|
| |
This is an overview of the battleTech
Universe.
The Inner Sphere
Comprised of hundreds of worlds and overseen by five Great Houses, the
Inner Sphere has virtually nothing but conflict and division since the collapse
of the original unified Star League centuries ago. It was long believed that
nothing could again unify the Inner Sphere, except the eventual victory of one
of the Great Houses - but no one foretold the coming of the Clans:
The Draconis Combine - ruled by House Kurita
The Lyran Alliance - ruled by House Steiner
The Federated Commonwealth - ruled by House Davion
The Free Worlds League - ruled by House Marik
The Capellan Confederation - ruled by House Liao
The Star League
The original unifying body of the Inner Sphere. Wracked by civil war, its
deathblow came when its ranking military commander, General Alexsandr Kerenksy,
in an effort to save the Inner Sphere from endless warfare, took the majority of
the Star League military on a supposedly one-way exodus into unexplored space.
It was Kerensky's plan to find a new home for his people and forge a new society
based on the glorified tenants of the Star League. His plan, however, was
destined for failure.
Despite Kerensky's intentions by fleeing with the bulk of the experienced
military, peace did not come so easily. Seeing an opportunity, the remaining
lords of the five Great Houses used what remained of their personal armies to
begin the cycle of war that would last until the present day.
The Clans
Kerensky's Exodus took he and his followers far beyond the edges of known space
to a desolate corner of space where living was hard and the abundant resources
of the Inner Sphere a persistent memory. Due to the harsh conditions and the
martial nature of those who came with Kerensky his Utopia was not to be.
Instead, a society formed based around a belief in a warrior's superiority and
where the philosophy of survival of the fittest came to dominate even the most
mundane elements of daily life.
The idealistic wanderers who left the Inner Sphere looking for a society of
peace instead fractured into dozens of rival "clans", each named for
various fierce animals and beasts either found on the new worlds they inhabited
or imported from the Inner Sphere. For centuries, the Clans Wolf, Diamond Shark,
Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, Smoke Jaguar and others struggled against and
with themselves in preparation for the day when they would return to the Inner
Sphere and reclaim it as their birthright.
The Clan Invasion
In 3050 the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere and showed what a difference
centuries of martial training and non-stop weapon and technological development
could make on the battlefield. Attacking in waves, each of the Clans that
participated in the attack cut a seemingly unstoppable swath through the Inner
Sphere until using guile, tenacity, and elements of the Clan's own warrior code
against them, the Inner Sphere was able to stop the Clan drive toward Earth.
For nearly a decade, an uneasy truce held in the Inner Sphere with each side
waiting for the day when the treaty that had stopped the invasion would formally
expire. Though it was long expected that it would be the more aggressive Clans
that would violate the treaty, it was in fact a unified Inner Sphere that struck
hard and suddenly in an attempt to end the Clan threat once and for all.
The New Star League
Since the treaty that stopped the invasion of the Inner Sphere, the Clans had
been bickering among themselves, pointing fingers and placing blame over who and
why their attack had been blunted. And though there were allies of the Inner
Sphere among the Clan ranks it was clearly only a matter of time before the more
aggressive "Crusader" Clans became dominant over the more Inner Sphere
friendly "Warden" Clans. In the face of eventual all-out warfare, and
another series of battles the Inner Sphere was growing less confidant that it
could win, a long-desired understanding came to be: without a unity of purpose
and effort against the Clan there would be only defeat.
Finally agreeing that only by standing firmly together under a unified military
(if not political) structure could the Inner Sphere stand against the Clans it
was agreed that the Star League would be reborn, even if only in name. And with
the rebirth of the Star League would come an unexpected attack against the
Clans, and against their very structure. A plan was formed to shatter the Smoke
Jaguar Clan completely and utterly by attacking both the worlds they held in the
Inner Sphere and by assault their homeworlds deep in unknown space.
The unexpected attack, by a stronger than anticipated Star League force all but
swept the Smoke Jaguars from the Inner Sphere. At the same time, a sizable force
that had traveled secretly for months through enemy controlled space attacked
and defeated the Smoke Jaguar leadership on their homeworld of Huntress. From
there the Star League task force moved boldly against Strana Mechty, the
homeworld of all the Clans, in an effort to end the Clan threat once and for
all.
The Future
Though the Jaguars were defeated it was generally understood that some remnant
of it would either rise up on its own or be absorbed into one of the other
remaining Clans. It was never expected that splinter Jaguar forces would rise so
quickly and with such ferocity....
|
