The Northwind Highlanders are one of the largest mercenary groups in the Inner Sphere. They appear as an ally faction in MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf.
Background[]
The Highlanders were founded by Clan Stuart, the ruling power on planet Northwind in 2362. The original members were all veterans of what was formerly the Scottish military on planet Terra (earth) and their families. The Highlanders colonized part of Northwind, but never ruled the planet themselves.
Prelude to MechAssault[]
Over the centuries, the Highlanders built a reputation for being an elite force with uncompromising morals despite the cutthroat nature of the mercenary trade. As Such, the Highlanders grew to become natural allies of the Wolf's Dragoons mercenary group who shared the Highlanders sense of honor. In the year 3066, the Highlanders joined the Wolf's Dragoons and several other mercenary companies in sealing a defensive alliance against the Word of Blake, vowing to protect any planets that wished to remain free and independent in the face of Word of Blake expansionism.
Events of Lone Wolf[]
In 3067, several Elders of Clan Stuart died in quick succession to each other which forced the entirety of the Highlanders company to return to Northwind to attend emergency elections. In December 3067, the Word of Blake commenced a large scale surprise offensive across vast stretches of the inner sphere in what would be known as the Jihad. The Word of Blake specifically targeted Northwind for the first strike of their offensive in order to pin down the entirety of the Highlanders company on a single planet so that they could be isolated from their allies and destroyed all at once.
The leader of the Word of Blake sect that attacked Northwind, Nemesis, harbored an ulterior motive for striking the planet: for he was in the process of searching for the long hidden Five Data Cores created centuries earlier by Jerome Blake, one of which was buried somewhere on Northwind. Nemesis initiated the invasion of Northwind by blockading the planet before sending ground forces to capture the planet's HPG station and cut off the planet's defenders from communicating off world. Although taken by surprise and heavily outgunned, the Highlanders did not stand alone in defending their planet: a regiment of mercenaries from the Wolf's Dragoons under the command of Colonel Davis were also present on Northwind when the Blakist invasion began, and were mobilized to defend the planet's HPG station and transmit an SOS summoning other Dragoons to Northwind. However the SOS was sent out far to late for reinforcements to arrive in time and Davis' forces were soon overwhelmed and obliterated. Davis was the last Dragoon standing on the planet, and transmitted a video feed identifying the invading enemy as elements of the Word of Blake before he was shot and killed by Nemesis.
With the primary source of opposition on Northwind eradicated, Nemesis began his search for the data core while encountering only light resistance from Northwind's Highlanders, who lacked the means to effectively fight off Nemesis' occupying forces. Though Nemesis succeeded in locating and obtaining the data core, he was met with setbacks when a contingent of Wolf's Dragoons of the DropShip Icarus arrived on the planet and took the data core by force with the help of the Highlanders - though not before Nemesis had cloned the data stored within the core. The Highlander scouts then informed the Dragoons of a Word of Blake encampment where Nemesis was believed to be present. The Icarus' commanding officer, Major Natalia Kerensky, personally went to conduct reconnaissance of Nemesis' camp, but was spotted and chased down by Nemesis' Guardian who captured her before she could escape in her VTOL.
After Lone Wolf[]
Northwind was liberated from Word of Blake control on December 8th of 3077, nearly ten years from the day that the Blakist blockade of the planet began. Facing widespread defeats all across the Inner Sphere, the World of Blake forces retreated from the Northwind system without engaging with the coalition forces that had come to free the planet. Though much of the planet's infrastructure had been destroyed by the Blakists before retreating, the Highlanders had survived largely intact through the decade of occupation.
The Northwind Highlanders then joined the coalition forces allied against the Word of Blake Jihad, and participated in the final assault on the Word of Blake capitol word of Terra. Though the Highlanders suffered heavy losses during the assault, the coalition army was victorious and the Blakist and all of their makings were undone.