Wahnsinn und Methode

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Template:InfoBoxNovel Wahnsinn und Methode ("Madness and Method"), by Michael Diel, is a German-language BattleTech novel published by FanPro in 2004. It is the 1st in their German "Classic BattleTech" line of novels.

Overview

In 2598 the arrival of SLDF troops on a RWR world for training maneuvers threatens to uncover that the local Duke has been building up a secret BattleMech army in preparation for declaring his world independent. Playing on his people's lingering hatred for the Star League he enacts a scheme to incriminate the SLDF troops in war crimes and escalates the situation into a military confrontation, hoping to vanquish them and discredit any discoveries they may have made.

Canonicity

Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, Wahnsinn und Methode does not technically meet the current criteria for Canon in the BattleTech universe. As an official product published under a valid license, it should be regarded as apocryphal instead.

From the back cover (translated from German)

“ The year is 2598. After a series of long and blood wars, humanity is united under a single banner for the first time in its history as the Star League.
I. Company, 3rd Batallion of the Royal Black Watch BattleMech regiment, a SLDF elite unit and the First Lord's bodyguard under the command of Captain Jonathan MacNamara and his deputy, Lieutenant Matthew Carmichael, is redeployed to Icar in the Rim Worlds Republic. There, they are to carry out combined arms training with the aim of forging the different military branches into one efficient and well-rehearsed entity. But while MacNamara and Carmichael find that they have to cope with substantial internal problems on this assignment, a storm is gathering on the Rim Worlds planet. Is the Star League's fragile military and political equilibrium in jeopardy? 		”

Plot Summary

Prologue

On 21 January 3067, Misha Auburn lectures history students at the Nagelring academy on Tharkad about the creation of the Star League by Ian Cameron which was finazlized when House Kurita, the last ruling House of the Successor States, became a member through signing the Treaty of Vega on 15 August 2569.

Main plot

On 14 January 2598, Lt. Carmichael's lance of the elite Royal Black Watch fights a mock battle, later revealed to be prototype testing for the new Longbow design, on Egadin where they later have a fight with a group of Aeropsace Fighter pilots in a bar. On the next day, Carmichael learns that one of his lancemates is swapped out for Annika Kelswa, a Lyran Commonwealth noble, and that they are transferred to Icar for maneuvers.


Characters

  • Matthew "Matt" Carmichael
  • Carlos Estevez
  • Gregor Hoffmann
  • Alexej Ivanov
  • Annika Kelswa
  • MacNamara

Featured places

Featured units

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

Vehicles

Aerospace Fighters

DropShips

JumpShips

Notes

  • The cover art was re-used from the Living Legends RPG adventure published in 1995. The same artwork had also been used by FanPro in 1997 for the cover of their German-only publication Geschichte der Inneren Sphäre ("History of the Inner Sphere]].
  • A newscast from Galax dated 4 January 2598 announces that Hollis Incorporated first presented its newly developed Artemis IV system on that day as a prototype.
  • A newscast from Robinson dated 4 February 2598 announces that Kong Interstellar first presented the plans for its newly developed Ostscout on that day.
  • As a SLDF Royal unit, the protagonists' unit would have had access to "Royal" BattleMech variants, although the novel's author could not have known that: The Technical Readout: 3075, which introduced the Royals, was published four years after the novel. Within the text, no specific variants are mentioned so Royal 'Mech variants are not technically ruled out from the designs featuring in the book.

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