The Green Box: Battletech, The Clans, pt 2

 

If you don't know much about the Battletech universe, this brief write-up can help you out. The Inner Sphere primer is linked here, part 1 of The Clans writeup is here, and the mini-glossary is linked here.

Downtime, aka Crawling in my Ferro-Fibrous Armor (The Clans, part 2)
With The Inner Sphere having manipulated their code of military honor, started down the path of closing the technological gap, and bought themselves time to rearm and unify against a common threat, The Clans decided the best thing they could do would be to start killing each other again for a little while.

Take that, us!

Clan Wolf was decimated by this infighting more than most others (a sliver of their forces broke off and defected to The Inner Sphere. No sane person in the setting considers them traitors for this.), but they also had a pretty good foothold in The Inner Sphere. They staged a number of Trials of Possession where they would fight units from other Clans. If that unit won, well, good on them they all got to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's after the fight. If that unit lost, then they became part and parcel of Clan Wolf and got the titillating privilege of being the first into the fray whenever the war with The Inner Sphere started back up again (believe it or not, Clanners consider this fate superior to an afternoon at Chuck-E-Cheese's). Surprisingly, quite a few units fell during these 'Harvest Trials,' and just gave up their allegiance to their people in order to bolster the depleted ranks of Clan Wolf and gain the slim chance of actually killing people from The Inner Sphere, that is, if the meatgrinder of Clan military service left them as mechwarriors in another eleven years (it probably wouldn't).

The Green Box: Battletech, The Clans, pt 1

 

If you don't know much about the Battletech universe, this brief write-up can help you out. Part 1 is linked here and the mini-glossary is linked here.


During the twilight before the civilization-wrecking warfare that defines the modern age of Battletech, a number of folks saw the writing on the wall and took their toys with the intent to go home with them. Home was just as happy to blow up its own nose to spite its face, so they took their toys and voyaged through space for months on end with no real goal. People in Battletech get straight A's in dramatic action, but straight 'incompletes' in thinking things out. One mutiny and several suspected cannibalizations later, they found a quintet of stars, each with a habitable world, in convenient proximity to one another.

As a general rule of thumb, everything important is named 'Kerensky.'

These weary travelers rested their heads and life was good until someone started taking bets as to which state they had abandoned was currently blasting the others into the stone age at a slightly faster pace than the rest, and then someone had a baby and everyone wanted to give them advice despite having no common cultural framework for doing so.

Then, those refugees began to blow each other up and wrecking what little civilization they had on these five barely colonized worlds.

But some of the guys saw the writing on the wall and left their nascent homes to travel into the darkness of space--with no real plan--to avoid the chaos and devastation of civilization.

Either Battletech is the slowest Monty Python reference with "technological decline" replacing "fell into the swamp," or it's a prophetic iteration of the "Yo Dawg" meme featuring a guy that Xibit heard liked "exoduses from a collapsing civilization."

Yo dawg, we heard you liked tired memes...

As one might expect from fiction featuring giant robot war machines, politicians shooting more lasers than legislation, monarchies spouting unironic democratic values, and prevailing technologies that prohibit women from wearing anything more than underwear in the midst of deadly combat, those who exodused from the exodus secluded themselves for twenty years on harsh worlds where they trained relentlessly to both become better warriors through the honing of their martial skills and become worse warriors by believing those skills would form the foundation of an effective, equitable government. Those guys became The Clans.

There were originally twenty Clans, most of which were named after wacky animals found only in the second group of exodus worlds (known as The Kerensky Cluster).

The Clans use warriors genetically constructed from the genes of successful(Bloodnamed) warriors of the previous generation as both their main-line troops and as their leadership (therefore creating a collection of states governed by a collection of pedigreed warrior-leaders to replace the collection of states govered by a single pedigreed warrior-leader they had just left behind.). However, other 'Freeborn' citizens of other castes (roughly translated to 'slave caste,' 'slaves with name caste,' and 'devious plot device caste''), can try out to become warriors. Since most of these 'Freeborn' die from the universally arduous training conditions, most of the remainder die from institutionalized bigotry, and those who succeed are generally armored cannon fodder, the primary purpose of allowing 'Freeborns' to become warriors seems to be the entertainment of the more sadistic members of Trueborn warriors.

Similarly, aspiring Trueborn warriors (all of them) are also put through rigorous training before they are allowed to fight; many of them die and only a handful from each class, or 'sibko' actually become warriors. The remainder wash out and are reclassified as members of another caste.

This, as do many things, varies from Clan to Clan.

For Trueborn warriors, their highest honor is to become Bloodnamed and die in glorious battle. Each Clan has twenty bloodnames derived from the original twenty warriors which founded it. Obstensibly, those warriors' genetic legacies form the foundation of that entire Clans' warrior caste (trade with other Clans and vaguely defined genetic science keep inbreeding from being a problem). Up to twenty warriors can share each bloodname at a time. These warriors are the only ones who have their genetic legacy passed on to the next generation, and they also comprise the Clan council which effectively rules the Clan under the leadership of an elected executive, or Khan.

Natasha Kerensky, because she's relevant to just about everything in this article.

Whenever a bloodnamed warrior dies, other warriors who share that name elect mechwarriors who have performed well in combat to replace them. Those warriors fight in a tournament--yes, it's called something else, but I've played enough Street Fighter to know a deadly fighting tournament when I see one and I'm not about to bullshit you on this--to see who is a good enough warrior to receive the bloodname and have their genetic legacy passed onto the next batch of vatborn killers.

Back to the (Slightly Earlier) Future
Operation Klondike was The Clan's return to The Pentagon Worlds after twenty years of absence. While the forces present had destroyed themselves enough to make a victory of 400 warriors over five planets seem feasible, there were still significant armies present to make the fight an entertaining one for the reader.

The Golden Century was the period of time that followed Klondike, during which The Clans decided to improve the universe by killing each other exclusively. During this time their Devious Plot Device Caste came up with a number of advanced technologies that their leaders took and used without even saying thank you to prove to one another that their warrior genes were superior.

Operation Revival is the period of time where The Clans invaded The Inner Sphere, planning to liberate the place they'd abandoned to barbaric warfare all those years ago with slightly more civilized warfare.

Strangely, The Clans did some reconnaissance on their target fifty years before their invasion (operational intelligence isn't usually the strong suit of a culture who thinks that being a good shot qualifies you for governance) by sending some guys along. Those guys posed as mercenaries while gathering intelligence they sent back home, realized that The Inner Sphere was central to the setting, and then did everything they could to sabotage the Invasion (In keeping with everyone who betrays The Clans, no sane person in the setting considers them traitors.). Only one Clan read their intelligence during the invasion. This means that The Clans collected interesting dividends on their intelligence mission: The Inner Sphere received a collection of top-notch Clan warriors, The Inner Sphere got a slug of advanced technology, The Inner Sphere received intelligence on The Clans, and The Clans received the blackest, most metal gift of all: absolutely nothing.

Though it explains their reluctance to engage in intelligence-gathering missions, now that I think about it.

The universe's foremost intelligence agency.

Whenever the first wave of Clans (somehow) got stalled out by the technologically inferior, less-skilled, numerically superior, well-informed underdog warriors of The Inner Sphere, they activated a second wave of Clans eager to kill things. As unimpressive as the first wave was, you could be forgiven for forgetting the names of the second wave, even if they killed you.

Finally, ComStar (the interstellar phone company which keeps legions of elite mechwarriors, the Com Guard, on their payroll because don't ask questions just go with it!) challenged them in an all-or-nothing Trial on the unassuming world of Tukayyid. If ComStar won, The Clans would halt their advance. If The Clans won, they'd be really dissappointed when ComStar reneged on their offer to hand over Earth (losers).

The universe's foremost fighting force/phone company.

Pretty much the least-martial of the insignia in the Battletech universe. Even their splinter groups throw a broadsword in there.  A ??? with a trailing ??? is the wussiest thing in a universe where every other insignia is something trying to kill or punch you.

Goddamn it St. Ives, there's a reason you don't exist anymore.

Again, Sarna.net is the source for most of these images.

The Green Box: Gepanzerte Welle, aka Battletech, Pt 1

 

If you don't know much about the Battletech universe, this brief write-up contains much of what you need to know for the Gepanzerte Welle write-up(linked here, or posted above if you're using an RSS feed.).

Most of Battletech history centers around five nation-states in a sphere around Terra (Earth) called The Inner Sphere:

Pictured: Instant status quo, just add twenty-five years and a few expendable NPCs.

The inhabitants of the Inner Sphere had beaten each other into a state of near barbarism, culminating in the fourth in a series of massive wars. In this last war, a sixth state was created to act as a buffer between two of the other states. This place was called The Free Rasalhague Republic, a(relatively) tiny collection of worlds created by political convenience:

Pictured: Added NPCs.

In 3050, a coalition of long-lost colonies arrived in the Inner Sphere, determined to take over everything. They called themselves The Clans, and they had spent all of the years that The Inner Sphere had used grinding their best technology into dust to make deadly machines of war piloted by 'Trueborn' genetic super-soldiers.

Sadly, the nacent Free Rasalhague Republic was in their path. Millions were killed, and millions more were taken as 'Freeborn' fen to add to the citizenry of their new gene-tweaked overlords. Some Inner Sphere warriors, including those of the FRR army (or Kungsarme) were taken into Clans as Bondsmen; honored slaves just a cut above the masses.

Important turning points of the war were Luthien, the capitol of a neighboring state (the Draconis Combine) and Tukayyid, an unassuming agrarial world in the Free Rasalhague Republic. Tukayyid marked a treaty point in The Clan Invasion where the Inner Sphere manipulated the Clan honor code, which focused on bravado and dealmaking to prove a warrior's mettle. A cease fire of fifteen years was granted by the Clans.

 

 Pictured, in order from Top to Bottom: Fearsome Invaders, Scrappy Underdogs

The Treaty of Tukayyid gave the collective states of The Inner Sphere time to prepare their armies as best they could and bootstrap their technology up to the level of their enemies. Most doubted that they would be ready, even at the resumption of hostilities in fifteen years. However, some, motivated by revenge and losses suffered through the initial invasion, thought that an immediate attack against The Clans was the correct response.

Lyon's Thumb is a cluster of systems with habitable planets found in the Free Rasalhague's other neighbor, the Federated Commonwealth, led by the Steiner-Davion royal family.

Outreach(not pictured) is the home of most mercenary business in The Inner Sphere. It's overseen by the most reknown mercenary unit, The Wolf's Dragoons. The Wolves perform accredation of mercenary units, offer repair and training services, serve as hiring brokers, gather relevant intelligence on such units, and hold mercenary units accountable for the comission of war crimes, breaches of contract, or other infractions which might reflect poorly on the mercenary business as a whole. The mercenary industry is usually booming in the Inner Sphere, as large governments with slow methods of interstellar travel and relatively small armies often need professional military forces in the right place at the right time. The Clans do not hire mercenaries and their culture holds them in the very lowest of regards.

During 3058, the Jade Falcons, within the confines set by the Treaty of Tukayyid, launched a surprise assault on several worlds in the Federated Commonweath, cutting a swath through the FC that terminated on Coventry. It was a show of force that left their other posessions in the Inner Sphere poorly defended by reserves and salhoma troops, those deemed too old to be effective warriors.

Comstar was an interstellar communications agency made into an independent organization so that it could serve a neutral arbiter between Successor States and allow communications between planets to continue even through a series of destructive wars. This neutrality allowed Comstar to maintain quite a bit of technology that the Successor States did not, and it did so rather quietly for a variety of reasons. Comstar forces were the ones who negotiated, fought, and won the Treaty at Tukayyid.

When Comstar later liberalized and began sharing thier technology in an attempt to help the rest of The Inner Sphere fight The Clans, factions within it which had turned their secrecy into a rote religion separated from Comstar and named themselves after the organization's creator, Jerome Blake. The Word of Blake would later use Comstar secrets to engage in all manner of fanatical, political acts over the next fifteen years before radically redefining baselines for 'fanatical,' 'political,' and 'acts.'

Around 3060, amongst a handful of political criseses that cast doubt on the firmness of The Treaty of Tukayyid, the Inner Sphere did decide to go on the offensive against a Clan. They officially united under the banner of the then-and-now-defunct Star League and chose a target: The Smoke Jaguars. Operation Bulldog was put into effect, slamming waves of elite, Inner Sphere troops into the unprepared Clan forces. The Operation was an unexpected success, and The Star League Defense Forces resolved to follow the Smoke Jaguar forces all the way back to their holdings in The Clan Homeworlds.

Pictured: Yes, the five bigger blobs annihilating the smaller blue blob (not pictured) was a really big deal. Somehow, the dead guys are considered the jerks in this scenario.

A few years later, Clan Ghost Bear, now sharing a border with The Draconis Combine in the wake of the Jaguars' removal, became embroiled in a war. While the war was started by rogue forces, both sides were drawn in by codes of honor that could only be satisifed with more bloodshed. The conflict ended in a quick, but very tenuous peace that allowed both parties to save face. Raids by rogue units jeopardized this peace and both sides worked fervently to quell their own problems before another costly war could start.

Also see the Battletech Mini-Glossary.


Pictures courtesy of Sarna.com.

The Green Box-Battletech Glossary

 

Enjoy this glossary of terms from the Battletech Universe. It features a number of helpful terms for the initiated and uninitiated alike.

Newly added terms are in bold and should be dated.

Battletech Mini-Glossary

Aerospace Fighter-A close second to the battlemech in terms of battlefield effectiveness, aerospace fighters are similar to standard fighters with the exception that they can effectively operate in space and in planetary atmospheres. Like battlemechs, aerospace fighters have a model name and often have a personal name granted by their pilot.

Assault-The heaviest weight class (see Weight Classes). Also a modifier for several weapons systems.

Battlemech-The central war machine of the setting. Tanks on legs, they are kings of the battlefield, largely more effective in most cases than infantry, vehicles, and aerospace fighters. Battlemechs come in a series of identifiable names. Most 'mechs of the same model have different variants, but hold a similar battlefield role. That said, given the common practice of field-modifying 'mechs and the proliferation of factory variants, this isn't always the case. In addition, many 'mech pilots, or mechwarriors, tend to give a name to their personal 'mech.

Binary-A Clan formation of two stars.

Cluster-A Clan formation of four to five binaries or trinaries.

Company-A company usually consists of three lances.

Coolant-Highly toxic fluid used to cool the massive heat generated by various machinery, in this context, Battlemechs. Fumes are harmless, but distinct.

Dropships-Dropships carry goods and supplies from Interstellar Jumpships to planets and facilities in a solar system and vice versa.

Exterminator - A technological marvel before the decline of technology, it's a heavy 'mech designed for light engagement and headhunting missions behind enemy lines. The most notable attribute of the Exterminator is the extensive stealth and detection avoidance systems. The use of these systems is considered dishonorable to Clan sensibilities, and they are not utilized by the Clan warriors unfortunate enough to be assigned these machines.

Fiat-Confirmation that everything you're reading is written by a guy who's far more credulous about this story than you are. (19-Feb)

Galaxy-A Clan formation of three to five clusters.

Ghost Bears-A Clan.

Great Cost-Offhand remarks made to pad out heroic wins. Usually measured in peripheral characters killed and greviousness of predictions about the unit's future combat ability. (19-Feb)
Heavy-The second-heaviest weight class (see Weight Classes). Also a modifier for several weapons systems.

Heroic Wins-See Fiat. (19-Feb)

Holovid-Space TV. Often viewed as a pulp format and more often viewed by Battletech novelists as a venue for self-depricating, self-aware humor (or attempts thereof).

Jade Falcons-A Clan.

Jumping-Some battlemechs possess the ability to superheat air and expell it in such a way that they can generate thrust. Enough thrust to propel a 20, 50, for even 100 ton war machine into the air and over (or into) all manner of obstacles and enemy units.

Jumpship-Interstellar craft capable of transporting goods between stars, but not within star systems.

Lance-A lance usually consists of four battlemechs or vehicles.

Light-The lightest weight class (see Weight Classes). Also a modifier for several weapons systems (Light Autocannon, Light PPC, etc.).

Mad Cat-See Timberwolf

Mechwarrior-A common term for someone who pilots a battlemech. Also, the lowest rank of Clan mechwarriors.

Medium-The second-lowest weight class (see Weight Classes). Also a modifier for several weapons systems.

Not-Named Clan-Initially named, it's actions earned it the universal scorn of its peers and had its name striken from the records (Mongooses. Admittedly, it's a good team name.)

Nova Cats-A Clan that turned against the Smoke Jaguars and started working with the Inner Sphere.

Omega Galaxy-A Clan Ghost Bear unit not held to usual Clan traditions of warfare. They often use tactics akin to those of the Inner Sphere, and often more effectively.

Omnimech-A type of battlemech (usually Clan), which uses modular weapons pods for easy mission specialization and dramatically reduced repair times.

Omni-Short for 'omnimech'

Protomech-Tiny battlemechs with all of the drawbacks of Battlemechs, plus a few extra for being smaller. They utilize mental commands of tiny pilots curled up inside of their tiny cockpits. Scientists being as indisposed towards cruelty as they are, they are designed so pilots go mad long before the claustrophobia sets in. (19-Feb)

Smoke Jaguars-A Clan, one of the two that invaded Luthien, only to be repulsed by the inferior forces present (see 'Great Cost'). (19-Feb)

Star Commander-A Clan rank suitable for someone who commands a star.

Star League-The Star League was an organizational body that exemplifies the pre-decline civilization of The Inner Sphere. When it was undone by treachery and (wait for it) warfare, its pacifying influence was lost and the Succession Wars began, destroying the civilization it had served to create. The Star League is analgous to Camelot in the minds of many in the Battletech setting, both in The Clans and the Inner Sphere. In the minds of many players, it's the fascist oppressor whose ruthless government merely kept one ethnic group from cleansing another.

Star-A Clan battlemech formation that consists of five battlemechs (or omnimechs).

Tauman-A Clan's collective military forces. Distinct from hippes telling you about the best snipers in Warhammer 40k. (19-Feb)

Timberwolf - Also known as a Mad Cat, the Timberwolf is the cutting edge of Clan technology. Tough, potent, and quick it's an iconic 'mech of the setting, and with good damned reason.

Trials-A more formal way to kill one another than warfare. Trials come in a handful of types, including Greviance(I hate you), Posession(I'm taking your shit), Absorption(I 'm taking your shit and you'll like it), and Annihilation(I'm killing you and no one will miss you when you're gone). (19-Feb)

Trinary-A Clan formation of three stars.

Weight Classes-A rough categorization of units by their weight. Heavier units are usually slower, better armed, and better armored, while lighter units are faster, less potent, and easier to destroy (if hit). Light, Medium, Heavy, and Assault are the standard weight classes, with Superheavy being a speculative addition to the higher end.

Zellbrigen-A sort of formal challenge within The Clans where two guys specifically shoot at each other and no one else. This varies from Clan to Clan, as some will modify this to include more than two guys, sometimes shooting at others as well. (19-Feb)