Report: 3052'', p. 91: "Khan Natalie Breen"</ref>
| died                = 
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Clan Steel Viper]]
| rank                = [[Khan of Clan Steel Viper|Khan]]
| title               = 
| position            = 
| profession          = [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}

'''Natalie Breen''' was a [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] of [[Clan Steel Viper]] who would eventually rise to the position of [[Khan]].  She led her Clan prior to and during [[Operation Revival]], though the Clans' defeat at [[Tukayyid]] would see Khan Breen resign from office, stepping back to become an adviser to her successor, [[Perigard Zalman]].  Her fate is not known, disappearing after the Steel Viper ejection from the [[Inner Sphere]] at the hands of [[Clan Jade Falcon]].<ref name=FM:WCp142>''Field Manual: Warden Clans'', p. 142: "Former Khan Natalie Breen"</ref><ref name=FRc32ff>''Falcon Rising'', chs. 32–37</ref>

==History==
Born during the late [[Political Century]], Natalie Breen was described as a crafty warrior and sensible politician of [[Warden]] leanings who sought the best path for her Clan while pursuing the vision passed down from [[Sanra Mercer]].  Her influence would continue to be felt for a time after stepping down from the Khanship of Clan Steel Viper, mainly due to her advisory role to Khan Perigard Zalman during these latter years.<ref name=ER:3052p91/>

===Early Career===
Commanding the [[4th Viper Guards (Clan Steel Viper)|4th Viper Guards]], young [[Star Colonel]] Natalie Breen was able to defeat [[Clan Snow Raven]] on [[Hellgate]] despite a numerical disadvantage.  Her use of terrain within a deliberately chosen [[Circle of Equals]] exhausted the Raven ground forces, while leading the Steel Vipers to victory over their enemies.  The Viper Khan recognized her strengths and potential, selecting her to become the next [[saKhan]].  She took her place as the new Khan soon after, while still at a reportedly young age.<ref name=ER:3052p91/>

===''Outbound Light'' and Operation REVIVAL===
After the appearance of the [[ComStar]] [[Explorer Corps (ComStar)|Explorer Corps]] ship ''[[Outbound Light]]'' over [[Huntress]] in [[3048]], Khans Breen and Zalman would reluctantly vote with the [[Crusader Clans|Crusaders]].  In spite of this, both were elated that the return to the Inner Sphere would finally happen.  The Vipers fought well during the early going of the Trials to determine invasion slots for four [[Clans]] and one reserve Clan.  But a lackluster performance would stifle their efforts to an extent during the latter stages of the Trials, relegating their Clan to the reserve role.  Many unhappy Steel Viper warriors expressed their displeasure through [[Trial of Grievance|Trials of Grievance]] with Khan Breen and saKhan Zalman, however, both would survive these challenges with their offices intact, proving that they were still the best that their Clan had to offer leadership-wise while still accepting responsibility for their failure to place better in the Trials.<ref name=ER:3052p91/><ref>''Invading Clans'', pp. 85–86: "Operation Revival"</ref>

Despite the reserve role, the Steel Vipers were excited just to be near the fabled worlds of the former [[Star League]].  Khan Breen knew that the presence of two vocal Crusader Clans would complicate her task of carrying out the Mercer vision, but still kept up on all phases of Operational Revival as it progressed.  Her troops would first be used to scout the lanes of the [[Exodus Road]] between the [[Inner Sphere]] and the [[Clan Homeworlds]] and patrol them.  Later they were tasked with shoring up several [[Clan Ghost Bear]] worlds as populations revolted across their [[Occupation Zone]].  The Jade Falcons were ordered to give the Vipers a world to stage from in their Occupation Zone after the death of [[ilKhan]] [[Leo Showers]] and subsequent election of [[Ulric Kerensky]] to the office of ilKhan.  The Falcons ceded the world of [[Waldorff]] to the Steel Vipers as a calculated insult, due to its distance from the front lines with the [[Federated Commonwealth]].  Despite this, the Vipers fought the Jade Falcons on more worlds in their Occupation Zone, taking several - including [[Twycross]] - the scene of the worst Clan defeat in the Inner Sphere until that point in time.  By the end of the Fifth Wave, the Steel Vipers were noted as being closest to [[Terra]] of any Clan force.<ref name=ICp85,86,87>''Invading Clans'', pp. 85–87: "Early Duty": "Fifth Wave" and "Tukayyid"</ref>

===Battle of Tukayyid===
Aware of the staggering losses taken by Clan Smoke Jaguar, ''Khan'' Breen chose caution over brute force for her Clan's drop.  She would still bid boldly for the fateful battle with the [[Com Guards]] in [[3052]], including a Second-Line [[Galaxy]] amongst their three chosen for the attack. The [[Battle of Tukayyid (3052)|Battle of Tukayyid]] started inauspiciously enough for the Steel Vipers.  Opting to drop far from their targets, the Steel Vipers were bombarded by artillery and [[aerospace fighter]] strikes, but made steady progress toward their target until the region called the Devil's Bath.  There in the oozing mud, hot geysers and other geothermal phenomena, the Vipers lost several entire Stars to nature, sinking deep into the morass.<ref name=ICp85,86,87/><ref name=ER3052-18>''Era Report: 3052'', pp. 18–20: "Tukayyid"</ref><ref name=T-79>''Tukayyid'', pp. 79–88: "Campaign: Clan Steel Viper"</ref>

Realizing the Vipers had stumbled into a trap, Breen ordered her troops to pull back and seek a way around Bath. But as the Vipers attempted to withdraw, [[Precentor]] [[Beeshor Yekel]] of the [[6th Division (ComStar)|Sixth Division]] issued a public challenge questioning the Vipers' honor, goading Breen and her enraged troops into continuing their attack. While the Fifty-Seventh was utterly destroyed as a viable combat unit as the [[78th Division (ComStar)|Seventy-eighth Division]] desperately tried to link up with the Sixth, it allowed Alpha Galaxy to completely surround Yekel's division. Recognizing his unit was doomed, Yekel attempted to offer himself in return for the surrender and survival of his troops, but discovered the price of insulting the Vipers. Specifically because Yekel asked for mercy, Khan Breen ordered her warriors to refuse all attempts at surrender and pledged to hunt down any of his MechWarriors who escaped from either the Devil's Bath or Tukayyid.<ref name=T-85>''Tukayyid'', pp. 85–86: "Annihilation of the Sixth [22] - Fighting Words"</ref>

While eventually fighting free of the Bath, a severely wounded Khan Breen realized that too much had already been expended by her Clan to ever achieve victory. Instead of throwing her Galaxies into a hopeless battle against the fresh Com Guard divisions outside the Devil's Bath, she ordered the full withdrawal of her mostly intact forces from the planet.<ref name=ICp85,86,87/><ref name=ER3052-18/><ref name=T-79/>

The Steel Vipers took the fewest losses of any Clan on Tukayyid, but their bid for dominance over [[ComStar]]'s forces was finished regardless. Recognizing that her own anger had doomed her Clan, Khan Natalie Breen opted to resign from office, an unprecedented decision for a Khan to make, but one that speaks volumes about her abilities of self-assessment and her sense of accountability for the poor planning of such an important battle.<ref name=FM:WCp142/><ref name=ICp85,86,87/>

After Tukayyid, Breen led an investigation into the history of a Com Guard soldier who bore genetic similarities to a [[Clan Wolverine]] warrior. She determined that the soldier wasn't a fugitive of the Not-Named Clan, but a relative who shared a common ancestor. Breen sent elements of the [[Alpha Galaxy (Clan Steel Viper)|Alpha Galaxy]] to destroy this person's family to insure the tainted bloodline would end.<ref>''Bloodright'', p. 6</ref>

===Adviser in the Shadows===
SaKhan Perigard Zalman was elevated to the post of Khan in the wake of Breen's resignation.  Not wishing to simply die in a ''[[solahma]]'' unit, Natalie Breen stayed on at the reduced rank of Star Colonel in order to advise Khan Zalman and attempt to retain at least some amount of influence over her Clan during the long years of the [[Truce of Tukayyid]].  Breen was known to regularly test out as a warrior in her ''[[Crossbow (OmniMech)|Crossbow]]'', but stayed reclusive during much of this time.  From a small and dimly lit office in the back of Khan Zalman's headquarters in the [[Hall of Khans]] on [[Strana Mechty]], Breen's advice was sought after often by the Khan, especially in matters of great import.  Out of a deep respect, Zalman would often call her Khan Breen despite her years since holding office.  SaKhan [[Christopher Ahmed]]'s opinion of this situation is not known, but his successor, the outspoken [[Brett Andrews]], often voiced his opinion that she should be shunned or eliminated, and not sought after.<ref name=FM:WCp142/><ref name=FRcPro>''Falcon Rising'', Prologue</ref>

{{Quote|'''''The Falcons. They are a thorn in our side, have been since long before I was Khan. Their hatred of us goes back to the days of the revered Khan Mercer. That, and the fact that we have defeated them too often in battle.'''''

--'''Natalie Breen to Khan Perigard Zalman regarding Clan Jade Falcon.'''<ref name=FRcPro />}}

In the years just after the [[Great Refusal]], Breen offered advice about tactics for going after their hated enemies, [[Clan Jade Falcon]], in the [[Grand Council]].  Acting on this, Khan Zalman challenged the Jade Falcons regarding the increasing use of [[freeborn]] warriors in their ''[[Touman]]'', though the Trial that was fought over the matter resulted in a Jade Falcon victory.  Breen would go so far as to encourage the Viper Khans to launch a major offensive with the objective of seizing the [[Jade Falcon Occupation Zone]] in [[3061]].  After initial success on thirteen worlds targeted, the Jade Falcons reversed the fortunes of war and ejected the Steel Vipers from the Inner Sphere completely.  During the final battle of this conflict, Khan Breen entered battle in her ''Crossbow'' under radio silence from her comrades, seeking death in honorable combat.  Without realizing who she was facing, Jade Falcon Khan [[Marthe Pryde]] fought Natalie Breen in a vicious duel that ended in Breen's defeat.  Offering her loyalty to her captors, Breen was dismissed and released by Khan Pryde, who refused to accept her as a [[bondswoman]] of Clan Jade Falcon.<ref name=FRc32ff /><ref>''Era Report: 3062'', p. 23: "The Bird and the Snake"</ref>

===Death and Legacy===
Natalie Breen disappears from history soon after the Steel Viper ejection from the Inner Sphere, her fate ultimately unknown.

Reigning during Operation Revival, Khan Breen had the weight of Sanra Mercer's vision on her shoulders, but came up short in the effort to implement it.  None of her successors would come any closer than she to achieving Mercer's vision.  Having suggested the strike that eventually led to the Steel Vipers' ejection from the Inner Sphere, Natalie Breen can be said to have begun the unraveling of that vision of a reborn Star League.  In time, what was left of that vision became little more than a bitter memory of noble purpose for Clan Steel Viper.

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==Game Rules==
A MechWarrior of Veteran-level experience, Natalie Breen receives a +6 modifier to Leadership and Strategy rolls, but suffers from a poor grasp of tactics, receiving only a +4 to Tactics at best.  To reflect her inner turmoil, Breen suffers from the Combat Paralysis Trait, and all troops under her receive a -1 to Morale checks.<ref>''Era Report: 3052'', p. 166: "Major Personalities of the Early Clan Invasion"</ref>
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==BattleMechs==
Natalie Breen was a noted [[Crossbow (OmniMech)|''Crossbow'']] [[OmniMech]] pilot.<ref>''Falcon Rising'', ch. 33</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Bloodright (scenario pack)|Bloodright]]''
* ''[[Era Report: 3052]]''
* ''[[Era Report: 3062]]''
* ''[[Falcon Rising]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Field Manual: Warden Clans]]''
* ''[[Invading Clans]]''
* ''[[Tukayyid (scenario pack)|Tukayyid]]''


[[Category:Clan Steel Viper Characters|Breen, Natalie]]
[[Category:saKhans|Breen, Natalie]]
[[Category:Khans|Breen, Natalie]]