Editing Joyce Merrell

{{InfoBoxCharacter 
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| name                = Joyce Merrell
| birthdate           = 
| died                = 19 November [[2822]] (officially)<ref name=H:OKp76>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', p. 76: "The Last Campaign"</ref><sup>[see Notes]</sup>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Star League]],<br>[[Clan Snow Raven]]
| rank                = [[General#SLDF|General]],<br>[[saKhan of Clan Snow Raven|saKhan]]
| title               = 
| position            = 
| profession          = Soldier
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Joyce Merrell''' was a [[Star League Defense Force|Star League]] [[General#SLDF|General]] who would go on to become the cofounder and first [[saKhan of Clan Snow Raven|saKhan]] of [[Clan Snow Raven]].<ref name=FM:WCp118,119>''Field Manual: Warden Clans'', pp. 118–119: "Looking Into the Abyss (2784–2785)"</ref>

==History==
A General holding command of the [[183rd Royal Mechanized Infantry Division]] at the time of [[Nicholas Kerensky]]'s [[Second Exodus]] to [[Strana Mechty]], her skills were such that the [[ilKhan]] would pair her with [[Vice Admiral]]-turned-[[Khan of Clan Snow Raven|Khan]] [[Stephen McKenna]] when Clan Snow Raven was formed in [[2810]].<ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', pp. 115–116: "Stephen McKenna Profile"</ref>  Her specialty in ground forces was to help make up for McKenna's lack of experience commanding such forces, though in practice neither would work well together during the first several years.  Miscommunication and disagreements over training and doctrine would stymie their early efforts.  The Snow Ravens were the last Clan to be certified ready for combat prior to [[Operation KLONDIKE]], though they would be honed to a flexible and ready force by the time of the actual operation.<ref name=FM:WCp118,119/><ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', p. 71: "Primary Forces Committed to Circe"</ref>

===Operation KLONDIKE===
In [[2821]], the invasion of the [[Pentagon Worlds]] became reality.  SaKhan Merrell's Clan was selected for the drop onto [[Circe]]'s northern hemisphere alongside [[Clan Wolverine]].  Though her ground forces totaled only four [[Star]]s, she would do the best she could given the difficult struggles the Ravens faced at the initial battles of [[Dehra Dun]], and later versus the corrupt [[Empire of Hidalgo]] and against the Kerensky Dominion during what would come to be known as the Battle of Bitter Tears. She was able to coordinate her [[BattleMech]] forces well with the highly-trained [[aerospace fighter]] pilots for which the Snow Ravens would become known.<ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', pp. 72–73: "The Northern Campaign"</ref><ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', p. 73: "The Empire of Hidalgo"</ref><ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', pp. 75–76: "The Battle of Bitter Tears"</ref>

===Official History===
:''The following information is—in part or wholly—fabricated misinformation that was made official Clan history in the aftermath of the Wolverine Annihilation.''

Near the close of the Operation KLONDIKE campaign on Circe, [[Clans]] Snow Raven and Wolverine were faced with only the [[Isle of the Eagles]], an island city-state that was populated by many former citizens of the [[Federated Suns]].  The two Clans coordinated their attacks, sharing information about various targets.<ref name=H:OKp76/>

An instance of what the Ravens have called treachery occurred at one point, an incident with roots in the past.  According to some sources, Joyce Merrell rebuffed romantic advances from Clan Wolverine's saKhan, [[Franklin Hallis]] at an unspecified point, likely during the [[Second Exodus]].  As the two Clans cornered the rebel forces, saKhan Merrell and her remaining 'Mech forces came under attack from a battalion sized force, one that was indicated to be of company strength by Wolverine intelligence.  She and nine other Snow Raven [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarriors]] would perish on Constan's Ridge, though the Clans were victorious over the rebel forces in the final accounting.  Khan McKenna promptly accused the Wolverine saKhan of a deliberate attempt to harm the Snow Ravens, citing his personal animosity towards saKhan Merrell.  The ensuing feud would simmer until a year later in [[2823]], when it escalated into the [[Clan Wolverine#Wolverine Treachery|Wolverine Treachery]], resulting in the devastation of the Snow Raven capital and primary genetic repository, as well as the downfall of the Not-Named Clan soon after.<ref name=FM:WCp118,119/><ref name=H:OKp76/>

===Actual History===
{{seealso|Betrayal of Ideals}}
Joyce Merrell was a friend and confidante of Clan Wolverine Khan [[Sarah McEvedy]]. When a coalition of less successful and envious Clans began scheming against the successful Wolverines in 2822 she was one of McEvedy's few supporters, and for a time was even on the fence on whether or not to follow the Wolverines in breaking free from unstable [[ilKhan]] [[Nicholas Kerensky]]'s rule.

After the find of the [[Brian Cache]] in the Wolverine-held Tiki Province on Circe by [[Clan Jade Falcon]] heated up the situation, Merrell remained passive until she learned that Clan Wolverine had allegedly detonated a nuclear device in the city of Great Hope during their fighting retreat from Clan space. This caused outrage among the other Clans, and the reluctant Snow Ravens—under orders from the ilKhan, who had decreed a Trial of Annihilation against the Wolverines—deployed a nuclear weapon as well. However, their attempt went astray and their weapon detonated right above the Snow Raven capital of [[Dehra Dun]].

Clan Snow Raven would pursue the Wolverines as part of the ilKhan's Grand Fleet, and take part in the genocidal battle at [[Barbados]] that effectively wiped out Clan Wolverine. There, the assembled Khans learned of the treachery of [[Clan Widowmaker]] Khan [[Jason Karrige]] who had caused the [[Great Hope]] nuclear explosion and framed the Wolverines. The ilKhan decreed a massive cover-up of the entire affair, and had history altered and whitewashed to blame Clan Wolverine solely for what went down.

In a brief exchange on 28 January 2825, at the reconstruction site of Dehra Dun, Merrell expressed her feelings of guilt and discomfort, and that the cover-up was doing nothing to ease that. Nicholas Kerensky amicably declared that "there is no lie if we all believe it" and announced that he would have the historical records altered after Merrell's death, to make it appear as if she had died in the Pentagon Civil Wars.

==Legacy==
Joyce Merrell's appointment to saKhan of Clan Raven was meant to help her Clan and Khan McKenna by balancing their backgrounds.  They would iron out their differences, but it would take some time for their forces to adjust under them.  Operation KLONDIKE was a success, but a Pyrrhic victory for the Snow Ravens at best, which were left devastated by the death of their warriors and their saKhan and bitterly held the Wolverines responsible for the loss of lives.<ref name=FM:WCp118,119/>

==Notes==
* Some discrepancy exists regarding the date of Joyce Merrell's death, placing it well after the 2823 date given in ''[[Historical: Operation Klondike]]'' and ''[[Field Manual: Warden Clans]]''. This was explained in the novel ''[[Betrayal of Ideals]]'' as part of the cover-up following the Wolverine Annihilation.

* There is no evidence that the later Clan Wolverine saKhan Franklin Hallis really had an unrequited crush on Joyce Merrell, as the forged history claims. This discrepancy is likely part of the coverup that Kerensky and the Grand Council enacted to explain why the Clan Snow Raven capital was hit with nuclear weapons during the Wolverine Annihilation; in reality, Dehra Dun was destroyed by misfired warheads armed in retaliation for the nuclear explosion in Great Hope.

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Betrayal of Ideals]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Field Manual: Warden Clans]]''
* ''[[Historical: Operation Klondike]]''

[[Category:Star League Characters|Merrell, Joyce]]
[[Category:Clan Snow Raven Characters|Merrell, Joyce]]
[[Category:saKhans|Merrell, Joyce]]