The Founding of the Clans

FoundingoftheClansad.JPG
The Founding of the Clans (advertisement downloadable from BattleCorps website)
Product information
Type Novel trilogy
Author Randall N. Bills
Publication information
Publisher FanPro (German novels)
BattleCorps
CGL
First published 2004 (FanPro)
2007 (BattleCorps)
2021-2022 (CGL)
Content
Era Star League era, Succession Wars era
Timeline 5 November 2784 - 9 June 2815

The Founding of the Clans is a trilogy of BattleTech novels by Randall N. Bills, who began writing the books when he was the BattleTech Line Developer at FASA. Centering on Aleksandr Kerensky's younger son Andery Kerensky (brother of Nicholas Kerensky, who is considered the "father" of the Clans), the series describes Operation EXODUS, the Pentagon Civil War, and the creation and early history of the Clan society (Operation KLONDIKE).

Publication history

The books are notable for their complicated publication history: After having written the first two books, Bills found that FASA unexpectedly ceased active operations in 2001, and Roc Books voiced no interest in publishing more novels in the BattleTech line which looked as if it was going to be discontinued. Meanwhile, the license was transferred to WizKids for their MechWarrior: Dark Age game which was set in the setting's future, with its own, distinct game and novel line. The manuscripts for the Founding of the Clans trilogy thus remained unpublished, for a time at least.

Fantasy Productions, the German BattleTech license holder, subsequently acquired the license to what was now dubbed "Classic BattleTech". They started a line of entirely new, original BattleTech print novels in German from 2004 onward. As part of that line, the first two Founding of the Clans novels were translated and published in 2004 and 2006, respectively—before they were published in English.

In 2007, the original English-language edition of the first novel was published in electronic form through BattleCorps as a serial, without a cover.

Over the course of the 2019 crowdfunding campaign for the BattleTech: Clan Invasion boxed set, completion and publication of the full trilog was offered as a stretch goal. The stretch goal was met. However, Catalyst Game Labs didn't simply republish the existing manuscripts. In the two decades since they had been written originally, much detail had been added to the BattleTech timeline and Bills also felt he was a better writer now, so he decided to revise the manuscripts and expand them with additional interludes to create authoritative versions of the first two books, both of which were published in 2021; the third book had to be written from scratch and was published in July of 2022.

German novel cover German title English novel cover English title
Clangründer: Abkehr
Clangründer: Abkehr ("Clan Founders: Breakaway")

FanPro, 2004

Fall from Glory
Fall from Glory

BattleCorps, 2007 (original edition)

CGL, 2021 (revised, authoritative edition)

Clangründer: Traum
Clangründer: Traum ("Clan Founders: Dream")

FanPro, 2006

Visions of Rebirth
Visions of Rebirth

CGL, 2021

n/a Clangründer: Bande ("Clan Founders: Bonds")

(announced but never published)

Land of Dreams
Land of Dreams

(Previously announced as Forging of Blood)

CGL, 2022

External links