A Brief History of Lord Ethan's Exiles

Lord Ethan's Exiles are a mercenary outfit that tread the fine line between respectable mercenary and outright piracy. This ambiguity has often served as a benefit to their potential employers. The prospect of letting a privateer mercenary company loose in your rival's frontier worlds is often a sound investment if destabilizing your opponent is the ultimate goal rather than taking territory. This deniability is one of the major selling points of the Exiles. Their refusal to standardize their livery and an iron clad guarantee of client confidentiality has carved them a decent niche as the perfect outfit to carry out any desired false flag operation. They are the most active on the Periphery, though they often frequent fronts where low intensity conflict between great houses has been going at a low burn for some time.

Battlemaster BLR-1G "Bakunin"
Owned by notorious pirate Vivian Black
confirmed operating with the Exiles.

A selection of Battlemechs that have been positively identified as serving with the Exiles.

Origins

The Exiles were founded by Lord Miles Ethan, a veteran Mechwarrior from minor Davion nobility. He underwent his trial by fire in a succession of special operations units where he acquitted himself well in the field and was well liked by his subordinates and superiors. His promising career was cut short after an investigation initiated by the Davion Privy Council uncovered a massive smuggling ring run by many high ranking Davion officers, of which Miles was one of the leading figures. Miles avoided arrest and used his black market connections to flee Davion space and set himself up on in the Periphery as a pirate adjacent mercenary. After working for a few relatively unknown groups for several years, relations with Mile's last employer turned sour over a botched raid that turned into an ambush. He resolved it by leading a mutiny against his employer, seizing their Dropship and significant number of Battlemechs with the majority of the crew behind him. After marooning his old boss on an airless moon, he found himself in a position to take command, which he did. Rather than take a top down approach, he created a command council, which had three members of noble birth and three members of common birth, with Miles acting as a seventh member to break ties, thus Lord Ethans Exiles were born. The Exiles now have a solid reputation as a reliable unit that doesn't ask questions and well always ensure that the confidentiality of their clients is protected. Due to this, they are regularly employed by almost every one of the great houses and their practice of deliberately non-standard livery makes it hard for forces on the receiving end of the Exiles to distinguish them from regular Periphery pirates. At the time of writing they are estimated to have at least three Dropships, a well equipped but small Aerotech squadron, and a large and eclectic mix of Battlemechs, enough to field two full companies at last estimate. They are also known for backing up their Battlemechs with ground vehicles and infantry elements, often to serve as the smash and grab element of their force while the Battlemechs provide cover.

Shadowhawk SHD-2H confirmed operating with the Exiles
Note the non-standard woodland camouflage that is commonly used
by planetary militas and the factory red right leg. This suggests that
this battlemech was salvaged and brought back to operational status
after an engagement with a planetary militia.

Examples of the Exile's ground and Aerotech assets. Note the lack of unified livery or markings.

Composition

The overwhelming majority of the Exiles are political exiles from across the whole spectrum of the Inner Sphere. Lowborn ex-revolutionaries and disgraced nobility from the highest echelons of the Inner Sphere fill out their ranks, with a large number of more traditional pirates and fringe elements to make up numbers. Leadership positions in the company are almost all elected and prize money from the completion of significant contracts and war booty is fairly evenly split among all members of the company. If someone is lucky enough to survive several years as a member they are usually able to cash out and start a comfortable new life almost anywhere in the Inner Sphere. Despite this, the Exiles often take difficult or legally and ethically compromised contracts that often don't make it through the Mercenary Review Board. Despite this, service in the Exiles is a high risk / high return opportunity and there are plenty of desperate mercenaries in the Periphery.

Unknown Awesome AWS-8Q "The Smiling Tiger"
Rumored to be Lord Ethan's command battlemech

Wolverine WVR-6R in battered house Draconis livery
Confirmed to be in the service of the Exiles.

Current Operations

It is unclear if Lord Ethan remains in command of the Exiles, but the company has still retained his name. There was a credible rumour circulating that Lord Ethan was killed in a Skirmish with a House Davion kill team. This is difficult to verify as the Exiles go to great lengths to conceal the identities of their members. Even if it were true, the company does not seem to have suffered or degraded in combat performance with his demise. Instead they have continued to expand their operations and client base, the specifics of which are difficult to verify due to the highly irregular nature of their business arrangements. Regardless, if one has the right underworld connections, contact with the Exiles can be established and missions arranged even now, assuming you are willing to pay the full fee upfront and have both questionable ethics and no regard for personal honour.

Unknown Catapult CPLT-C1 in services with the Exiles
livery suggests possible Star League salvage.
(Uniform standard drab for desert operations.)

Unknown Thunderbolt TDR-5S confirmed in
service by the Exiles in the livery of the
elite Draconis unit "The Snow Spiders"