Classic Battletech - Universe.pdf - Classic Battletech - Matrinicz

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A TIME OF WAR

INTRODUCTION

PERPETUAL WAR

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INNER SPHERE

Rise of the Hegemony

The Star League Era

Centuries of War

Steps Towards Peace

Fourth Succession War

Skirmishes and Plots

Enemies From Beyond

The Warriors of Kerensky

Clan Invasion

Victory and Change

The Universe Turned Upside Down

The Star League Reborn

Civil Wars

FACTIONS

House Kurita (Draconis Combine)

House Davion (Federated Suns)

House Liao (Capellan Confederation)

House Marik (Free Worlds League)

House Steiner (Lyran Alliance)

Mercenaries

Other Powers

THE MECHWARRIOR

THE BATTLEMECH

Chassis

Locomotion/Movement Systems

Armor and Weapons

Power Systems

Defining Characteristics

Movement Capabilities

Heat Dissipation Systems and Strategies

TECHNICAL READOUT

INTRODUCTION

BattleMechs are the most powerful war machines ever

built. These huge, human-shaped vehicles are faster, more

maneuverable, better armored, and more heavily armed than

any other ground combat unit in history. Equipped with such

deadly weapons as particle projector cannons, lasers, rapid-fire

autocannons and missiles, these behemoths dominate the

battlefields of the 31st century.

BattleTech is a game that pits ’Mech against ’Mech on

the battlefields of the future. Each player controls several

BattleMechs, deciding how each ’Mech moves, when to fire its

weapons, and what targets to aim at. The outcome of the battle

is determined by the players’ decisions and the luck of the dice.

Combat is played out on a game board that represents the

battlefield, using stand-up counters to represent the mighty

BattleMechs that fight for supremacy over the Inner Sphere.

This book introduces players to the fascinating and stun-

ning universe of BattleTech. A Time of War is a brief encapsula-

tion of the BattleTech universe. With that, you’ll have a frame

of reference to jump right into the short story Perpetual War

that provides a taste for what BattleMech combat is like for the

men and women who populate this exciting universe. Next,

A Brief History of the Inner Sphere provides a glimpse of how

humankind has expanded to the stars in the last millennium,

while the Faction section details the major states in the uni-

verse and what it’s like to follow each banner, as well as a short

section detailing other powers as well. This is followed by The

MechWarrior section that explains a MechWarrior’s place in

this complex universe, as well as detailing how a he actually

pilots a ’Mech. The final section of this book, The BattleMech,

provides a general technical overview of the BattleMech and

describes the specific capabilities and weapons of the twenty-

four BattleMechs contained in this box.

Table of Contents/Introduction

A TIME OF WAR

For almost a thousand years, humans have journeyed into

the far reaches of space, colonizing thousands of worlds and

forming star-spanning alliances. From these grew the five vast

star empires that make up the Inner Sphere. The Inner Sphere

was rife with division as the ruling dynasties warred constantly

over colony worlds with valuable resources. These titanic strug-

gles led to the development of BattleMechs: gigantic, humanoid

battle machines bristling with lethal weapons. From the twenty-

fifth century onward, these walking tanks ruled the battlefields.

As the price of conflict grew, the Inner Sphere tired of war.

Eventually the five ruling Houses joined together in the Star

League, a federation led by a First Lord and served by its own

army. For nearly two hundred years, the Star League brought

the Inner Sphere peace and prosperity.

The sudden death of the Star League’s First Lord paved the

way for an evil genius named Stefan Amaris to stage a bloody

coup d’état. The Star League Defense Forces, commanded by

the brilliant General Aleksandr Kerensky, refused to accept

Amaris’s rule. They fought him in a bitter civil war—the largest

conflict ever fought by humanity, before or since. Kerensky’s

forces won, but at a terrible price. In the chaos that followed,

the Council Lords were each determined to step in as First Lord.

Despite the efforts of Kerensky to hold it together, the Star

League dissolved.

Unable to halt the conflict, Kerensky appealed to his sol-

diers to join him in leaving the Inner Sphere. Nearly 80 percent

of the Star League army heeded Kerensky’s call to build a new

Star League somewhere far beyond explored space. Kerensky

and his followers abandoned their homes and headed into

uncharted areas of the galaxy, presumably never to return.

War followed war in the wake of Kerensky’s dramatic

departure. For nearly three centuries, the Houses of the Inner

Sphere fought in vain for the right to rule. These Succession

Wars forged new alliances and cost the Inner Sphere lifetimes

worth of scientific advancement and irreplaceable technology.

Constantly maneuvering for position, the House Lords assumed

that the greatest enemy they would ever face was each other.

They were wrong.

While the Inner Sphere sank into barbarism, Kerensky’s fol-

lowers built a new society in the harsh environs beyond known

space. They developed a rigid caste system based on eugenics

and martial ideals, designed to produce the ultimate warriors.

For nearly three hundred years, they were unified by one burn-

ing goal: that when the time was right, they would return home

and conquer the Inner Sphere. They planned to be the “saviors”

of humanity and to rebuild the Star League in their own image.

When the warlords of the clans decided the time had come

to launch their invasion, they took their powerful ’Mechs and

MechWarriors and drove straight toward Terra, the birthworld

of humanity.

Faced with a common enemy, the states of the Inner

Sphere united against the threat, establishing a new Star

League. Finally victorious in 3060, the Star League halted the

Clan invasion and a new era of peace seemed to loom on the

horizon. It was not to be, however, as war once again swept

through almost every House and Clan, with the most vicious

fighting centered around the civil war between House Davion

and House Steiner. Now, with the end of the FedCom Civil War,

a weary peace has settled across the Inner Sphere, but it is a

peace filled with tension.

This is but the eye of the storm.

A Time of War

PERPETUAL WAR

dual furrows through the parched soil, kicking up

plumes of dust that could be seen for klicks. The other

claw, attached to a five meter long reverse-canted leg,

swung forward to repeat the wound in the dirt in a lope

that ate up the ground at a over sixty klicks an hour. The dust

column behind was impressive, reaching almost a hundred

meters into the brightening dawn morning. There was nothing

to be done, though. Surprise was gone and speed was of the

essence. The raid had already begun.

“Captain, I’ve got the coordinates confirmed by a fly-over.”

The electronically reproduced voice of her XO still managed to

convey levity, a good humor that he carried like a shield.

“I copy, Joshua.” Unlike her XO, Captain Suzanne Lewis had

no need of such protection. Why hide when the pain simply

proved you were alive? Alive, exhilarated, terrified, joyous, filled

with glory at piloting sixty-five tons of lethal machinery: all of it

brought an adrenaline high she could ride for days. Then again,

it felt like she had been riding it for weeks; eating and sleeping

it, just to survive.

“I guess I owe you that Timbiqui Dark when this is over,

Leftenant,” she said. Suzanne tried unsuccessfully to hide the

disgust in her tone at losing the bet.

“Sorry Cap, but you just shouldn’t bet against me on some-

thing like this. It was pretty elementary to determine where the

inbound DropShip was going to touch down by its trajectory as

it hit the atmosphere. Comparing the intensity of the drive-flair

with the known mass of the Union and correlating its velocity

with the full possible range of empty to fully laden with a com-

pany of twelve ’Mechs, only synched it. They grounded in sector

A23.”

“Yea, yea, I know. Honors in math, as well as electronics,

blah, blah.”

“Now you’re just being a sore loser.”

Perpetual War

T he two-meter wide metal claw swung down to drag

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