Editing Thelos Auburn

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| name                = Thelos Auburn
| birthdate           = 
| died                = 24 December [[3042]]<ref name=RI4>''Rhonda's Irregulars'', p. 4</ref>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Auburn]]
| rank                = 
| title               = 
| position            = Court Historian
| profession          = Historian
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = [[Cassandra Auburn]]<ref name=PL>''Permanent Losses''</ref>
| children            = eight daughters including [[Misha Auburn]] (eldest)<ref>''20 Year Update'', p. 92: Misha Auburn personal profile</ref> and possibly [[Melissa Auburn]]
}}
'''Thelos Auburn''' was [[House Steiner]]'s family historian in the first half of the [[thirty-first century]] and the author of numerous books and other works. Many [[BattleTech]] sourcebooks contain sections that purport to be excerpts from in-universe works attributed to him.

He may or may not be a descendant of [[Dimitri Auburn]], who authored "[[Lost Paradise]]", published by [[Commonwealth Historical Press]] in [[2826]].<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 52</ref> (Dimitri Auburn was also mentioned for a work published in [[2380]]<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 56</ref> though context suggests this should read 2830 instead.)

==History==
Beyond his position at the Steiner court, Thelos Auburn was well connected among important people of his time. He got along particularly well with [[Cranston Snord]], once the latter set up a museum for his collection on [[Clinton]], and would visit him often. He was also described by Dr. [[B. Banzai]] as a good friend of both himself<ref>''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2'', p. 97</ref> and of [[Jaime Wolf]].<ref>''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1'', p. 104</ref> Auburn's former student [[Norma Aliota]] is credited for helping Dr. Banzai with his [[NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1|comprehensive report]] on the [[Fourth Succession War]].<ref>''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1'', p. 5</ref>

At some point prior to ca. 3025, [[Alessandro Steiner]] gave interviews to Thelos Auburn despite declining official interviews with [[ComStar]], though even these few interviews shed little light on the motivation and reasons behind Alessandro's controversial "Concentrated Weakness" strategy.<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 78</ref>

===Operation Junk Yard Dog===
When [[Free Worlds League]] forces staged a retaliation raid against Cranston Snord's museum on 14 February [[3017]], the otherwise timid Thelos Auburn was present and was caught up in the battle, narrowly escaping death several times over. His attempts to safeguard the invaluable historical objects saw him witness or even inadvertently cause the successive deaths of several infantrymen who tried to help or rescue him. Faced with the deaths of men who had wanted to help him, and the utter disregard of enemy troops for the artifacts he treasured, Auburn was inspired to reach the local ComStar station to call for help (ComStar's accepted neutrality preventing the invaders from attacking the station once he had arrived inside).<ref name=PL/>

Auburn had overheard that the attackers were going to bring looted artifacts to [[Nathan]], and that crucial piece of information enabled Snord to set out on [[Operation JUNK YARD DOG]] in response.<ref name=PL/>

===Death===
While working in the main library of Cranston Snord's museum on Clinton, Thelos Auburn suffered a seizure on 22 December [[3042]]. Despite the efforts of the best doctors Snord could muster, his condition was terminal. Realizing that his friend was dying, Cranston Snord had Thelos Auburn brought to the operating room of the [[SLDF]] [[Castle Brian]] facility that the museum was built on, but which Snord had kept secret.

On his deathbed, the historian learned the full truth from Cranston Snord about [[Operation EXODUS|Kerensky's Exodus]], the [[Clans]], the true mission of [[Wolf's Dragoons]], and that a [[Clan Invasion]] was coming — seven years before the actual invasion would hit the [[Inner Sphere]]. Thelos Auburn died in that room on 24 December 3042, beneath a faded [[Cameron Star]] and holding a medallion from Cranston in his hands that had once belonged to an (unnamed) founder of a Blood Line, the first of a [[Bloodname]].<ref name=RI4/>

==Works==
Thelos Auburn was named as the author of the following in-universe works (and implicitly many others):
* ''[[A History of Philosophy]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, [[2998]]<ref name=HLCCp42>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', p. 42</ref>
* ''[[Commonwealth Popular Culture: Insights from our Leisure]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3014<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 27</ref>
* ''[[Commonwealth Symbols: Insights Through the Icons]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3000<ref name=HS(LC)p20>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 20</ref>
* ''[[Encyclopedia Res Publica]]'' (Ed.), Commonwealth Historical Press, 3022, 3025<ref name=HS(LC)p17>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 17</ref>
* ''[[Gone but Not Forgotten - Families Lost to the Exodus]]'', Commonwealth Press, 3032''<ref>''1st Somerset Strikers'' sourcebook, p. 15 (sidebar)</ref>
* ''[[Mercenaries of the Succession Wars]]''<ref>''Cranston Snord's Irregulars'', p. 2</ref>
* ''[[Mysticism and the Occult in Commonwealth History]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3005<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 26</ref>
* ''[[Political Intrigue in the Lyran Commonwealth]]'', Regal Press, 3005<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 25</ref>
* ''[[Origins of the Three Great Families]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3011<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 40</ref>
* ''[[Questions Raised by the Ouster of Alessandro Steiner]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3022<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 57</ref>
* ''[[Shards of the Mirror: History as the Future's Reflection]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3023<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 6</ref>
* ''[[The Conventions of War Throughout Man's History]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3023<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 69</ref>
* ''[[History and the Present: The Current State of the Lyran Commonwealth]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3025<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 82</ref>
* ''[[The Lyran Commonwealth Before the Steiners]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3022<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 14</ref>
* ''[[The Martin Luther Memorial Hospital: A Mirror of Our World]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3012<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 59</ref>
* ''[[The Periphery During the Wars]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3017<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 54</ref>
* ''[[The Star League and the Commonwealth]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, 3014<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 40</ref>
* ''[[The Steiner Dynasty]]'' (3+ volumes), Commonwealth Historical Press, 3019<ref name=HS(LC)p14>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 37</ref>
* ''[[Wars of One World]]'', Commonwealth Historical Press, [[3002]]<ref name=JHSTp138>''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 138</ref>

==Quotes==
*"History has proven that giving away bars of chocolate often does far better than a speech in quelling an uprising."<ref>''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2'', p. 25</ref>
*"You have to question the sanity of anyone who claims that history is filled with honor and moral deeds. Either the man is a lunatic or too stupid to understand what historians throughout the ages have been trying to say." (in: ''Shards of the Mirror: History as the Future's Reflection'')
*"I'm not saying that the Steiners are perpetually on the thin line between sanity and looney tunes, because that's a myth. The Steiner family has such a reputation for being icy cool that when they do show a strong emotion like anger, love, or humor, people around them are so startled that they wonder if that Steiner has lost his wits. Of course, holding one's emotions in is another kind of madness." (3024 interview)<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 36</ref>

==Notes==
*By ca. [[3062]], the International Zone of Solaris City on [[Solaris VII]] features an attraction called "Thelos Auburn Grove", a statue dedicated to the late House Steiner historian located at the Solaris River and Swift Shore Drive.<ref>''MechWarrior's Guide to Solaris VII'', p. 128</ref>
*There is an [[apocryphal]] scenario named ''[[The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars: The Bribery Gambit]]'' by [[Blaine Pardoe]] (who authored the two Snord's Irregulars scenario packs, and frequently used Thelos Auburn as a side character), published in ''[[Stardate]]'' Vol. 3 #6. In this scenario, Marik forces aim to kidnap his daughter Misha Auburn, in order to pressure Thelos into assassinating Archon Katrina Steiner and Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner. However, the [[LIC]] learned of the plan and a trap is set on Clinton. When bandit forces consisting of seven 'Mechs and five tanks make planetfall in 3025, the entire Snord's Irregulars company, plus Thelos Auburn himself piloting a ''[[Crusader]]'', engage them on a terrain feature called the Ferrald Slopes.<br />Piloting a 'Mech in battle seems notably out of character for Thelos Auburn, who is otherwise consistently portrayed as an academic with no military training or acumen whatsoever.<br />The piloting/gunnery stats given in the scenario, if taken at face value as boardgame stats, would mark Snord's mercenaries decidedly mediocre MechWarriors while giving Thelos Auburn extremely elite skills; it is thus generally assumed that the stats given are for ''[[MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game]]'', in which case they would translate as competent skills for the mercenaries and very poor skills for Thelos Auburn in boardgame terms.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[20 Year Update]]''
* ''[[Cranston Snord's Irregulars (scenario pack)]]
* ''[[The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars: The Bribery Gambit]]''
* ''[[House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)]]''
* ''[[House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)]]''
* ''[[MechWarrior's Guide to Solaris VII]]''
* ''[[NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1]]''
* ''[[NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2]]''
* ''[[Permanent Losses]]'' (short story)
* ''[[Rhonda's Irregulars (scenario pack)|Rhonda's Irregulars]]''

[[Category:Lyran Commonwealth Characters|Auburn, Thelos]]
[[Category: In-Universe Authors|Auburn, Thelos]]