*REAL WORLD* History of Battletech?

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EdmondDantes224
12/15/13 04:27 AM
99.196.55.81

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Hey guys,

I'm posting here primarily because I'm looking for something I can't seem to find.

See, I like hearing the history of things--and I don't mean the fictional history/storyline stuff, but how things evolved and why in real-world terms. Like when I watch Doctor Who (old one), my favorite parts are the text commentaries that talk about script changes, how certain serials came about, and what behind-the-scenes decisions inspired certain companions to leave or what not.

I'm looking for stuff like that for Battletech.

But whenever I google "history of Battletech," what I usually find is "in the far future, the Star League collapsed and gave way to the Successor Wars, then the Clans arrived," which isn't what I'm looking for. I'm looking more for:

-where did Battletech come from?
-What inspired each of the successor states?
-how did the various authors come to be writing for Battletech, and what were their experiences?
-How, and why, did FASA invent the Clans?
-And so on and so forth?

I just like this kind of stuff, because I'm a geek like that.

So, does anyone know a good place to look? I know some of the novels and sourcebooks have forwards with this kind of info (and I do so love those!) but I'm wondering if someone can point me at bigger stuff, or even a comprehensive history?

Thanks in advance.
BobTheZombieModerator
12/15/13 10:36 AM
184.63.108.73

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Umm, I'm not sure where exactly to find all that, but I do know that the successor states / succession wars were kinda modeled after the feudal system of the middle ages with barons and knights and whatnot, but no, I don't know much else. Sorry.
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CrayModerator
12/16/13 07:04 PM
71.47.122.85

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It started as a beer-and-pretzels game by some guys who saw too much Robotech and related 1980s anime. What inspired the Houses? As far as I can tell, the origins were, "Space Germany, Space Japan, Space China, Space England-France, and Space Balkans." The quick-and-dirty background was detailed in much more depth in the later 1980s with the publication of the House Sourcebooks. After that, the core writers would hold a meeting every so many years to plot out the larger path of the setting as it should reasonably evolve from its then-current state.

I'm not sure of the exact genesis of the Clans, or at least how/when/why someone said, "Let's turn the Star League-in-Exile into a bunch of techno-barbarians." However, a very old staple of BattleTech's storyline is that at the fall of the Star League, a lot of the Star League Defense Force ran off into deep space at the behest of the great General Alexander (sp) Kerensky. Hints and notes that the Star League-in-exile was still out there in the 31st Century appeared in BattleTech's earlier publications, like the "Black Widow Company" mission pack (pub. 1985) and anything relating to the mysterious Wolf Dragoon mercenary group, which appeared from "the Periphery" with long-lost 'Mech designs, long-lost JumpShip designs, and names suggestive of the greatest Star League generals (e.g., Natasha Kerensky, leader of the Black Widow Company.) With all those hints, players (myself included) spent a lot of time wondering what the Star League would be like WHEN it returned, not IF it returned. However, the Wolf Dragoons didn't really suggest anything like the Clans - the early publications made them out to be a lot like the Star League Defense Force, not the, well, Clans.

You'd probably get more detail asking on http://bg.battletech.com/forums/ , where many more writers frequently answer direct questions in the "Ask the Writers" and "Ask the Line Developers" forums.

From an in-universe perspective, the old House Sourcebooks detail the birth of the Houses and evolution of the Inner Sphere and Periphery. There's some overlap between the books, but they generally give some insight to BattleTech's alternate history as it diverged from real history. [edit] Correction: they're no longer available for free download from the official BT website. I'm sure you can get them from Battlecorps or DriveThruGames.

Other useful books for the dawn of BT and how the universe came are:
"DropShips & JumpShips," which gives a lot of information on the dawn of BT from the perspective of space flight, and
"Jihad Hotspots: Terra," which has a lengthy section in the back going into new depth on Terra and its history, with specific references to differences in our history and BT's history.

My writing experience in BT started by years of me being a know-it-all on rec.games.mecha and Sarna.net. I was invited to review an upcoming publication (CBT:Companion), and provided 30 pages of corrections (to continuity violations) on 11 pages of text. That traumatized the line developer and made him remember me when Aerotech 2, Revised was due for writing and review, and I was invited to comment on that. After that, they haven't quite gotten rid of me, and I've picked up some writing bits and pieces here and there in between reviewing.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.


Edited by Cray (12/16/13 07:25 PM)
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