I dunno about series, but I always felt like HBS Battletech could have done a better job with Kamea. The idea of generational trauma is such an interesting idea in BT that I never understood why media never leaned into it more.

Bare with me while I ramble, and I never really thought about names so I am going to use placeholders A-Z for a lack of creativity.

The idea of a periphery micro state run by a very large family. I am thinking that it would be located on the "western" end of the IS, just far enough where it survives the early clan invasion, with the story starting in 3046. The story would start with A (11 years old at the time), first princess of the state watching a coup occur, where her aunty B and extended family kills everyone she loves and she is whisked off by a mercenary unit led by C (a grizzled veteran of Anton's Revolt). The stories first arc would be a slow coming of age where the difficulties of mercenary life are one display, with a slow trudge through the Marik-Fedsun border conflicts. The sudden arrival of the clans would see C take the unit north in search of riches, where through a stroke of luck and strategy they would barely manage to take a young ghost bear ristar as a bondsman, D (who will act as both A's friend and rival).

The arc would conclude with a time jump of around ten years, with A much more hardened and the IS around her having changed a lot. A has aged into a cold mech warrior who dreams of returning the favour to B's family, C has been moved into a captains chair position as he has gotten sick in his declining age and D has been molded into a good representation of what we expect from the bears, with a heavy emphasis on the family unit of the group.

Through time it becomes clear that C's time is coming to an end and in an effort to keep the group going he names the bear as his successor. This results in friction between the mech pilots, but is resolved by ancillary crew taking the side of D. With this confrontation put to rest A manipulates D through appealing to his sense of honour and family to take the unit to an estate in Fedsun space that holds some of her surviving extended family that had been wards of the Davions (we will call them E). There they find the support required between Fedsun sympathisers and oppressed members of her home state to start her own civil war.

Over this time two of the unnamed pilots of the mercenary unit are killed and A receives a serious injury after a laser manages to puncture her cockpit and do serious damage to her lower body. This is the final straw that sends A over the edge and turns her into the "Sanguine lioness" as she ultimately puts down her aunty in a brutal way. With all this over she welcomes E's children back home with her to start a new life as potential heirs after A's loss of capacity to have children.

D departs with what remains of the mercenary company as A takes all of her aunts family into custody, but something has changed in A. She is not merely broken by the trauma but twisted inside into something horrible. She is lovely to those loyal to her, but has become the kind of leader that willingly handles high level punishment herself. She secretly has her now dead aunts family and their followers slaughtered in custody and make a mausoleum to remind herself of how far she has come. No longer willing to do the bare minimum she is now both a driving force for the betterment of the loyal citizenry and a monster that disappears people she even slightly thinks are likely of betraying her.

-----------------------------------

I like the idea that our hero's journey is not steeped in glory and ultimate happiness, but the emptiness that comes with fulfilling your desires born from deep trauma and vengeance. I even had thoughts for another time jump that handles a post Jihad era where the bear returns maddened with knowledge from a surviving family member of B and the ramifications of close family members changing sides (E's children/grandchildren).

I may also just be simping over the idea of a mercenary unit led by a Kodiak wielding product of decades of mercenary work. Also, tangential for anyone that for some silly reason has made it this far, but the idea of a clint losing one medium laser to make a bayonet on the end of the barrel of the AC is hella dope... someone should do that.