A Royd Clive official artwork by Yoshitaka Amano
Royd Clive (alternatively spelled Roid Clive), as he is known in the Front Mission Japanese version and the American DS version, also known as Lloyd Clive in SNES fan translation, is the main protagonist of Front Mission First. Royd was a former captain in the OCU Army who became a mercenary after the Larcus Incident, leading the mercenary group, the Canyon Crows. Later, he worked as a soldier for Grimnir until his death. He makes an short appearance in Front Mission 2 as an antagonist and in Front Mission 5: Scars of the War as a cameo.
Background
Coming from a middle-class family, Royd enlisted in the OCU army at the age of 18. While in the military, he quickly climbed the ranks and eventually was promoted to captain. He was a skilled Wanzer pilot despite his young age, as noted by Glen Duval. He was assigned to lead a unit on Huffman Island in order to patrol the Mail River Border between the OCU and USN territory. On Huffman, he met fellow squad mates Ryuji Sakata, whom he befriended, and Karen Meure, who falls in love with Royd and the two later became engaged. With tensions rising between the OCU and USN, the squad was sent to perform reconnaissance on a USN factory in the Larcus District of Huffman Island. Little did they know that the mission was a trap and Karen is seemingly killed by a USN soldier named Driscoll. Driscoll and his unit destroy the factory, with the OCU being framed for the attack. Royd and his unit are listed as MIA and are discharged from the OCU army. Royd decides to stay on Huffman and later becomes an arena fighter, gaining the nickname "Hellspawn."
In 2091, he was recruited by Olson into the OCU mercenary unit known as the Canyon Crows in the hopes of getting revenge on Driscoll. Throughout the Second Huffman Conflict, he led the Crows to many victories over the USN, including the destruction of Morgan Fortress. When the Republic of Zaftra's Peace Mediation Organization (PMO) intervened and managed to end the war peacefully, Royd was unconvinced of their motives and believed there was something going on behind the scenes. The Crows later joined the Spirit of Huffman in uncovering the truth behind the Larcus Incident and Zaftra's involvement in the war. They learned that Sakata Industries, with the backing of Zaftra, had been using human test subjects in order to create a system known as the "B-Device" that would allow Wanzers to function autonomously. Royd was horrified to learn that Karen was not murdered by Driscoll, but mortally wounded, captured, and was used as a test subject for the B-Device. During the investigation, Royd managed to defeat and mortally wound Driscoll in combat, believing he had killed the man who had taken Karen from him. He personally lead the raid on Longriver Island, Sakata's chief facility, and managed to destroy the B-Device prototype and kill Dirscoll permanently be defeating the Mir Orlen. He and the rest of the Crows were branded terrorists by both the OCU and USN for attacking Longriver, but by then, they had already exposed the truth behind Zaftra and the Second Huffman Conflict. Following the raid, the Crows went their separate ways, with Royd having obtained Karen's test data from the facility. He burned the data and destroyed the CPU that had been built based off it, saying one final goodbye to his lost love.
These events were the catalyst that led him to join Grimnir, an organization that was bent on taking down the super nations.