Artist is @pencilbrony
NSM-4B Norseman 3073 design 50 ton chassis 350 cXL 6/9 movement with the med shield. 7/11 without. 9 tons of Heavy Ferro armor 1x Hatchet 1x Medium Shield Shield and Hatchet are ejectable and the mech's equipped with Battle Fists so that if/when its weapons are broken it can keep going. 4x cHeavy Medium Lasers 12x cDouble Heatsinks Triple Strength Myomer Quirks: Battle Fists(2 points), Cowl(4 points), Rugged (2 Point), Stable(2 points), No Ejection System(-2 points), Non-Standard Parts(-1), Poor Targeting (Long)(-4) [+3 overall]
This mech is based on an alternate timeline I've envisioned for how the Rasalhague Dominion forms which makes more sense, to me, for the character of the Rasalhaguer peoples. What ended up happening effectively put Clan Ghost Bear into the same position as Kurita was in over them, which is something no Rasalhaguer would accept. Especially not the ones who'd been living under occupation.
Even after the 3071 Combine-Dominion War which was used as leverage to improve the situation of Rasalhaguers, that only managed to net them a permanent 1/3rd minority in their own Parlament, with the Tauman (Clanner military, not including the rest of the KungsArme) taking 1/3rd, and the Clanner civilian casts taking the last third. The Clanners are a minority by population and a conquer at that, and so this and the previous arrangements are completely unacceptable. If the writers paid any attention to the lore, they'd have remembered that the Rasalhaguer peoples had fought for SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS (24 generations), to free themselves from the Draconis Combine. All the while they'd resisted Kuritas best attempts to forcibly assimilate them and destroy their culture. The Rasalhaguer culture is very strong and would not die out a mere single generation after they'd gotten free.
To this end, I propose this change:
The "deal," if it can be called that, which was accepted in current canon is rejected and a third deal is reached: The Ghost Bear Tauman becomes a semi-independent entity within the KungsArme, similar to the U.S. Marines to the U.S. Navy, as a sort-of SpecOps section while also providing a Warrior to each KungsArme Lance to turn it into a Star and taking on a specialized role within the Lance. Sort-of like attaching a Green Beret or Navy Seal to a normal fire team. The Khans would be First-Amongst-Equals with the rest of the generals of the FRR, but still have to listen to the Prince Elect. Ghost Bear would give back full control of the systems and worlds they stole from Rasalhague, as well as handing over the means of producing and understanding ClanTech. Finally the Clanner Civilian Casts would cease being tied to the Khans and to Ghost Bear and become regular civilians.
In exchange the Khans would be permitted to assign a number of advisors to the Parliament to help them to achieve Ghost Bears primary goal as a Warden-faction Clan: Prevent another full-scale war like the Amaris Civil War or the Succession Wars. Using Rasalhague's position and new-found technological advantage to leverage peace in the inner sphere. These advisors would be allowed to speak with the Parliament only in full view of the public to assuage fears of them becoming a shadow-government.
This accomplishes the primary goal that Ghost Bear had in proposing joining with the FRR in the first place: get the Rasalhaguers they were occupying to stop trying to resist their occupation and start promoting peace (by force as necessary) in the Inner Sphere.
Now, this would still not be great as far as most Rasalhaguers would be concerned, but it's a lesser enough evil that there wouldn't be a universal rejection over it.
To smooth things over, I would have Ghost Bear secretly from the Rasalhaguer peoples issue a challenge of possession for the Rasalhague System and all systems within 1 jump of it against Clan Wolf, who held Rasalhague at the time. They would keep this a secret from the FRR so that no one would get angry at them if they failed. After all, if you're told that someone's going to try to get your things back for you you'll be upset if they fail when you're expecting success; but if you find out after they fail that they tried you'll just be happy they tried at all. To accomplish this, and for symbolic reasons, Ghost Bear would enlist the aid of the best 15 pilots the 1st Tyr could afford to send, but to keep it a secret they have to use second and third-line mechs. This results in a trinary of Hatchetmen, Hussars, Trebuchets, and Firestarters/Wolfhounds being deployed with clan-tech upgrade packages as the first wave to hit Rasalhague proper. Clan Wolf, of course, hasn't have learned their lessen from Tukayyid yet, and would try to underbid the "freebirths" that they see as a direct insult to them. This would cost Clan Wolf Rasalhague, at significant losses to the 1st Tyr Trinary, suffering 11 mechs destroyed and 9 mechwarriors KIA. The proper Ghost Bear forces would suffer similar, but not quite as heavy losses.
Due to the successful employment of the Hatchetman the development of the NSM Norseman begins shortly thereafter, reaching first successful production in 3073.
As a result of the integration of Ghost Bear into the Free Rasalhague Republic, Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon would forcibly re-locate all of the remaining Rasalhaguers under their occupation to the FRR to prevent them from continuing to rebel and jack-up infrastructure and manufacturing. This causes a massive housing crisis but gives the KungsArme some breathing room when the Draconis Combine attacks the year after in 3071.
