LinkNet

LinkNet was the real-world website going with the MechWarrior: Dark Age (MWDA) Clix game while it lasted. Following the discontinuation of the MWDA game in 2008, the LinkNet website was taken off-line between 2009 and 2012.

It was styled as an in-universe website. The in-universe LinkNet was a network of still-functional HPGs following the 3132 Blackout of the HPG grid spanning the Inner Sphere.

Canonicity

Like MWDA in general, LinkNet was considered part of the greater BattleTech universe and its in-character content was, and is, considered fully canonical, albeit subject to the usual possibilities for in-character resources to be in error due to oversight, bias, or outright misinformation.

Content

Since much of the (official and canonical) content published via LinkNet was not published elsewhere, steps were undertaken to preserve it. Catalyst Game Labs and volunteers compiled the information into a number of files that CGL subsequently offered for free download via their website; these files are copyrighted to Topps with a 2012 timestamp:

• Touring the Stars - An in-universe look at the major factions, their histories and their status quo as of 3130.
  (not to be confused with the "Touring the Stars with Bertram Habeas" series of articles contained within the 3132-3134 INN file, nor the Touring the Stars series of PDF microproducts detailing individual star systems)
• Republic of the Sphere - A brief examination of the government and history of the premier new faction introduced in MWDA, the Republic of the Sphere. Also includes short biographies of the prominent personalities of the early Dark Age era.
• Republic Worlds - A gazeteer of the worlds that compose the Republic. (Note: Not all worlds are fully described.)
• Collections of in-universe news articles and personal journals that paint a vivid picture of life in the mid-32nd century from just before the HPG blackout into the years of Fortress Republic.
  • 3132-3134 INN - A collection of news articles fleshing out the universe and advancing the timeline
  • 3135 PDA Journals - Diary-style snippets of information, fleshing out the universe and advancing the timeline
  • 3136 LinkNet - Transcripts from the actual in-universe "LinkNet", a group of still-functional HPGs after the 3132 Blackout, fleshing out the universe and advancing the timeline
  • 3136 Levin's List - Wanted ads and snippets, fleshing out the universe and advancing the timeline

There was additional content that (so far) was not made available for download again, including several short stories:

• Field to Field by Jean Rabe
• Loyalty by Jason Schmetzer

Field to Field, together the the following further short stories, was also made available on the now defunct out-of-universe website that Wizkids maintained in support of their MechWarrior: Dark Age game line:

• A Shot at Glory by Adam Sherwood
• The Proof Is in the Pudding by Adam Sherwood
• Tides of Change by Kevin Killiany
• Angry Voices in the Dark by Loren L. Coleman
• The Inheritance of Duty by Michael A. Stackpole

External Links

• Download link for LinkNet content from the official BattleTech website (plus MWDA Dossiers and Pilot Cards and MWDA Sneak Peeks)