In turn they tested each Clan namesake
In trial against the ice hellion's mettle.
Each chased the ice hellion, hunting it down.
All failed to match the predator's speed and grace.
Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."

Founding

          The Ice Hellions were founded by Stephan Cage, a former battalion commander in the SLDF. His specialty was reconnaissance and he was quite adept at using light forces to defeat numerically larger forces. Khan Cage was so inspired by Nicholas Kerensky's fondness about the Ice Hellion that he quickly built his Clan around the same hunting technique: speed and maneuverability. Though many called this a weakness, the newly born Ice Hellions would prove soon everyone wrong.

          The Pentagon campaign tested the Ice Hellions dearly. The early touman was extremely lightweight and Nicholas Kerensky originally relegated the Hellions to a recon and support role. Angered at being forced to wait, Khan Cage awaited the opportunity to prove his Clan's worth.

          Soon the Ice Hellions found themselves called to assist Clan Cloud Cobra with a rebel uprising in a recently captured city. Though outgunned and outmassed, the Ice Hellions speed and maneuverability allowed them to wear down and defeat the rebels with minimal losses.

          In the next few years following the Pentagon campaign, the Hellions quickly set about proving that their unorthodox techniques were viable and combat tested. Hellion Trinaries and Clusters repeated fought and bested foes more than double their weight. While other Clans developed the current Clan battle tactics, the Hellions practiced flexibility and maneuverability.

Hard Times

          The Hellions successes soon turned to defeats as the other Clans learned how to counter the Hellions tactics. Quickly, the Hellions started losing more than they were winning. The only bright spot was saKhan Lucius Moore's Beta Galaxy. Beta enjoyed a much higher success ratio than Alpha - a situation that left Khan Cage puzzled.

          Khan Cage's investigation into Beta Galaxy soon took a lesser role when the Clans joined together against the Not-Named Clan. Though he had close personal ties to the Not-Named Clans leadership, Khan Cage was forced to side with the Grand Council.

          Khan Cage was stunned when he learned the truth behind Beta Galaxy's string of victories. For some time, saKhan Lucius Moore had been giving his warrior performance enhancing drugs. Enraged at the perfidy of his saKhan, Khan Cage took the evidence before the Grand Kuraltai and demanded a Trial of Grievance against saKhan Moore. Matters took a turn for the worse when several Khans suggested that the Ice Hellions as a whole be Annihilated.

          However, Khan Cage made an eloquent plea to the Council. He stated that only a small part of his Clan was tainted and that section needed to be excised from the whole. IlKhan Nicholas Kerensky half-heartily agreed to go along with the Trial of Grievance. Some Khans, indeed, saw this as an opportunity to be rid of the Ice Hellions permanently. If Khan Cage's forces lost, then the Hellions would be Annihilated. If he won, then the Clan would be so crippled as to be easy prey for another Clan to Absorb.

          For three months, Khan Cage's forces battled saKhan Moore's forces. The battles were brutal as Moore's forces continued to use the enhancement drugs. In the end, Khan Stephan Cage's troops were victorious. The Ice Hellions lost over half their forces and many of their best scientists in the purge that followed.

Golden Century

          The years following death of saKhan Moore were hard for the Hellions. New Hellion Khan Mia Taney moved quickly to remove the stain from the Clan's honor and to rebuild its shattered touman. The Hellions found themselves constantly scrutinized and raided by other Clans. Khan Taney, however, kept the Clan from wallowing in despair.

          The death of ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky in battle against the WidowMakers opened the door to a golden era of prosperity. The Ice Hellions were one of the first to develop OmniMechs after winning the technology from Clan Coyote. The Clan's scientists were also responsible for the development of the advanced endo steel and ferro-fibrous compounds. The Hellions also built several new 'mech and fighter manufacturing facilities.

          The Clan's attempts to build lighter, faster Elemental armor met with little success. Early Elemental warriors were freeborns as the Clan was unable to gain the needed bloodlines from Clan Hell's Horses. Elementals were held in low regard for many years, until finally they proved themselves a vital asset.

Secret Trial

          By the end of the Golden Century, the Ice Hellions were once more a deadly force to be reckoned with. The Crusader Khans were pushing for an invasion of the Inner Sphere. The Khans had the votes to call for invasion, but were stymied by Wolf Khan Kerlin Ward. Khan Ward suggested an alternative to invasion. The Clans knew very little about the state of the Inner Sphere. His compromise was to send a force, in the guise of mercenaries, to gather intelligence about the Inner Sphere. The Grand Council voted in favor of Khan Ward's proposal. Hellion Khan Jena Norizuchi vehemently protested the measure, but to no avail.

          Later, Khan Norizuchi told saKhan Wick of her plans to invade the Inner Sphere anyway. saKhan Wick tried to convince her of the folly of her plans, but she would not listen. Khan Norizuchi left for Hector to ready her forces for her planned invasion. Fearing that the other Clans would move against them as they had against the Not-Named Clan, saKhan Wicks called his commanders together and informed them of Khan Norizuchi's plans. Swearing them all to secrecy, saKhan Wicks launched a Trial of Annihilation against Khan Norizuchi and her forces.

          The secret Trial, as it is now called, destroyed both Galaxies. Beta Galaxy had only one surviving Cluster. saKhan Wicks moved quickly and issued a statement to the Grand Council that Khan Norizuchi had been killed in a bandit raid and that he would now be replacing her as senior Khan. Wicks moved quickly to rebuild Alpha and Beta Galaxies before the Hellions' enemies realized their weakness.

Invasion

          Though he did not live to see it, Khan Wicks successor, Stephen Tyler, rebuilt the Ice Hellions once more into a formidable adversary. In 3048, however, it appeared that the time had come for the Clans to return to the Inner Sphere. Smoke Jaguar Khan Leo Showers provided evidence in the form of a ComStar JumpShip and its crew that the Inner Sphere was well on its way to recovery. Khan Showers' and other Crusader leaders forced the vote for invasion and all but Clan Wolf voted in favor of the motion.

          To their utter shock, the Ice Hellions were eliminated from the invasion force in the second round of bidding. Rather than have to deal with a Clan of angry warriors, Khan Tyler unleashed a series of attacks against the other non-invading Clans called the Hellions' Fury. The surprise attacks netted the Hellions substantial gains in land and resources.

          Towards the end of the Hellion's Fury campaign, Khan Tyler was killed in a bandit raid and saKhan Danielle Lienet was severely wounded. Khan Tyler was replaced by Asa Taney, an aerospace Star Colonel. Khan Taney moved quickly to consolidate his power base.

          The Clan defeat at Tukayyid shocked all the Clans left behind. The concept that the strongest of the Clans could be beaten by the unwashed barbarians of the Inner Sphere was inconceivable. Nevertheless, Khan Taney began a political campaign that would force more of the home Clans to take part in the invasion. The Trial of Refusal between the Wolves and the Jade Falcons gave him the incentive he needed to make one last effort to renew the invasion.

Harvest Trials

          Khan Taney's plans for renewing the invasion of the Inner Sphere were crushed when the invading Clans banded together in opposition to his plans. A Trial of Absorption was withdrawn as was a plan to replace the invading Clans' troops with homeworld troops. In both instances, the leadership of Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon teamed up to baffle Taney's plans.

          To make matters worse, Wolf Khan Vladimir Ward's veiled suggestion that Clan warriors could earn more honor in one of the invading Clans unleashed a series of events known as the Harvest Trials. Numerous units from all of the invading Clans declared Trials of Possession against Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon. The Trials were mainly a formality to allow home Clan warriors a chance to fight in the invasion, but it also served to bolster the depleted toumans of the Wolves and Falcons.

          Furious that his plans were destroyed by the Wolves, Khan Taney is currently waiting to see how the Inner Sphere's counterattack fares against the Smoke Jaguars.