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Armor

2021-09-17T14:40:23Z

2607:FB90:6E78:5D01:849A:2562:5ACF:B113: /* Types of Body Armor */

'''''Armor''''' (also spelled Armour) is a protective layer of material used to protect something from damage. Some types of armor includes armor for buildings, armor for vehicles and armor for personnel (generally referred to as body armor). Putting armor on people or putting them in [[Rhino|metal boxes]] to keep them safe is important because we can be [[Rip and Tear|killed]] by sharp rocks or branches or basically anything else at all except grass and leaves. In fact not [[Wikipedia:Bamboo#Weapons|even]] [[Wikipedia:Toxicodendron_radicans|those]]. This is because because our skin is not armor and it [[FAIL|sucks]]. This article will focus mostly on body armor.

[[File:ERA man.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Here you see a highly advanced tactical soldier well equipped for battle with the latest in ERA technology]]

== Types of Body Armor ==
Numerous forms of body armor have been developed over the millennia by civilizations with various levels of technology and resources on hand. Every single one of these died out in Europe by the 18th century, not, contrary to popular belief, because they were useless - forged iron or steel plate armour was still very effective at deflecting bullets, as shown by the armour European Cuirassiers wore well into the 19th century; in fact they were proof marked by a single dimp in the plate itself, made by firing a flintlock pistol at point blank at them - but equipping the increasing numbers of soldiers of the standing armies that became the norm after the Thirty Year War and the reforms undertaken during the long reign of Louis XIV. of France was simply too costly; the levied and mercenary forces prior to and during this war bought their equipment out of their own pockets. Efforts to make personal armor for the lowly Infantryman cheap and efficient enough never really stopped, but were almost met with failure, either because the results proved to be too heavy, too unreliable or too expensive, most of the times all three. Modern body armor works different insofar as they dissipate the force of a bullet hitting them like a big pillow, (spreading the kinetic energy over a relatively large area instead of outright making the bullet bounce off, also causing the bullet to get stuck in vest instead of going -plink!-) but some of the force will still get through and, as many military and policemen (and women) can attest, the sensation of getting hit while wearing a Kevlar vest is not very pleasant, to put it mildly; the remaining force is still sufficient to break bones or cause internal damage if you're unlucky. Still, a treatable, if painful, wound is of course still preferrable over a lethal one.

*'''Leather armor''' - not just any leather would do; soft leather offers no protection against blades. You need specially treated leather to be effective. Another name for this is "cuir bouilli" or "cuirbouille". The exact method of creating is unclear, as simply boiling leather in water (as the French name implies) will result in leather that’s hard but highly brittle (like diamond) to the point it can be snapped with one's bare hands. The best guesses are that animal glue and/or oil were involved. The high biodegradability (and, to many vermin, tastiness) of leather, especially with period natural treatment, has created a near total lack of historical examples surviving. Whatever it is, what is for certain is that this was the result was not flexible like a modern leather jacket, but would have a fairly solid shape (one possible method of creating it resulted in leather sturdy enough it could actually be used to ''chop wood''). The general consensus is that it had less presence in Europe (though there are surviving inventory accounts that confirm it existed). Meanwhile, in the East (both middle and far) it did exist (with inventories and accounts confirming Chu and Zhou armories using rhino or water buffalo hide), it wasn't that much widespread either and disappeared once other materials were obtainable. These circumstances became more prevalent as metalworking became more accessible. On the Central Asian steppes or in areas with large amounts of livestock, the leather was more widespread as lamellar or scale armor. This was likely a matter of resource availability as the nomadic tribes had little access to metal outside of trading and would prioritize using it for tools, swords, speartips, and arrowheads instead. Regarding the tribes in the Americas (some examples include the Tlingit, Chukchi, and Yupik or the Plain Indian's hair-pipe breastplates) as well as the Polynesian and Austronesian islands, where metalworking was noticeably diminished or not present, leather armor was relatively common while bone, shell, and coins were used as external reinforcing elements. Some examples include the Baju/Baru tribal war garb (made from hide, turtle shell, &/or crocodile skin) in the Nusantara Archipelago in Austronesia. On the other hand, all these regions gradually phased out leather once they gained reliable supplies of crafted metal or firearms via trading or learning metalsmithing. While phased out as as a primary form of protection, Buff coats were still made of leather and retained to act as cushioning underneath metal breastplates. It also served as slashing protection for exposed joints or in cases where wearing metal armor was inconvenient.
** Real-life note: while sometimes seen on TV and in video games, there is no such thing as studded leather armor as mentioned below in Brigandine's section. Think about it. How does adding a metal studs cause a significant increase to the armor's effectiveness? You will see this mistake in many RPGs. This idea probably came from people misunderstanding some of the other kinds of armor that use cloth as a binding agent on the outside.
*'''Padded cloth armor''' - Cloth bundled in sufficient thickness was one of the first forms of armor, since bronze armors tended to be too expensive or too heavy to be widely used. Cloth continued to be used mostly as padding underneath metal armor, to help absorb blows and all through the middle ages continued to be the go to protection for men-at-arms in lieu of expensive metal plate or mail. Despite what you might think it (obviously) provided one of the best protection against percussive strikes, second only to full plate (which have padded cloth integrated into it), surprisingly high level of protection against slashes and swings, unless the blade is razor sharp (most historical blades weren't that sharp) and while it barely ever provides full protection against piercing weapon heavier than a shortbow arrow, it does lower the depth of penetration, often turning instantly lethal wounds from glancing stabs or slashes to survivable if debilitating, or even surface damage, with an added bonus of often catching enemy weapon (although given in most times where blades get stuck in padded cloth after stabbing through, they pierce deep enough to kill so it's more to the benefit of your companions than yours). Sometimes confused with Brigandine armor (which externally appeared to be made of cloth with metal studs but also contained overlapping metal pieces). Besides the Gambeson and some Austronesian Baju/Baru war jackets woven from hardy fibrous plants, some other historical examples include:
** The distinctive ancient Greek armor called "Linothorax" (literally meaning linen torso): believed to be made out of quilted linen with glue laminate and is presumed to fall under this category, though historians can't be entirely sure as no full examples survived the centuries. Lighter versions known as "Spola" were worn by the Greeks and Macedonians.
** A gambeson is unlike most “soft” armor in that we actually have a fairly good understanding of its construction due to some 15th century writing detailing how to make it (deer skin with a ~30 layers of linen).
*** Aketon is roughly equivilent to a gamebeson, being made of raw cotton (which is not the soft, smooth, fluffy stuff the clothes you're wearing are made out of) rather than linen. Generally assumed to be a corruption of the arabic word for cotton.
** A hard, quilted, and 2 inch-thick form of cotton armor was used by the Mesoamericans such as the Aztecs, Toltecs, and the Tlaxcalans. Called ”Ichcahuipilli” in the Nahuatl, it was often hardened with resin-like substances like brine salt. In combat, it was effective against obsidian-edged Macuahuitl/Macana sword-clubs and arrows. They were also effective enough that Spanish Conquistadors sometimes adopted them for use in the summer to avoid being baked alive in their steel cuirasses. Other related armor include decorated sets called "Tlahuiztli." Similar thickly padded cotton tunics were worn by Incan nobles and Muisca warriors in South America (with the former using small wooden planks to reinforce the back).
** An early bulletproof form of cotton armor worn by the 19th century Joseon Koreans called “Myeonje baegab.” It was invented when they confronting Western armies at the same time the Western powers began probing expeditions into Qing China and Tokugawa Japan (pre-Meiji Reformation). While effective against low velocity bullets from black powder firearms, it was prone to being burned from incendiary hazards like explosions or red-hot shrapnel.
** Various early forms of pistol-proof armor were documented that were made from layers of silk but were usually expensive and restricted to wealthy politicians or nobles (for example, [[The World Wars|Franz Ferdinand]] ironically was believed to have owned one but wasn't wearing it on his fateful final day, though as he was shot in the neck it wouldn't have made a difference).
*'''Paper armor''' - this one sounds crazy, but apparently it was actually a thing in 10th Century China. The Mythbusters tested it out and it might have been actually effective... at least, so long as it does not get wet, a bit of of an issue considering human beings tend to sweat when under the stress of matters of life-and-death. Indeed citizen, this is testable by you! Obtain a notebook and ensure it is tightly closed. Then, stab it with a knife as hard as possible. Apparently, it was also used by some ethnic tribes in China as late at the 19th century while interlayered with cotton and was good against smoothbore muskets and bayonets but not breech-loading rifles.
*'''Wooden armor''' - either based on wooden planks held together or overlapped with fibre in a manner similar to mirror armor, brigandine, and lamellar, or alternatively composed of woody rods interwoven like a thick basket (similar to rattan shields in Asia) into the form of cuirasses and shields called rod-and-slat armor, these types of armor were known to be used in pre-colonial natives in Austronesia (such as the Kiribati) and the Americas (such as among the Inca, Haida, Iroqouis, & Tlingit tribes). Like leather armor or cotton armor, there are very few preserved copies due to wood’s tendency to rot away when exposed to wet climates with most accounts coming from written records by colonial explorers. While effective against the wood, bone, and stone based weaponry used indigenously in the region, it inevitably disappeared once metal weapons or firearms were introduced by Western explorers.
**”Bamboo armor” - basically wooden armor, but with the advantage in that you can shape bamboo more easily. Bamboo is also notable in the sense that it has a high strength weight ratio. It also is rather weather resistant.
*'''Scale armor''' - An early form of armour, sporting overlapping metal (cuirbouille and lacquered leather were also used) plates arranged in a similar fashion to roofing tiles, which were riveted/sewn onto a backing cloth or leather and oftentimes loosely laced together in rows. One of the earliest examples of armour, used predominantly in Eastern cultures most distinctly used to deck out their early heavy cavalrymen and horses both in this. These "Cataphracts" were said to be able [[Awesome|to get showered in arrows without getting hit]]. Used by Rome as the lorica squamata, apparently simultaneously with mail. The art of ''Grandes Chroniques de France'' shows (at least) helmets with such an appearance existed in Europe as lower class armor in or before 1270. Made a small, unsuccessful comeback in Dragon Skin
*'''Mirror armor''' - an early form of plate, this was a small round bronze plate attached to the torso. Besides physical protection, it was also believed to ward off the supernatural. The plate itself was frequently a supplement over a suit of mail, but plenty of poor warriors throughout ancient history made due with hoping that no one would hit them around the single non-encompassing plate they strapped to their chest (beats having no armor..).
*'''[[Mail]]''' - the iconic armor made of interlocking rings. One of the most common and effective type of armor from the ancient world to the middle ages. Flexible and easy (though time-consuming) to make, it was widely used by many cultures. It was also significantly easier to repair, as a break could easily be mended by replacing a few rings, whereas a hole in plate armor might require a complete replacement. While fairly effective against foot soldiers, the crossbow and the lance charge required knights to wear extra armor over mail for additional protection. In the modern era, they are used for non-combative roles, such as shark suits, butcher's gloves, animal control, and dealing with high-power electrical wiring (because electrons "slide" along the mesh rather than penetrate", admittedly the mesh must be very tightly made). Some nations still use mail armor to supplement riot gear. Note that it MUST be backed with leather or something stiff, otherwise knives will drive it into the body. Just for the love of god: don't get shot. The British tested this in WW1 and the bullets ends up dragging the links into the body with it. They did wind up using it to protect crew inside a tank from spalling that was reliably created from even non-penetrating hits against its armor (early tank armor just wasn't very thick, and the issue lessened by the time of World War II's technological advances in tanks).
*'''Plated Mail''' - Also known as Mail and Plate armor or splinted mail, this is not what some sourcebooks refer to as platemail, which is basically just plate armor worn over a mail hauberk. Plated mail integrates metal plates into the rest of the mail pattern, ranging from large rectangular plates on areas like the chest, to small plates arranged like fish scales on areas that require more dexterity, such as near the shoulders and back. A form of transitional armor in Europe alongside brigandine as knights gradually shifted from full mail to plate armor, it was popular with medieval Slavs, Eastern Europeans, Persians, Indians, and other Asian kingdoms.
*'''Laminar armor''' - armor made from overlapping bands of metal. A predecessor to full-body plate armor, most famous example is the ancient Roman [[wikipedia:Lorica_segmentata|Lorica Segmentata]], though it was less prevalent among the Romans than is usually portrayed and mail remained in use among the Romans' frontline infantry, even in the Segmentata's heyday. Other examples existed such as the Dendra armour from Mycenaean Greece, some Warring State Period samurai armor once muskets were in use, or Renaissance Polish Hussars but the latter was held together by sliding rivets rather than leather strips and laces used in Greek and Roman versions of the armor.
*'''Lamellar armor''' - <s>Essentially scale armor sewn together</s> Not exactly. armor made from overlapping pieces of leather, ivory/bone, or metal, each piece being laced side-by-side to create semi-rigid rows, which then are laced together to form a complete suit of armour. This form differs from other "overlapping plates" types of armour in that it is self-contained and does not rely on backing material to keep the all the pieces together (unlike Scale or Brigandine). Again it is one of the oldest types of armour (being found in places as widespread as Mesopotamia, Europe, the Central Asian Steppes, and even Pre-Columbian North America) and was still in use as recently as 1930s.
*'''[[Samurai]] armor''' - depending on the period, it could be lamellar, laminar, or even western plate (but not wood. That has no basis in history). The helmet (kabuto) had a distinct shape that often featured ornaments and even a removable facemask (Darth Vader's helmet is said to be a hybrid of a kabuto and a German stahlhelm).
**'''Ashigaru armor''' - Worn by conscripts, it featured the same kinds of breastplates, a lesser helmet (which was sometimes made of wood) and some minor stuff but was overall less complete than samurai armor.
*'''Brigandine''' - a.k.a "Corazzina,” “Coat-of-plates,” and “Jack of Plate” armor. Brigandine is a "poor man's plate" and was quite popular in medieval Europe as part of "transitional" armor alongside plated mail (when knights began transitioning from full mail to plate armor), when worn in combination with mail and metal splints covering the limbs. While it may not provide as sturdy protection compared to full plate, it was very easy to make and repair. Also, while not as flexible as mail, it had more rigid protection against blunt force trauma. In essence, it was a compromise between the two while also being cheaper. Even after nobles and knights began using full plate armor, it was still kept as a form of armor for all rank-and-file men-at-arms; even seeing use in the New World by colonists against the natives’ arrows. It was also widespread across all of Eurasia with evidence of its existence seen as far out as as Turkey, India, Russia, China, and even Japan. Often confused with "studded leather armour" or the padded cloth gambeson. In modern day warfare, ballistic vests with trauma plate inserts made from metal or ceramic on the front, back, and sides of the body are spiritual successors to this form of armor. <s>Construction-wise, it’s essentially an inverted suit of scale armor with the backing cloth on the outside</s> Not quite. Underneath the cloth and over the padding, a "brig" is built from overlapping plates of various sizes and shapes, riveted onto a leather or cloth "jacket", but it differs from other "overlapping plates" armours in that:
** A) the plates are *usually* bigger and shaped according to where they go on the armour (scale and lamellar mostly use same-sized, same-shape plates),
** B) they are riveted (or sewn in the Jack-of-Plate’s case) inside the leather/cloth and not on the outside and
** C) the plates are '''not''' linked together in any fashion and fully rely on their fastening to the backing to keep them where they're supposed to be.
*'''[[Plate armor]]''' - armor made from single, solid pieces of metal. Bronze plate armor had been used in ancient times, but was limited to helmets and sometimes breastplates due to the weight of the armor. Full suits of plate armor were not possible until improvements in smithing allowed for large bars of steel to be hammered out into single pieces. A popular misconception about full plate is that it's very hard to move in, to a point it's exclusive to cavalry. While this is true for a '''tourney plate''' specifically designed for maximum protection in jousting tournaments, an actual battle plate was designed with maximum mobility in mind, and it was not uncommon for a knight (or later an officer) to do a somersault or dance with his lady while testing his new plate armor. Technically speaking, modern body armor for many nations use are in sense partially plate armor, with a carrier holding a solid plate.
*'''Jack Chains''' - if you were too poor to afford proper plate armor, you could at least add some metal reinforcements to your gambeson called Jack Chains. These were essentially gauntlets, elbow plates, and shoulder guards linked together by chains and attached to the arms so that one could, at bare minimum, block slashes to their sides without getting cut, or use it as a improv shield against incoming sword attacks.
*'''Makeshift Armor''' - Not really a set of armor in the traditional sense, generally makeshift armor is what ever one could scrounge up to make a protective wear. In the modern day, this is a protestor (think 2014 Ukraine Revolution) go to for long term engagement. Generally, motorcycle and safety helmets alongside heavy thick jackets, protective sports gear, or motorcycle gear would be the go to, as well as whatever one can strap to themselves. Don't be wearing something that might shatter easily though if you expect to be shot at, because that might manage to injure you even worse with the flying bits.
*'''Flak Jackets''' - The first standard-issue modern body armor to be developed, Flak Jackets were developed in WWII out of high-strength nylon to protect aircrews from fragments fired from flak cannons in conjuncture with manganese steel plates. While good against shrapnel and pistol rounds, it was still ineffective against rifle bullets. Before the invention of Kevlar and ballistic vests, this was the only kind of body armor available to modern soldiers expected to walk.
*'''Early 20th century armor''' - in WW1 and 2 many nations began experimenting with various forms of body armor to deal with shrapnel. This included steel breastplates, lamellar and steel plates in canvas carriers. This was more experimental than anything else. The biggest users of body armor in WW2 were the soviets who issued "steel bibs" to their soldiers. These could stop shrapnel fire and pistol bullets (a big deal given that Sub Machine Guns were a common infantry arm for urban combat) but were on the heavy side and were restricted to urban warfare or motorized infantry.
*'''Ceramic armor''' - Originally descended from the ceramic “Chicken plate” armor worn by helicopter gunship crews, it is typically, high-strength ceramic plates (typically made from boron carbide) are used as an energy-absorbing component in some ballistic vests (otherwise the wearer would suffer blunt trauma and internal bleeding from a bullet impacting the vest). A common myth is that Ceramic trauma plates shatter after only a 1-2 hits. This somewhat of an exaggeration, although generally plates are certified to take one well aimed steel-cored 7.62x63/53 mm rifle round (in layman's terms, a armor piercing sniper bullet) straight in and anything more you get out of it is pushing your luck. These are some of the best plates for infantry.
*'''Ballistic vests''' - "bulletproof" armor vests able to stop bullets of varying sizes and speeds. For "soft" armor, the use of high-strength fibers that "catch" the projectile, thereby slowing them down enough to prevent them from penetrating, are used, typically for security guards, low-intensity combat areas jobs, and cops. For "hard" armor, ceramic/metal/ultra-high-strength plastic/combination-of-the-previous may be used in the form of solid plates. Body armor may come in as either a standalone vest (i.e. "soft" kevlar vest) or a carrier (which can further more simply be a holder for a solid plate or a combination of "soft" and "hard" armor). Options of groin, neck, and shoulder protection may be included with the vests but aren't used unless you're in a SWAT team or fighting in close quarters in a building.
**'''Ballistic Visor''' - A visor of transparent, bulletproof, plastic. Despite its weight, bulk and making it impossible to use a standard rifle properly, it's only really suitable against low powered handgun rounds and thus it sees little use outside of European SWAT counterparts.
*'''Blast suits''' - full-body armors capable of absorbing the heat and shrapnel of a bomb blast. The only part that isn't protected are the hands, since wearing thick gloves is detrimental to manual dexterity. So if a bomb goes off, you may be maimed and lose parts of your hands - but at least you're not dead or torn to ribbons by shrapnel! May also include a closed air supply in the case of biological or chemical bombs. Commonly worn by EOD technicians.
*'''[[Power Armor]]''' - As of current, we already have prototype exoskeletons, but they're one of the many inventions that isn't in common use purely because of current limits on battery power (all current examples are plugged into a power source). There isn't as much a need for such strength in direct combat like in fiction, as it's designed more for load-bearing in mind, allowing for bigger, heavier guns and/or more ammo. However, that could include allowing the user to wear heavier armor as well. Generally speaking, the servos and external components are rather exposed. Think STALKER's exoskeleton for modern military exoskeleton prototypes. Frankly, you're more likely to find these systems being used by workers in a vehicle factory than on the battlefield, and that will likely remain the case until the power situation is figured out. A rare case of mundane utility winning out over combat potential for first time deployment.

== Modern Body Armor ==
With modern technology and all it's amenities, a large choices of body armor exists on the market (the NIJ level approved list for body armor products consumes 212 pages on a PDF file, and that's just stuff the manufacturer has paid the considerable expense to have tested by the NIJ instead of in-house). That said it is good to know what levels of protection for both ballistic and melee threats are. The advent of modern style body armour came at the beginning of the Cold War, when military equipment became ever more complicated to handle and expensive to make. These two factors put an incentive in place for the military leaders of the world to invest more resources into the training of its Soldiers, but also to protect this training and money invested into it (as of writing this passage, the cost of the training alone is estimated by the Pentagon to range between 20-40.000 US-Dollars ''per soldier for just basic training''), as well as the outrageously expensive equipment they are carrying. Compare this to previous wars like World War 2, where 90 days were deemed sufficient enough to teach some basic tactics and the workings of an M1 Garand and whatever specialty gear the individual soldier was issued. Point being: The advancements in weapon lethality also made Soldiers much less expendable (ironically enough) than their previous incarnations.

[[image:NIJ Ballistic Protection Rating.JPG|thumb|250px|right|NIJ Ballistic Standard]]
[[image:UL 752 Bullet Resistance Chart.PNG|thumb|250px|right|UL 752 Ballistic Standard]]

*'''Ballistic threats''' Aka bullets most of the time. Soft body armor (aka Kevlar, UHMW Polyethylene, Dyneema, etc) that is rather flexible, but also vulnerable to high velocity threats. Thus most body armor of that class is relegated between II to IIIA. From there on out, it's hard body armor, which usually consists of some sort of metallic (usually steel, but titanium and high-strength aluminum are options too), ceramics, and composites. NIJ Standard III to IV stop those threats. Technically, though only rated up to 30-06 AP rounds (IV), some plates of body armor offer higher than IV. Some have even shown to stop a .50 BMG round, though the likelihood of one surviving such a shot from the sheer force of it hitting them even without going into them is still in question. Standard helmets only go up to level III
** Since some common threats are ''just'' above certain ratings, like 55 grain 5.56 from a 20 inch barrel penetrating level III or 5.7 pistols beating most soft armor, the NIJ system is currently undergoing an overhaul. While most western countries use NIJ rating standards, at least as a secondary, Russia has its own, completely unconnected, system for rating armor.

*'''Stab threats''' Protects against low energy stabbing objects (aka knives and maybe some small swords). Stab and piercing vest should not be trusted for higher level threats such a two handed weapons such as an pickaxe, sledgehammer, axe, spear, and even affixed bayonets. Even a knife in the hands of someone who can put an unusually high amount of force into stabbing can defeat a stab vest. However it is still great for stuff people would likely to conceal where rapid quick jabbing is likely to occur. Of course there is probably protective gear such as riot gear that could be more withstanding of heavier two handed threats, but it's likely best to not take a pickaxe to the chest in the first place.

Overlap between the two categories is minimal. Metal ballistic plates will stop knifes, though said plate covers minimal body area and is typically heavy. Soft armor is one or the other, though one could be worn over the other at the cost of bulk.

[[image:NIJ Stab level.PNG|thumb|200px|right|NIJ Stab standard]]

== Modern Materials ==
For soft armor vests, the original materials used to make the dozens of layers that catch bullets and absorb their energy were either silk, cotton, or nylon. Ultimately, they were replaced with high strength synthetic polymer fibers with Kevlar being the first invented in the the 1970's. It's been competing ever since with over a dozen rival polymer formulas.
The standard hard armor trifecta of UHMWPE (essentially dense polymers ratched up to 11), Steel/titanium, and Ceramic usually places Ceramic at the top. As ceramic is not vulnerable to steel-core or fast-moving threats, it does not fold to M855 and M193 at the NIJ III level like UHMWPE and Steel do, respectively. What makes metals and UHMWPE appealing for plate inserts over ceramic is cost reduction and (assuming the plates haven't been penetrated yet) reusability. On the other hand, metal plate inserts need to be coated with high strength resins and polymer covers to prevent metal fragments from ricochets and spalling from hitting soldiers in the face or limbs.

== Yurop and Russia ==
Outside of the US, there are standards like VPAM and GOST, HOSDB and SK. Of these, the HOSDB is the only one not designed for military and civil use, while the rest are comprehensives intended for both military and civil protection.

==Anatomy of armor==
[[File:HenryVIIIArmor.jpg|right|thumb|300px|You thought we were joking about the dick armor?]]
Basic terminology of the different parts of armor. Unless you were very wealthy, such as a knight, not everyone had every part of their body covered in armor.

*[[Helmet]] - protects the head, one of the most common pieces of armor.
*Gambeson - padded cloth armor suit worn underneath metal armor to absorb blunt force and protect the wearer from the armor itself (metal and boiled leather aren't nice to unprotected humans skin, especially under extreme temperatures). Later variants often reinforced with sown-in mail in places actual metal armor above it have gaps and joints.
*Cuirass - protects the torso. If its made from a single piece of metal, it is a breastplate. Most breastplate are associated with full-body steel plate armor, but ancient Greeks had a bronze version called the "heroic Cuirass", or the Roman "Lorica Musculata", often molded with fake muscles and various decorations.
:*Plackart - lower torso reinforcement that would overlap with a breastplate for extra protection, and connected to the faulds. The reason for this reinforcement is to act as a cushion for blows to the chest, as there is enough space between the plackart and curiass that it acts as additional padding to prevent soft tissue damage underneath.
:*Faulds - a metal skirt attached to the breastplate, allowing some leg protection while offering mobility. Alternately, if the Faulds are in two pieces (one for each leg), they're known as Tassets. If a separate piece protects the ass, it's called a culet.
:*Lance Rest - the lone offensive feature of armor (aside from the rare spikes), enables holding using a lance with less energy wasted on sliding around. Makes the energy transfer so efficent that lances can actually break when used.
*Gorget - protects the neck and nape. With certain helmets, such as the Sallet, the gorget protected the lower head where the helmet did not.
**Bevor - a related piece of neck armor. Unlike the Gorget, these did not surround the entire neck but covered the front of the neck at the throat and chin. If segmented by folding laminate plates, it was called a Falling Buffe.
*[[Pauldrons]] - protects the shoulders. The real life versions are nowhere near as big as those on space marines.
**Spaulder - Armor used to protect the upper arm between the vambrace and the pauldron. Later replaced by the simpler Rebrace (also called an Upper Cannon).
*Gauntlets - protects the hands.
*Bracers (also call vambraces or braces) - protects the forearms and wrists.
**Manica - Armor that covers an arm, used primarily by the Romans. Typically used to protect the sword arm when it leaves the safety of a shield, but gladiators are known to have worn just it and the attached pauldron.
**Couter (also called Cowter or Elbow Cop) - essentially a metal elbow guard.
*Greaves - similar to modern shin guards, they protects the legs.
**Poleyn (alternatively called Genouillere) - basically a metal knee guard.
*Sabatons - protects the feet (you don't want some smartass spearman stabbing at your unarmored feet now, would you?)
*Codpiece - Yes, believe it or not, you could get dick armor too. Ordinarily this was just to armor the [[Slaanesh|groin area]] like an athletic cup, but some people like King Henry VIII made [[Kaldor Draigo|massive codpieces]] to show off how well-endowed they were.
*Tabard - Technically not armor, but was the decorative sleeveless coat that would drape over the armor of knights. Besides being used as an identifier through the knight's [[Imperial Knight|heraldry]], it also shielded armor from the desert sun so that the knight wouldn't boil in their own armor.
**Sashimono - Japanese equivalent. Essentially a way for armor to hold a small flag. Associated more with ashigaru armor than samurai, but samurai did wear them as well.

== Warhammer 40k ==
*[[Flak Armor]]: This is actually a ballistic vest, not Flak armor. Think an ESAPI (or the new XSAPI) plate modeled off of a cuirass. It can withstand stubber fire all across, up to rifle caliber, so consider most modern rifle ammo utterly pointless and it can take a modest beating from lasguns. The problem is, it starts getting shaky at the 12.7mm level, which... Unfortunately for the Imperial Guard, a ''lot'' of stuff can be considered "higher" than said level.
*[[Carapace Armor]]: Better flak armor (the 40K kind which is a ballistic vest) but with much more coverage and better quality materials. Basically the equivalent to full-plated armor made of ceramite and plasteel, it's generally [[Neckbeard|heavier and cumbersome]], but only issued really to those more capable of making the most use out of it.
*[[Power Armour|Powered armor]]: Space marine general issue, as well as several powerful Imperial organizations. Comes with both long term and short term necessities, with high-grade ceramite and admantium for protection, stabilizing and targeting gear to assist, and general life support if the being inside doesn't already have some. Very fancy. Honestly, it has its own article for a reason and this list section would do it no justice.

== Armor in Fiction ==

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Musclecuirass.JPG| Greek bronze Muscle Cuirass
Image:Linothorax.jpg| Greek Linothorax, a bronze-reinforced linen armor
Image:Roman Soldier mail.jpg|Roman Mail
Image:LoricaSegmentata.jpg|Roman Lorica Segmentata, a type of Laminar
Image:MirrorArmor.JPG|Mirror armor over a mail shirt
Image:ScaleArmor.JPG|Indian Scale armor
Image:Plated mail.jpg|Indian Plated Mail
Image:Bechter.jpg|Close-up of Eastern-European plated-mail pattern
Image:Koryak.jpg|Koryak warriors wearing traditional lamellar armour
Image:Lamellar.JPG|Japanese Lamellar
Image:Samurai armor.jpg|Japanese Laminar
Image:Gambeson.jpg| European Gambeson, a padded cloth armor used by both commoners and knights
Image:Brigandine.jpg|European Brigandine
Image:visby.jpg|Inside view of some DIYfag's homemade "Visby-pattern" brigandine
Image:Plate armor.jpg|European Plate
Image:FlakJacket.png| Flak Jacket
Image:BallisticVest.JPG|Ballistic Vest
Image:Bombsuit.jpg|Bombsuit
Image:IOTV_(OCP_variant).jpg|Improved Outer Tactical Vest
Image:SPS_(Soldier_Protection_System).jpg|Soldier Protection System, set to replace the IOTV in 2019. Designed with both mobility and protection in mind.
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Fantasy Armor]] for one of the usual flame wars involved in "armor".
* [[Armor Save]]

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

BattleTech

2021-09-17T13:39:02Z

2607:FB90:6E78:5D01:849A:2562:5ACF:B113: /* Minor Powers */

{{awesome}}
[[Image:NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|center]]
{{Game Infobox
|name = BattleTech
|picture = [[Image:NEW-BT-LOGOFLAT.png|200px]]
|type = [[Wargame]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|playno = Trillions
|year = 1984
|books = Total Warfare or The BattleMech Manual
}}
{{topquote|It is the 31st century, a time of endless wars that rage across human-occupied space. As star empires clash, these epic wars are won and lost by BattleMechs, 23-56 foot tall humanoid metal titans bristling with lasers, autocannons and dozens of other lethal weapons; enough firepower to level entire city blocks. Your elite force of MechWarriors drives these juggernauts into battle, proudly holding your faction's flag high, intent on expanding the power and glory of your realm. At their beck and call are the support units of armored vehicles, power armored infantry, aerospace fighters and more, wielded by a MechWarrior's skillful command to aid him in ultimate victory. Will they become legends, or forgotten casualties? Only your skill and luck will determine their fate!|Product promotional tagline}}

'''Battletech''', or '''MechWarrior''' as most of the non-neckbearded populace know it, is a tabletop wargame about armies of giant robots fighting one another for honor, money, and territory in a far-distant feudal future. Think [[Star Wars]] AT-STs, or [[Warhammer 40,000]]'s [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]] (Games Workshop decided they liked Battlemechs too). It’s also perhaps the most realistic example of walker warfare. Using their size to mount sufficient energy generation and armor that they are fast enough, maneuverable enough, and armored enough that being a bullet magnet does not matter. Using their vertical build to mount numerous huge weapons that each would take up all the space on most tanks modern militaries would consider super-heavy. Usually operating in combined arms warfare and supported by tanks, hovercraft, aircraft, and infantry. Not sinking into the ground like its quicksand because dirt reaches maximum compression very quickly (and thus all anti-mech arguments are rendered invalid by combined arms, armor, power-plant, firepower, and actual science), and so on. The realism of the technology (if not the moronic House Lords and nonsensical events) is so great it could be a glimpse into the future. Y’know, before Bolos come along and replace everything.

==Holy Crap, Giant Robots Are Awesome==
[[Image:Batdroid.jpg|thumb|right|''Battledroids'', the first edition of the game, c. 1984. A ''literally''-textbook example on how to get sued nine different ways from Sunday.]]
In the early 1980s, [[Jordan Weisman]] was [[Weeaboo|fascinated]] by several Japanese [[anime]] involving giant robots, or "[[mecha]]." He was quoted as saying that he liked the designs and idea of giant robots fighting on the battlefield, but did not have a taste for the storylines that the Japanese wrote about them. In 1984, Weisman founded [[FASA]] and acquired the licenses to designs from several series, the most famous being ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross,'' though the largest portion came from ''Fang of the Sun Dougram'' and combined them to make Battletech.

The first edition of this game, called ''Battledroids'', was a hex-based boardgame played on a battlefield illustrated with various types of terrain. It came with two large plastic minis of featured mechs, imported from Japan. Initially, sales were mediocre as the sheer size of the mechs made them awkward in gameplay. Soon after the launch of ''Battledroids'' Lucasfilm filed a lawsuit against FASA for using the name "droids," which they had trademarked in 1978. Discretion being the better part of valor, FASA changed the name of the game to Battlemech in time for the second edition printing in 1986. This time, cardboard stand-ins replaced the plastic miniatures, and a tradition was born. To this day, Battletech can be played without purchasing any physical models and with any proxy you please.

Following the release of the second edition, fans of the game clamored for new miniatures. FASA obliged, rescaling their mechs for more convenient play and designing a host of in-house mechs to broaden variety and bridge the gap between the sleek Macross and crude Dougram designs. New models notwithstanding, the third edition, dubbed ''Battletech,'' was shipped with solely Macross- and Dougram-based minis. However, in 1995 [[That Guy|Harmony]] [[Rage|Gold]], an American localization company which had licensed the international distribution and toy rights to SDF Macross, issued a C&D against FASA for the use of all mecha designs from the Macross franchise. FASA ceased production of these miniatures, which were among the most popular designs in the franchise, and published a fourth edition of the game in 1996 again featuring cardboard tokens, which were all based on their own original mechs.

Before '''''Battletech''''', the mecha genre was seen as something that belonged mostly to the Japanese. With few exceptions (''Power Rangers'' and ''Star Wars'', and even then the Mechs from the former were reused footage from Japanese shows), the genre was almost entirely made up of anime productions imported from Japan. Battletech pioneered a new approach to mecha within the Western fandom, featuring mostly stories of pseudo-realistic wars fought by real soldiers rather than teenagers taking on forces of evil or single-handedly winning interplanetary wars, plots that dominated the few mecha series that were subbed by the dedicated VHS fansubbers of the day. More importantly, the physical limitations of the Battlemechs, unlike the limitations of tanks in, say, [[Warhammer 40,000]], are critical to the planning and strategy of outfitting mechs and using them on the tabletop.

===The Mechs===
{{topquote|"Shoot for his cockpit! [[Iron Hands|Kill the meat]], [[Adeptus Mechanicus|save the metal.]]"|Sergeant Robert "Deadeye" Unther (Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries - Training Tutorial)}}
BattleTech mechs function and are utilized more like tanks with legs than the super-agile flying mecha common in Japanese depictions. Mechs are deployed in formations of four or five, called lances in the Inner Sphere and stars in the Clans. They are able to operate in space, on planets with caustic atmospheres, underwater, and in a wide range of temperatures that would be lethal to unprotected humans. One of the biggest upsides of mechs as combat vehicles is their extreme efficiency-of-arms: an effectively limitless amount of time without requiring fuel due to their fusion reactors alongside hyper-efficient Myomer 'muscles' inside the Battlemech’s limbs that can carry more weapons and armor per-ton than any other combat platform in existence. The only things stopping a mech from being able to fight forever are ammunition, repairs, and allowing the pilot to rest. Even when a mech is destroyed, losing the pilot is a relatively rare occurrence thanks to very effective ejection systems. A destroyed mech chassis can also be salvaged and rebuilt to fight another day, good as new. In the early 3000s setting this means many mechs are often decades or even hundreds of years old, Ship of Theseus-style. Some mechs even have unique identities and/or affiliations with certain royal Houses or mercenary families. Also, as stated in the quote above, it's not uncommon for cash-strapped mercenaries, pirates, or even planetary militia to prioritize aiming for the cockpit and/or forcing Mechwarriors to eject from overheating/battle damage in order to claim the surviving Battlemech wreckage for salvage or as a spoil of war.

As far as locomotion styles, bipedal mechs are the most common, with the weapon systems mounted either in the torso compartments or on the arms. Quadrupedal mechs do exist but are relatively rare, they are slower than bipedal mechs and don't offer the same amount of weapon space for a given weight class and more legs (and more everything else) on a mech means, of course, greater expenses. Even rarer are tripod mechs, generally restricted to experimental super-heavy designs. Bipedal mechs can also grasp things in their hands (if they have them) like melee weapons or pesky tanks. Early versions of BattleTech feature mechs that could transform into fighter planes, but these were dropped relatively quickly in its life cycle due to copyright problems.

The main downside of mechs is their inability to efficiently manage heat buildup. Heat is generated by the fusion reactor, the environment, movement, and mostly as a result of firing weapons. Mechs mount multiple gigantic one-ton heatsink units to deal with this buildup, but it is a constant problem for pilots to manage. Mechs that feature a lot of energy-based weapons will generate especially high levels of heat, and therefore manage very poorly in extremely hot environments. Firing all the weapons of certain mech variants at once (the ''Nova'' mech is most infamous) can cause it to overheat to such an extent that the reactor core melts down before the heatsinks can shunt the heat out of the chassis, which is bad. Safety measures that shut down the entire mech when it reaches a certain temperature threshold are always installed, but since this usually happens in a combat situation, and thus leaves the mech defenseless, some pilots will intentionally disable the safeguards to take their chances. Depending on the technology level of a given game, more efficient heatsinks can be assigned to mechs that remove heat more quickly and allow hotter builds. The fluff also mentions some experimental heatsinks that changed the heat energy to light (<strike>???</strike>Actually plausible, we have been experimenting with this concept irl) but had the downside of making the mech look like a walking rave, as well as heatsinks that utilized caustic liquids to move heat faster but with a limited lifespan.

Weapons consist of three general categories: ballistic, energy, and missile. Each has its own strengths and weakness: ballistic weapons weigh more, require ammo, but do not generate much heat, energy weapons are the opposite, and missiles generate some heat/consume ammo but can be indirectly fired with targeting data from scouts. Outfitting a mech for the proper engagement is key to obtaining victory: mechs outfitted for mech-to-mech combat will generally mount only high-damage weapons with lower ammo counts and slower rates of fire, while mechs set for vehicle and infantry combat will mount weapons that fire quickly but do lower damage per shot. Likewise, mechs that do not expect steady resupply will mount more energy weapons so they are not beholden to ammo counts.

Mechs range between 20 to 100 tons in four weight classes, though a few experimental units lie outside these ranges. The weight classes are light (20-35), medium (40-55), heavy (60-75), and assault (80-100). Considering their size (23-56 feet), that's pretty light; the Maus (33 feet long and 11 feet high) mega-tank that Adolf Hitler demanded weighed 188 tons. (One possible explanation here is that the "tonnage" in a weight class isn't the weight of the mech, but rather the weight available to mount things on the chassis. So an Atlas assault mech has 100 tons of available space for reactor, life support, weapons, armor etc, explaining why various sub-types of a mech drop something and replace it with something else of equal weight. A Flea light mech has 20 tons). Rarer still are super heavy mechs (with weights between 110 to 200 tons). While they are walking fortresses that put even Assault Mechs to shame, they tend to be ridiculously expensive, extremely slow, have issues with supporting that weight, are vulnerable to attacks from swarms of smaller enemies like tanks, and have difficulty installing reactors with sufficient power. Top sustainable speeds of mechs vary from 32.4 kph (20 mph) for the assault ''Annihilator'' to 162 kph (101 mph) for the light ''Firemoth'' scout. Keep in mind that the American M1A1 Abrams tank has a top speed of 72 kph (45 mph) on a paved road and much less crossing difficult terrain. Mechs can also be mounted with rechargeable jump jets that give them the ability to hop across the battlefield or up/down terrain. According to varying fluff depictions, mechs are even able to climb up/down cliff walls and perform flying dropkicks to enemy cockpits, which is awesome.

Depending on where in the timeline the specific game takes place (this is a player choice), there will be two possible classes of mechs: [[BattleMech]]s and [[OmniMech]]s. Battlemechs are the older style, with a set number of variants that cannot be changed in the field. This style was universal in the Inner Sphere before the arrival of the Clans. Omnimechs, a Clan invention, feature a modular construction style and a snap-on software integration which gives them the freedom of changing loadouts quickly. For example, a ''Dragon'' Battlemech comes in a default configuration consisting of one LRM-10, one Autocannon/5, and two medium lasers. The 1C variant replaces the Autocannon/5 with an Autocannon/2 and more armor, while the 5N upgrades the Autocannon/5 to an Ultra Autocannon/5. A pilot must use one of these variants and is incapable of changing the loadout without serious hours-long reworking of the mech's internals in a Mech maintenance facility. Conversely, a ''Mad Dog'' Omnimech comes with a default configuration of two LRM-20s, two medium pulse lasers, and two large pulse lasers. A pilot is able to modify this loadout as they see fit within less than an hour with a technical team, say dropping the two medium pulse lasers for more missile ammo/armor or changing the LRMs to SRMs for short-range engagements.

Like most Western sci-fi series, Battlemechs are somewhat inspired by real theoretical technologies; their weapons range from machine guns (albeit very big ones) and missiles, to coilguns and particle accelerators. The biggest leaps from reality (aside from FTL travel and communications) are the fusion reactor, (a technology still only theoretically possible,) the neurohelmet, (which interfaces with the pilot's brain and keeps the mech upright based on the pilot's own sense of balance,) and the massive muscle-like Myomer fibers that actually allow the mech to move upon being exposed to electrical current.

While Battlemechs dominate the battlefields of Battletech, armored vehicles still have a place. Most of the time, tanks, hovercraft, and APCs are used where mechs would be too expensive (or too advanced) to maintain, or in roles where a mech would be ineffective. This means that, in addition to Battlemechs, one can find infantry, vehicles, aerial vehicles, naval vehicles, and spaceships. It is worth noting that vehicles can be a real threat to Battlemechs in great enough numbers, since they mount the same weapons as mechs. Some tanks can also push the 100-ton limit and sport the gigantic weaponry usually mounted on an Assault mech chassis. In other words, where mechs are [[Space Marines]], the vehicles are more akin to [[Eldar]] Aspects.

Mechs in BattleTech fiction also have a curious tendency to go up in a mini nuclear explosion when their reactor core is breached by weapon fire. Mushroom clouds, explosions, heat, radiation, the whole bit. This has been nicknamed "stackpoling" after BattleTech novel author Michael Stackpole, who includes at least one of these events in each novel he writes. If the reactor was actually breached, what should happen is a meltdown of the reactor (and probably some chunks of the surrounding mech) that quickly burns out because the reactor can't maintain the fusion reaction without proper containment. Reactors are generally incapable of generating an actual nuclear explosion: real-world reactor "explosions" are usually a result of the coolant flash-overheating and generating a pressure-based steam explosion that destroys the reactor building. Lingering radiation would still be a problem of course, but that is usually handwaved away in BattleTech fluff or not mentioned at all.

To get into the actual science of this, a hypothetical fusion reactor wouldn't produce that many radioactive substances. And what few they do would be relatively short lived and would be weak beta emitters. The most likely substance would be Tritium, which is where the stereotypical glow in the dark green radiation comes from. The Mech would glow in the dark but a decent decontamination process would render it mostly harmless. In other words, the stories are right for the wrong reasons.

==Warfare in the Thirty-first Century==

When somebody decides to attack another world, they load up their 'Mechs (and tanks, and infantry, etc...) onto massive shuttles called DropShips. These boost off into space and link up with Jumpships, semi-mobile Space-Fold drives sitting a ways out into the star's system (due to the limits of BattleTech FTL, Jumpships can't get any closer to a system's star than a radius roughly around the orbit of Saturn in the Sol System. For simplicity's sake, most Jumpships move to the zenith or nadir points directly "above" or "below" the star's orbital plane). The Dropships latch onto the Jumpships, which make a series of jumps from star to star until they reach the target system.

Compared to some sci-fi franchises such as Star Wars or Star Trek, aerospace combat between ships isn’t really that common for several reasons. For one, KF Drive used to propel Jumpships (all of which can’t land on a planet) makes up 95% of its mass and leaves little room for anything else besides Dropship docking ports, basic ship equipment, crew quarters, and the Jumpsail used for recharging the drive. And while Warships do exist with drives half the size as their civilian models, the drives alone are more than five times more expensive to build and are prioritized for only strategically vital missions like real-life Dreadnoughts. In that regard, Battletech’ Jumpships are closer to Dune’s massive but ungainly Heighliners than Star War’s Star Destroyers. As a result, most aerospace combat is dominated by armed Dropships or aerospace fighters.

Once they reach the target, the Dropships detach from the Jumpships and burn deeper into the system towards the planet. Now Jumpships aren't stealthy, so anyone on the target planet likely detected their entrance into the system, and it typically takes Dropships seven days (varies dramatically for each star system) to reach the planet. Surprise attacks are nearly impossible, and defenders will have up to a week to get ready (some clever or smart people try to shave time by trying to match the target world's orbit with a nonstandard point closer to the planet, or even rare "Pirate" points caused by gravity interactions between celestial bodies, but even this usually gives defenders at least a day to prepare, not to mention the hilarious habit of Pirate points to just mangle dropships attempting to use them beyond recognition). Of course, these aren’t actually rare and we have quite a number of them around Earth, the moon, and every other celestial body including the sun. So close that by BattleTech standards it would take probably just a few minutes to reach the Earth from one of its own null gravity points. Seeing as their dropships can reach Sol's top or bottom null-G in just a few days.

As the invading force reaches planetary orbit, the defenders will usually try to intercept them with their own defensive ships, usually Dropships, Shuttles, and Aerospace Fighters, and the Attackers will launch fighters of their own. Space battle will begin in earnest as the defenders try to keep the enemy from landing on world at all (FASA originally had two separate games, Aerotech and Battlespace, that dealt with this stage of combat, but current BattleTech rules incorporate Aerospace combat for those who prefer it or want the full Theater of War experience).

If the Attackers can break through orbit, they can choose their landing site (usually near the target of course). The enemy will deploy to stop them and battle begins in earnest.

==Fluff==
[[File:Mad_Cat.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The [[Timber Wolf]] (Mad Cat if you're <s>Inner Sphere</s> <s>Freebirth Scum</s> Degrazi), one of the most iconic BattleMechs in the series.]]
{{topquote|''A thousand horrid Prodigies foretold it.
A feeble government, eluded Laws,
A factious Populace, luxurious Nobles,
And all the maladies of stinking states.''|Dr. Samuel "What The Fuck Am I Reading" Johnson}}
Much like [[Games Workshop|Warhammer]], the Battletech franchise has an extensive expanded universe. Dozens of books, numerous spinoff games, video games in multiple genres, and even an animated cartoon have delved into the setting and created an entertaining, if convoluted, history that has real influences on how the game is played. Unlike Warhammer, there are no [[Xenos]] (outside of some cavemen-like species), so humans get all the glory (and blame).

===History of the Inner Sphere===
After a period of typical [[Cold War]]-era speculative history: in details, the Soviet leadership is inherited by a fictional hardliner in the 80s and the Union survives until the 2010s where it splits in the Second Soviet Civil War (this was retconned in as the game was made when the USSR hadn't collapsed yet). The appointment of a hardliner leads to NATO reforming into the Western Alliance along with the proto-EU. The Western Alliance helps the split post-Soviet Eurasian states, is joined by China and other Asian countries after a brief crisis and eventually mankind was mostly united under the Western Alliance, having renamed itself to the Terran Alliance and discovered how to travel faster-than-light by opening up artificial wormholes. By 2235, most of mankind's interstellar colonies threw off the yoke of the Alliance and formed their own stellar nation-states. What followed was a period of war and chaos which led to the rise of the "'''Great Houses'''," feudal dynasties of powerful families adhering to various pseudo-historical ideals (like Kurita's Japan fetishism, specifically the most evil aspects of WWII Japan and every other Asian countries' worst parts of their histories up to eleven) competing for total dominance of mankind. However Terra, as Earth became known after its Latin name, remained the most technologically-advanced star nation, and remained unconquered by the competing Great Houses who turned their focus on one another instead. This is one of the reasons for the severe technological stagnation that is a hallmark of the Battletech universe. After all, any idiot knows that destroying a factory or all of a certain factory production and all such factories means the knowledge of how to build their products magically disappears and the knowledge of how to build those factories poofed away the moment they were built anyway as that is the only explanation conceivable for why destroyed factories were not simply replaced and why the knowledge disappeared from every paper, computer, and mind. Obviously space magic is to blame...or exceptionally short-sighted writers.

To be clear, the given reason for how the neo-feudalism came about was due to oppression. Yet other than the Federated Suns good bois and to an extent the Lyran Commonwealth, most other nations don't have the same problems that destroyed the Alliance despite being oppressive. Super oppressive. Which begs one to question how the Hell the Outer Reaches Rebellion happened. And it still doesn't explain how the neo-feudalism came about as it would make much more sense to have administrators managing regions of space instead of giving someone the level of authority an ancient noble would have had. Perhaps it began the same way some monarchies are known to have: lords (or whatever name for a rose you want to use) being basically miniature kings of their areas who united and elected a royal dynasty from among their number.

In 2349, the Terran Hegemony introduced the first Battlemech, the 100-ton ''Mackie'', and the face of war changed forever.

===Mechs Just Got Real===
The introduction of the ''Mackie'' shifted the focus of military development away from interstellar Warships back to ground forces. The Terran Hegemony was able to prove that the 100-ton Battlemech was far superior to conventional ground vehicles (interestingly, the Terran Hegemony's main battle tank was <s>the Israeli Merkava</s> named Merkava but utterly unrelated to the Israeli tank of the same name), allowing a single man to destroy formations of opposing non-Mechs. Of course, the rest of the Inner Sphere wanted the same capability, and in 2355 the plans for the Battlemech were stolen (as usual, the writers don’t realize that stealing a design is pointless if you don’t know how to build all the parts...like myomer). The Age of the Battlemech had begun.

During the next hundred years, as the Great Houses vied for supremacy and founded the nucleus of the future Successor States, the Terran Hegemony was able to exert great influence as the most technologically-advanced and neutral of the great powers. This would lead to the creation of the '''''Star League''''' in 2571, a grand union of all of humanity's interstellar nations. While ostensibly created for the purpose of uniting mankind and keeping the peace between the stars, it was also a massive power play by Terra to secure the raw materials it needed to maintain its technological edge and once more bring mankind under Terra's dominion. In keeping with the feudal society that now dominated mankind's worlds, the position of First Lord of the Star League was invested in Terra's ruling House, the Cameron dynasty.

While Hidden Wars would plague the Star League throughout its reign, no conflicts were fought between its members as long as the Star League Defense Force kept the peace between factions. Terra's hoard of advanced technologies were shared freely among the worlds of man, and a new Golden Age descended. It all came to an end in 2766. The last of the Camerons was assassinated by Stefan Amaris, a power-hungry politician from the Periphery, the ring of interstellar nations that had refused to join the Star League and had been conquered for their trouble. Claiming the mantle of Emperor of the Star League and Director-General of the Terran Hegemony, Amaris was immediately denounced by the commander of the SLDF, Aleksandr Kerensky.

===A New Dark Age===
[[File:Aleksandr Kerensky.jpg|thumb|right|"Fuck you guys, I'm out." - Aleksandr Kerensky, Great Father of Clans]]
The Amaris Civil War destroyed the League, and led to a new Dark Age. The Great Houses, throwing off their loyalty to Terra, refused to aid either Amaris or Kerensky, and waited for the war to pass. Kerensky emerged the victor, but with the Cameron dynasty ended the other Great Houses began to vie for position of First Lord of the Star League. Disgusted by the politicking and betrayal, in 2784 Kerensky took the greater portion of the SLDF into exile beyond the Periphery. Those who remained pledged their loyalty to the Star League's last civil authority, the Ministry of Communication, which would later become Comstar, the sole provider of internet connections between worlds. Thus the Star League lost its last measure of power, and the Great Houses began the First Succession War.

Four Succession Wars, over the course of two centuries, would follow. Never would a Great House gain enough strength to declare itself master of mankind, especially since none would ever conquer Terra. Technology would [[Imperium of Man|stagnate and regress]], creating the Lostech phenomenon, technology which mankind could no longer reproduce, maintain, or even understand. Where before feudalism had been a political phenomenon, hundreds of worlds across the Inner Sphere regressed to or below the technological level of the 20th Century, and hundreds more in the Periphery failed entirely. The sole bright spot was [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Comstar]], the corporate religious entity which maintained the Hyper Pulse Generator network that enabled FTL communications between inhabited worlds. Comstar became the rulers of Terra in the wake of the Star League's collapse, and leveraged their control of the HPG network to ensure their inviolability in exchange for maintaining the incomprehensible HPG networks and neutral treatment of all communications between worlds. In order to maintain their power, they would actively [[Grimdark|sabotage, headhunt, or kill]] all promising technological advancements and promising scientists to maintain their monopoly and techno-religious authority. To be fair, unlike a certain [[Adeptus Mechanicus|cargo cult]], ComStar intervened because they realized the Great Houses were psychopaths and couldn’t be allowed to advance. Also, they were actually loyal-ish to the Star League and hated the Great Houses.

Eventually the Inner Sphere would stabilize around the Great Houses and their associated stellar empires. However, technological progress remained stagnant, and the rare factories capable of producing such advanced technologies as Battlemechs became critical components in the shattered military-industrial complexes of the so-called Successor States. Millions would die so that an LED monitor factory could be taken by one side, or so that a hundred precision-machined laser lenses could be plundered from a forgotten SLDF armory. Real progress towards recovery could only be made after large caches of information which survived the fall of the Star League were recovered; the most significant were the recovery of a long-lost Star League university's library in 3013, and the recovery and free dissemination of the contents of the Helm Memory Core in 3028. In 3028, the two largest and most powerful Successor States, the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth, were united by dynastic marriage, and it seemed that a new Golden Age might be only decades away.

But the Inner Sphere had forgotten all about Kerensky's exodus, and nobody wants ''Peace'' to break out in a wargame setting, soooo...

===Suddenly Clannerscum===
Kerensky and his followers first settled on the Pentagon Worlds, where they tried to start a new society and a new Star League. They failed though, and the wars erupted between the worlds, showing the bitter irony of life. Kerensky tried to move on, but suffered a heart attack, and the leadership was overtaken by his son, Nicholas Kerensky (who unlike his father had hair and was probably a closet [[furry]]). Nicholas took the remaining followers with him to a planet he called "Dream Land" and established the twenty original Clans.

The Clans are a tribal society that is divided into five castes - Warriors (religious and political leaders and soldiers), Scientists (less respected but are considered highly important), Merchants (detested and only kept as a necessity), Technicians (engineers and warriors' servants), and Laborers (serfs, repressed as needed). Although during the birth each child is tested for their relevance to a certain caste, but more often than not are the same as their parents. Speaking of which, Clanners strongly believe in eugenics, and most of the Warrior Caste members are genetically enhanced clones/mashups. Other castes are selectively bred by the instructions from Science Caste. On a positive side it would mean that even [[neckbeard|neckbeards]] would end up breeding (though given the Clan's brutal meritocracy/kratocracy, they'd end up as outcasts in the Bandit Caste). On the other hand, the society has only a few acceptable non-technical forms of information, meaning that there really is no reason for there to be neckbeards. Paradoxes aside, Clans were created towards efficiency, and even their language differs from the one used in the Inner Sphere. Clans constantly compete in everything, from combat to technological prowess, as they foresaw their return to the Inner Sphere and its liberation. (By their hands, of course. And logically resulting in their control.)

And that day was not far off. Unfortunately for the Inner Sphere, Comstar never forgot about Kerensky's Exodus and sent exploration vessels out to sniff out their trail and reclaim lost Star League outposts on the side. When the Clans captured one of the expeditions, they believed that the Inner Sphere would invade the Pentagon worlds. Ironically, the Clans used that as an excuse to [[Clan Invasion|return and invade]] before being forced back by the very invasion they were trying to prevent.

A prophecy of days far off, the '''''ilClan''''' is a religious myth that states that someday a Clan will take control of Terra, the Cradle of Humanity. The Khan (leader) of the Clan of Clans which captures Terra will become the new, true ilKhan (Khan of Khans) and re-establish the Star League, over which their blood shall reign in perpetuity. All will be Clan, Clan will be all.

'''''ilClan''''' is also an [[Skub|abortive Battletech rulebook]] that has been in the works since '''2002''', ever since the '''Dark Age''' Era was published. Ostensibly intended to be the next historical Era, featuring all new rules to reflect the dominance of Clan society and technology, the bankruptcies and sales that Battletech went through stalled all development. In addition, most fans are [[Advancing the Storyline|vehemently opposed to the destruction of most of the factions]] in the game, and have spoken up at every opportunity to denounce the plans behind ilClan. A prank release of a provisional ilClan historical outline drew tremendous outcry and Catalyst Game Labs has subsequently decided to focus on rereleasing and updating older Era rulesets.

===Meanwhile, In The Inner Sphere===
...Of course, when the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere with the intent of liberating it from the feuding Great Houses, those same great houses <s>said "okay" and handed over the reins</s> put aside their differences and fought the Clans to a stand-still. This was an incredible show of camaraderie, and the most cooperative the houses had been since the Star League fell. It was all quite touching, really.

Sort of. The Clan invasion was getting bogged down and while they were making progress towards Terra it seemed like the new normal would be just constant unending war because they couldn't manage to actually put any of the successors away for good. ComStar, the self-serving treacherous pricks that they are, decided that something needed to be done and so made the Clans a bet. The deal was, come to Tukayyid and fight our best in one big PROVE YOUR WORTH honorduel smackup. If the Clans won, ComStar would stab all the successors in the back, disconnect their HPG access and throw the doors to Terra wide open. If ComStar won, the Clans would agree to a fifteen year armistice.

The Clans, being honourable glory-seeking meatheads, agreed and converged on Tukayyid, dividing up objectives between Clans thinking that this was the beginning of the glorious endgame. All the while blissfully unaware that ComStar are every bit the cheating bastards you'd expect of an ISP in space with their own army. The Battle of Tukayyid wasn't a complete shutout for the Clans but it definitely illustrated that they still hadn't figured out how to actually win wars. In most of the engagements the Com Guard pounded the Clanners like discount tenderloin and because of their stubborn honourable ways the Clanners were obliged to abide by the cease fire by the logic of no-takey-backsies.

And then once the Clans were wrapped up behind a truce line it was time to get back to good-old inter-house wars. In an ultra-brief summary: There was the FedCom Civil War, kicking off the <s>Fifth Succession War</s> Word of Blake Jihad, the religious fanatic (well, moreso than usual) faction of Comstar went crazy over the entire Inner Sphere with cyborgs and nukes, until some dude named Devlin Stone got everyone to work together and kick them off Terra, then went on to form the Republic of the Sphere, essentially a re-establishment of the Terran Hegemony. In the meantime, the Clans got a bug up their asses over ideological purity after their Scientist Castes tried to take over, and all the Clans who invaded the Inner Sphere got kicked out of Clan Space to live there instead. Eventually someone forgot to pay the phone bill and the interstellar faster-than-light communication network went down. This ushered in the last era in the fluff known as the "Dark Age."

This is also considered the second ruination of the franchise by some. Many long-time fans think highly of the Succession Wars era of Battletech, right after the fall of the Star League. Marching around the field with walking tanks so expensive and rare that it's better to lose a pilot than a weapon is a powerful fantasy. It's often described as being "Mad Max with mechs." Of course, the blasted hellscape of the post-apocalypse is hard to maintain when the Clans invaded with their own brand-new shiny toys.
The shift from "squabbling tribes with rusty guns" to "courageous defenders with shiny factories" is often considered the first ruination of the property. When the squabbling of the Inner Sphere was broken up again by quasi-religious zealots and Battletech was forced to stitch in apocrypha from its bastard child, the miniature game MechWarrior: Dark Age, people considered it the second collapse of the franchise.

===ilClan Era <strike>Dawn of a New Age, or Not</strike>===
In 2019 Catalyst released '''Shattered Fortress''', the first half of a two-sourcebook set intended to finally advance the franchise into a post-Dark Age era. It ended with a cliffhanger: on New Year's Day 3150 a Clan fleet lands on Terra, but we don't know which Clan. Continuing the recurring theme of Battletech players not caring one bit about advancing the storyline, the release of the second book was then delayed indefinitely by the massive success of a Kickstarter offering more new miniatures and rules set 100 years back on the timeline. While each republished or recompiled rulebook has prologues hinting that the ilClan and Third Star League are around in 3250 from framing documents as archival material, details were deliberately [[Skub|left vague]]. Come 2021, and the novels have finally pushed the timeline out of the Dark Age, reception has been... [[Derp|eh]]. While some factions and characters got a lot of development and [[Awesome|heroic action]], many others were [[Rage|given the shaft]] or reduced to 2D [[FAIL|caricactures when they had potential for development]].

On January 1st, 2021 the novel ''Hour of the Wolf'' was released. Long story short, the Wolf Khan managed to get his hands on a way to bypass the Fortress Walls (unknown to most, Devlin Stone snuck them the access codes as he believed they were the least terrible of bad outcomes). Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon then beat the shit out of the Republic of the Sphere (but not before having the bulk of their commanders assassinated by headhunter units), fought a Trial of Possession for Terra, and the Wolves won. So, Clan Wolf is now ilClan. Their Khan made the Jade Falcons his clan's bodyguard (the bad elements having died fighting), and reconstituted Clan Smoke Jaguar as a non-voting clan and to serve as his clan's black ops/special forces. These Clans then created a new Star League (to a point). And with the combined might of these admittedly terribly mangled clans now strengthened by working together, they might actually make something of themselves. Others in the setting might not recognize them yet, but with the industrial might of the region(s) of space they occupy, they'll probably end up smashing faces and making it clear whose boss. Or they'll get booted off or everyone will just wait for them to self-destruct and then just walk right in.

==Factions Summary==
While each faction has a certain flavor and preferred equipment/tactics, factions do not limit your gameplay choices to particular sets of mechs/units/components, as in many other games ([[Warhammer 40,000]] is a good example, amongst many other skirmish-level wargames). So if something you want to use is in specific era of Battletech History (FEDCOM Civil War, Clan Invasion, et cetera), anything goes. Although it's common for players to roleplay as being employed by some major power, and limiting themselves to their styles. Either that or they play as mercenaries and do as they please. Seriously, the amount of in-fighting is in effect galactic level (in Warhammer 40k -- aside from humanity itself -- only the ''Necrontyr'', the flesh incarnations of the [[Necrons]], ever fought each other to such a long and drawn out extent).

===The Inner Sphere===
While other time periods might have better or more interesting rules, the most popular ruleset remains the eras between the Fourth Succession War (3028) to just before the Word of Blake Jihad (3067). This list of Inner Sphere factions covers those periods.

====[[Federated Suns]]====
Ruled by House Davion, the Federated Suns is feudal Space America or nepotistic Space UK. [[Lawful Good]], ruled by a Great House as inbred as any other is, and with all positions of power occupied by the same set of mostly blood-related elites. Without the blue blood, you're just a clever commoner. However, the Federated Suns isn't as stratified as the other Successor States, and it's easier for a common citizen to climb the ladders of wealth and power, which fuels an entrepreneurial society that is among the wealthiest in the Inner Sphere. They’re heroic defenders of freedom and democracy, provided you define “freedom and democracy” as “being ruled by the Federated Suns”. Their colors are red, white, and blue. Something about that sounds strangely familiar...

Similar to [[Ultramarines|a certain faction in a certain other wargame]], the Federated Suns usually win most of their battles, and are usually presented as the good guys, drawing a lot of accusations of Mary Suehood. Unfairly, though, as the FedSuns win so much due to wealth-fueled research and production. In other words, they work hard, do a good job, encourage businesses, and they get rewarded with victory. Unlike the Smurfs, however, the Federated Suns has actual flaws - their “democracy” is a rubber stamp, their rhetoric about freedom is mostly just an excuse to justify warmongering and imperialism, and they have such a staggering degree of wealth inequality that there are cases where the populations of multiple planets only have a single school to go between them. This means that the FedSuns attract two kinds of fans: twelve-year-olds who buy all the propaganda, and people who can appreciate playing a bunch of self-righteous, hypocritical jackasses. On the bright side, they do live up to the hype when it comes to individual liberties. And their rulers are genuinely competent and mostly don't dick them over.

Thanks to their great wealth, the Federated Suns can afford to fund actual scientific research in the form of the New Avalon Institute of Science, or Space MIT, and the Davions supported most of the tech development and recovery in the Inner Sphere prior to the Clan Invasion. They also got lucky when they found an ancient Star League library filled with various editions of tabletop wargame splatbooks. They are known to be the house that first heavily employed or utilized a lot of Clan personnel and technologies after the conclusion of the invasion.

The Federated Suns also kind of have a thing for autocannons. Think [[Space Wolves]] with wolves, or [[Orks]] with [[Dakka]], and you have an idea. If it does not have an autocannon on it the Suns will find a way to give it one, and if it does have an autocannon they find a way to upgrade it to a rotary autocannon. So if you like autocannons this is the faction for you.

Prior to the Fourth Succession War, the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth were united through marriage (technically the political union was a treaty and the marriage was out of love and had no impact on the nations' unification), forming the Federated Commonwealth, the largest and most powerful empire in the galaxy since the Star League. In order to bridge the distance between the two nations, however, the Federated Commonwealth had to conquer large swathes of the Capellan Confederation, which they did easily. However, only a few decades later the Commonwealth was broken up by the FedCom Civil War, when Katherine Steiner-Davion schemed to either take over the Commonwealth or secede the Lyran half of it because she was a royal bitch. She is commonly known as simply The Bitch by many fans. And her splitting of the FedCom is incredibly weird since her nobles were against her, her military mostly liked the advantages brought by the FedSuns, and her public liked the massive boosts in economy and technological progress. Oh, and she was rebel usurper. And had no authority to do any of the things she did. So, her successful secession doesn't make a lick of sense and you just kinda have to suck it up. Oh yeah, and she had her mother murdered out of greed. The FedSuns are currently getting kicked around by pretty much everybody during the Dark Age, primarily because the current head of the house, Caleb, is extremely paranoid and rather psychotic. Thankfully he got killed by the Kuritans with some insider help from Clan Snow Raven (in exchange for some buffer territory). Not so thankfully, his death also brought the destruction of virtually most of the Davions' regular armed forces concentrated on one planet while enabling the Kuritans to take over the capital. <strike>''Save us, Julian!''</strike> Kuritans being what they're like, they probably raped and tortured everyone they didn't murder and their dogs.

====[[Lyran Commonwealth]]====
[[File:Steiner Assault.jpg|350px|right|thumb|A typical scene of a Lyran Archon wondering why their cousin has failed to relieve the Commonwealth alongside a bloody frontline against their enemies. They're likely either at a ball dance or planning a coup.]]
Space Germany with some Space Scotland and Space Scandinavia kicking around, the Lyran Commonwealth is the largest successor state and owns the most resource-rich planets in the Inner Sphere, making them an industrial and economic powerhouse. Their government was supposed to be modeled on ancient Athens, led by a council of nine Archons, but this did not work out ''at all'', and eventually Archon Robert Marsden decided he'd had enough of this shit and overthrew the other Archons in a military coup. The Marsdens were eventually replaced by the Steiners via marriage, who have ruled the Commonwealth to this day.

The Lyrans are rich. Really, really absurdly rich. The only reason they haven't conquered the Inner Sphere yet is that they prefer to put the relatives of rich businessmen in charge of their army rather than, y'know, actual soldiers, meaning basically every Lyran military officer is terrible at their job. There is at least one recorded case of the Lyran military starting a major interstellar war ''by accident''. Fortunately, since they're so rich, they're able to make up for their ludicrous incompetence with the biggest and heaviest weapons in the Inner Sphere. The joke goes that a typical Steiner scout lance consists of four 100-ton '''''Atlas''''' mechs (imagine a scout-recon team composed entirely of Warlord Titans and you'll get the idea). Steiner forces tend to be big and slow, barely able to outmaneuver enemy fortresses. Of course, once they (eventually) get into range, you can kiss that fortress goodbye.

Late in the Third Succession War, Archon Katrina Steiner shocks the entire Inner Sphere by actually calling for a peace treaty. Only Hanse Davion is at all interested, and he winds up marrying Katrina's daughter Melissa and uniting the two countries into one massive empire, the Federated Commonwealth (see above). Predictably, this Beauty-and-the-Geek romance starts out exceedingly awesome then epically fails and it's back to single life for the too-pretty Steiners. Recently tried to have Clan Wolf migrate through their coreward territory to keep the Free Worlds League from reforming during the Dark Age while holding the transported civilian castes as insurance. The plan backfired with the Free Worlds League still reforming and Clan Wolf taking much of the coreward and middle territory in the Lyran Commonwealth to form the Wolf Empire. This, on top of a massive amount of civil unrest means the Lyrans are too busy with damage control from Wolf and Jade Falcon invasions along with internal rebellions to be a threat to anyone. The moral of the story is: don’t try to manipulate badasses who nearly conquered everyone without trying. They will fuck you up for it. Also, trying to hold civilians hostage against a culture that thinks civilians are barely human at all is pointless. It tends to go like "Okay, I'll kill a bunch of your people and conquer chunks of your territory". You threaten to kill the civilians and your enemy is totally incapable of understanding why they should care.

====[[Free Worlds League]]====
Taking elements from America, Yugoslavia, and Austria-Hungary, the Free Worlds League is a federal democratic republic. No, really! They have a parliament and everything. Of course, the commander-in-chief of the Free Worlds League Military is always a member of House Marik because parliament doesn’t think anyone else can do the job, and the entire country has been operating under martial law “for the duration of the emergency” since the Star League broke up. But in principle, both democracy and federalism are alive and well in Marik space, making it impossible to get anything done.

Everyone in the Free Worlds League hates everyone else in the Free Worlds League. After finding out that Captain-General Thomas Marik had been in hiding running the Word of Blake for decades and the guy they’d been taking their orders from all that time was actually just some hobo picked up off the street, they gave up on trying to make the thing work at all and collapsed. Which is a shame because fake Marik was one of the best Captain-Generals they ever had. After the Dark Age, said hobo’s daughter managed to put it back together again, which kind of makes you start to wonder about that whole “only the Mariks can handle the Captaincy-General” thing. Doesn't help that she had to make a deal with the Spirit Cat and Sea Fox clanners to cement the whole thing together as well as marrying the official Marik family's head.

The Free Worlds League Military is built around combined arms warfare, treating infantry, vehicles, and aerospace fighters as if they were just as useful as mechs. They also used to have the most LAMs back before [[squat|LAMs ceased to be a thing]]. They don’t get a lot of attention, since they’re far away from the FedSuns and the Clans and therefore don’t get involved in stories about factions the writers actually care about. The constant in-fighting probably doesn't help. That said, their most likely do enough to keep their jobs, which is probably good enough to satisfy the average Joe, who couldn't care less about political squabbles.

Think of the Free Worlds League as Space Holy Roman Empire.

====[[Draconis Combine]]====
Ruled by House Kurita, the Draconis Combine is the obligatory Space Japan, in the sense that it is ''obligatory'' to be Japanese. It has large Arab and Scandinavian minorities who are legally required to be [[weeaboo]]s, with the country as a whole drawing on both the age of samurai and the militaristic Imperial Japan of the 1920s to 40s. The twelve-year-olds listed above, if they leave the FedSuns, will likely move to this weeaboo paradise with its delusional "fierce solo samurai warrior takes on all opponents Kurosawa Style" appeal, not realizing that lone mechs get [[rape|gang-banged]] by enemies who are teamed up like a pack of mechanical hyenas. Defended by weeaboos despite being responsible for the single most horrific massacre in human history during the First Succession War. For an alternate look into this supposed massacre, please read ''Did 52 million really die?'' In fact, they have a habit of doing this. “We defeated the mercenaries on this planet who have nothing to do with the general populace. Nuke everyone before we leave. Why? Uhhhh...do we really need a reason? <s>they’re not our enemies or anything, but [[Lulz|murder is fun]]</s> SCORCHED EARTH TACTICS! Preventing enemies from using the planet’s populace or resources against us is a valid strategy!”

Like everyone else in the Inner Sphere, the Draconis Combine is a warmongering, autocratic empire ruled with an iron fist that wants to take over the galaxy. Unlike everyone else in the Inner Sphere, they actually admit it. They're the only successor state that makes absolutely no pretenses of being a democracy, with the Coordinator of Worlds being treated as a divinely anointed absolute monarch who is the sole legitimate ruler of all humanity. They were the first to start shit after the Star League collapsed, with the Coordinator declaring himself the new First Lord and launching an invasion of the Federated Suns that eventually wound up getting him killed on Kentares IV, prompting his son to launch the aforementioned massacre. They've been the mortal enemies of the Federated Suns ever since.

Similar to the Davions and their love of autocannons and the Steiners and their love of everything heavy and assault, Kuritans are really, really into PPCs (Particle Projector Cannons), mainly because they're dirt poor and [[Lasgun]]s are cheaper than bullets. If there is a mech that can possibly mount a PPC, the Dracs will put one on it. For instance, see the ''Catapult'': a 65-ton long-range fire support mech intended for indirect fire using the Long Range Missle (LRM) racks in its "ears". Almost every variant of the ''Catapult'' is centered around these LRM racks with a few minor backup weapons. They are a reliable, battle-tested design that no commander in their right mind would attempt to 'fix', because isn't broken... except in the eyes of House Kurita. Once the Combine got their hands on it those ears were replaced with two PPCs for direct fire support and two machine guns for <s>civilian massacres</s> INFANTRY DETERRENTS.

Kuritans were also [[Fail|involved in the worst Battletech novel ever written]], wherein a ship of theirs was lost in time and space, and [[what|found giant]], [[Kroot|alien, sentient chickens]]. Far Country is a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6zQ6ZqEqg0 Shamefur Dispray]! and pretty much serves as the only time aliens are actually mentioned in the BattleTech universe.

====[[Capellan Confederation]]====
Culturally, Space China or Space Russia. Politically, Space North Korea. The Confederation was originally founded when several minor states in the Capellan Zone who were sick of the Federated Suns trying to "liberate" them joined together, [[lolwut|bombed their own capital to make a point]], and fought the Davions off. Secure in this victory, they then proceeded to never win a war ever again. Sounds like their rulers were evil after all.

Citizens of the Capellan Confederation enjoy probably the highest standard of living of any commoner in the Inner Sphere, with an extensive, cradle-to-grave welfare system and the best education and health care the state can provide. [[Grimdark|*Non*-citizens of the Capellan Confederation, known as "Servitors", are basically slaves.]] Becoming a citizen requires you to provide a certain amount of service to the state by the age of seventeen, and citizenship can be removed as punishment for disloyalty. Even those who aren't unfortunate enough to be Servitors basically have their lives decided for them by the Capellan caste system and the government's ability to tell them that they have to move to a new planet and take up a new career at any given moment. The writers might have eventually gotten the note on how pointless this was because under chancellor Sun-Tzu (No, really) Liao in 3052 the servitors were awarded more rights, their quasi slavery condition abolished and they were given better chances at gaining citizenship, boosting Sun-Tzu's popularity in the process. Just as planned.

The Confederation is run by a Chancellor, who's supposed to be elected by the nobility but in reality is pretty much always the head of House Liao. This is rather unfortunate, since the Liaos have a noticeable tendency towards being batshit fucking insane ''even by Inner Sphere nobility standards''. They claim descent from Elias Liao, who was either a persecuted revolutionary philosopher (if you ask a Capellan) or a psychopathic nuclear terrorist (if you ask anyone else). The main family line births a homicidal maniac at least every other generation, e.g. Kali Liao, who became the leader of a cyborg death cult with a taste for mass nerve-gas attacks. At one point, they decided that having a regular military just wasn't cool enough for them and created the Warrior Houses, a bunch of weird pseudo-religious warrior cults that only answer to the Chancellor.

Since the Capellans have lost basically every war they've ever fought and live right next to the Federated Suns, they've become the designated "sneaky" faction, focusing on guerrilla warfare and covert operations. They go for stealth and electronic warfare the way the Davions go for autocannons, best exemplified by their iconic Raven electronic warfare 'Mech (which, depending on the model, actually looks like a bird; weird but cool). After the Clan Invasion and FedCom Civil War, they acquired a taste for the newly-developed Plasma weapons. Got the absolute shit beat out of them by the Federated Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War, got revenge when the Commonwealth tore itself apart a few decades later.

====[[ComStar]]====
Imagine a cross between the medieval Catholic Church and Comcast, and you have ComStar. During the Star League Civil War, the network of Hyperpulse Generators that the Star League had built for faster-than-light communications was in ruins, and the one thing that the Great Houses could agree on was that ''somebody'' had to fix all their space phones right fucking now. They named Jerome Blake, the highest-ranking HPG network official still alive, as Minister of Communications, which, since they didn't name any other ministers, basically put him in charge of Terra. As the Star League collapsed, Blake bummed some soldiers off of Kerensky, got the Successor States to agree that the space phones were important and they should therefore respect ComStar's neutrality, and then seized complete control of Terra in a lightning-fast coup, revealing that that neutrality had some teeth.

After Blake died, ComStar quickly turned into a quasi-mystical and religious organization, whose stated purpose was to preserve human knowledge in the dark ages of the Succession Wars, a goal they attempted to fulfill by assassinating every scientist who wouldn't work for them and starting the Second Succession War practically the moment the first one ended. Things started to spiral out of control for them after the Helm Memory Core was leaked and suddenly everyone was able to figure out how Lostech worked again, and then things got even ''worse'' when the Clans showed up.

ComStar is also famous for introducing the ComStar Bill (C-bill) as a standard galactic currency. Rather than being backed by material goods, each C-bill is backed by ComStar's faster than light message delivery service: One C-bill will guarantee one millisecond of data transmission, enough for a few pages of bare text or a small image, with larger transmissions costing more, and with additional fees for higher priority and the like. The value of the various Great House currencies can be weighed against their worth in C-bills which allows for currency exchange on a galactic scale. The C-bill is the primary way that mercenaries are paid and in turn pay for goods and services, and thus the most common currency encountered by players. Post Jihad, Comstar was neutered of its armed forces and subject to a hostile takeover by Clan Sea Fox (outside of the universe, at least one of the game developers had a hate boner against Comstar's OP status and gave their more powerful components the ax, courtesy of Blakist nukes).

====Minor Powers====
*'''[[Free Rasalhague Republic]]''': Space Norse/Vikings. They were a part of the Draconis Combine along the Lyran border, until the formation of the Federated Commonwealth meant that Kurita was about to have ''two'' borders for Hanse Davion to attack them from, so he granted them their independence as a buffer state. May have been awesome. If you're wondering why we write of them in the past tense refer to: ''Clan Invasion, Why Not Get in the Way of One'' (Third Publishing of Liao, COMSTAR ISBN 474-Alpha-467-Upsilon-345). They later join up with the Ghost Bears and become the Rasalhague Dominion. They are awesome because now we have Viking clanners. One of their aerospace pilots literally stopped the Clan invasion dead for an entire year because she banzai'd her fighter into a Clan dropship and killed the ilKhan.
*'''[[Word of Blake]]''': An ultra-reactionary splinter faction of ComStar that got butthurt after ComStar ditched all the pseudo-religious bullshit. Broke away and launched an all-out jihad(''yes, they actually used that word'') on literally everyone shortly after the Federated Commonwealth Civil War came to an end. Made liberal use of weapons of mass destruction and rendered several entire planets uninhabitable. Fond of genocide, re-education camps, unstable technology, and mass murder. As a result, they were eventually crushed as a result of pissing off the entire fucking universe, but not before undoing a lot of the technological progress that had been made after the Clan Invasion (apparently by magic, as not only was that knowledge now universally available, but so were copies of the Helm Memory Core...and destroying some factories doesn’t make technology go away). Basically used by the publishers to reset the average technology level of the game due to a lot of players feeling it was advancing too far and getting away from the quasi-feudal feel of earlier editions (forgetting that quasi-feudalism is a governing method, the technology level has nothing to do with it). Ironically enough, their mechs were more streamlined and featured a lot more experimental technologies for people who would eventually blow the entire game setting back to the quasi-iron age. Officially, they were all supposedly killed after the Jihad for genocide. Recently hinted by a terminally ill Stone to still be around and responsible for the HPG network being taken out as a taunt against ilKhan Alaric before being killed off in bed.
*'''The Republic of The Sphere''': Established by an individual calling himself Devlin Stone, who mysteriously surfaced at some point during the Blakefag Jihad, and helped pull the galaxy out that colossal clusterfuck through a series of successful military campaigns. Upon the Jihad's defeat, Stone met with ComStar Precentor Martial Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and laid out a philosophy which Victor would privately describe as ''militant socialism keyed to altruism''; Officials and authorities would have their assets placed in a blind trust. Public service would be rewarded. Greed and corruption would be punished. All weapons would be placed under government control. [[Just As Planned|Surprisingly, it worked]], at least for a time, ushering in a new era of peace for the core worlds. However, after ruling as Exarch of the Republic for a while, Devlin Stone stepped down and shortly there after disappeared, vowing to [[Sigmar|return when he was needed most]]. It didn't take long before everything went to shit again and was plunged into chaos when the interstellar communication network was sabotaged. Was gangbanged by a combination of separatist factions, the Capellans, and Clan Jade Falcon before finally saying FUCK IT and retreating back to Terra. All while somehow using Word of Blake HPG disruption tech to prevent hyperspace jumps into their core territory. They also recently developed a taste for Tripod Mechs (which are the only modern Mech that can exceed Assault Mechs in terms of tonnage, firepower, and armor but at the cost of requiring an additional gunner and engineer onboard to shoot and monitor the machine's vitals) while also hybridizing Clan & IS technology (culminating with extremely powerful but unstable weapons). <strike>''You guys realize Stone is the [[Emperor]], right? Right?''</strike> None of this makes sense, of course, as the HPG network is not only extremely well and fanatically protected by actual fanatics, but also is so large it can’t really be sabotaged. Except by magically competent Deus ex Machina mooks, apparently. Friendly clans could also build their own for the Republic’s use. Except newly built HPGs also failed somehow. Black Boxes became advanced enough that HPGs were nearly pointless, though, making the whole “Dark Age” thing really...dumb. And if someone had the sense to build building-sized Black Boxes instead of briefcase-sized, the HPGs would have a perfect backup. But common sense in Battletech is [[heresy]] just like in any good universe. Besides that, the eyes on anyone with power to prevent corruption would stop factions from selling out the Republic and the senators would not have been able to sponsor military officers into becoming Paladins because that is extremely corrupt and would not have been allowed or tolerated. Even if such a plot succeeded, there would be no leverage for the senators to get those paladins to do what they wanted. And the Capellans are target practice, sudden separatism makes no sense when they were fine until this point under numerous oppressive regimes, and Clan Jade Falcon by itself would have been crushed and a team up of clans would have sent the whole Inner Sphere into a clan-killing frenzy panic mode. Come the latest novels in 2021, and the Republic and it's founder were reduced to a caricature of fall of the III Reich (complete with a senile leader giving contradictory orders and throwing their best units at the worst faction so the best faction can pick up the pieces). While many of their leaders and fighters survived, it's an open question of whether they cooperate with the ilClan or revolt later down the line.
** '''Northwind Highlanders''': A band of Scottish mercenaries hailing from the planet Northwind. Once upon a time they were a formal unit in the SLDF but they went free agent when the Star League fell apart, after which they mostly worked for House Liao. They got a surprise happy blakesday party that destroyed their HPG and wiped out their aerofighters but otherwise they survived and joined the Republic in 3081.
* '''[[The Periphery]]''': The collection of non-successor states on the edges of the Inner Sphere. They were brought into the Star League by force and are still kinda sore about it, mostly because they nearly got blasted back to the Stone Age and never quite got their technology back up.
**'''[[Taurian Concordate]]''': A Periphery nation bordering the Federated Suns and Cappellan Confederation. Has an axe to grind against the Federated Suns and claims they’re much more dedicated to freedom and liberty than the Davions. Think the United States right after 9/11, all of the good and the bad, and you have a good idea of the culture. Just replace paranoia about Islam with paranoid about the Federated Suns, including the fact that the overwhelming majority of who they're paranoid couldn't given any less of a shit about them.
**'''Marian Hegemony''': A bandit kingdom bordering the Lyrans and Free Worlds League that decided to become the Roman Empire IN SPACE. A shadier version of the [[Severan Dominate]] from 40k.
**'''[[Magistracy of Canopus]]''': A hedonistic matriarchy bordering the Free Worlds League. A nation of cybernetic catgirls, whose largest export is pornography. No, really. We're serious. Well they're not all cybernetic catgirls but they're there if you want them, and pornography and the tourist industry makes up a large chunk of their economy. Also Medical research and technology, most likely to treat all the STDs you get from your vacation to Space Vegas. Also known for having a significant religious conservatives population as they have an open-door refugee policy.
**'''[[Outworlds Alliance]]''': A backwater state near the Federated Suns and Draconis Combine. Was the Periphery-est of the Periphery states until Clan Snow Raven moved in and formed the '''Raven Alliance'''.
**'''Hanseatic League''': A mercantile alliance of traders descended from Lyran refugees, they liked to pretend to be a neutral third party interested in trade of goods and information while also subjecting neighboring planets to debt trap diplomacy with armed merchant caravans. Also liked to play both sides against each other in any prolonged war among their neighbors to increase profits and soften them up for potential annexation (such as between Nueva Castille and the Umayyad Caliphate). Unfortunately, they were eventually conquered by Clan Goliath Scorpion (with help from their newfound Castilian and Umayyad citizens) and merged into their new Scorpion Empire some time in the Dark Age.
*'''Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission''': An independent group that certifies and provides force rankings for various [[Mercenaries (Battletech)|mercenary groups]]. At least three Mech Warrior games are focused on the mercs as it allows writers more leeway and less chance to screw up the canon.
**'''Kell Hounds''': A merc company headed by Morgan Kell. His son Phelan was captured by Clan Wolf when the Clan Invasion first began, and by the end was running the Clan until it split. Took in Phelan and the Exiled Wolves afterwards. Generally, are tough but cool guys all around. Like the Exiled Wolves, they got a massive "kill on sight" target painted on their back after the omnicidal Jade Falcon Khan got annoyed with their feisty resistance against her campaign into Lyran Territory.
**'''Grey Death Legion''': Mercenary group who were famous for finding and distributing the Helm Core, which allowed the Inner Sphere to regain technology formerly lost during the Succession Wars. Generally an author's favorite in the books. Got destroyed during the Blake Jihad.
**'''Wolf's Dragoons''': A bunch of Clan Wolf advance scouts disguised as a mercenary group. Came to the Inner Sphere with a ton of mechs that the Clans considered outdated but hadn't been seen in the Successor States in centuries and were considered Lostech... Which should have tipped the Great Houses off that these guys might be bad juju. Instead of providing intel to the Clans for their invasion, Wolf's Dragoons pulled a fast one and tried to prepare the Inner Sphere for war with the Clans. They are generally pretty awesome guys, even if part of that awesomeness is because they get a ton of attention in the fluff due to the writers' obsession with anything related to Clan Wolf. They got screwed pretty badly during the Blake Jihad when the nutjobs assaulted Outreach. By Dark Age they are slowly recovering with help from the Kell Hounds. Recent novellas have the Wolves convince them to join them on Terra once it's conquered to prevent the genocidal Jade Falcons from becoming the IlClan. Unfortunately, latest novels also made them become meatshields used by the Wolf Khan to expend the Turquoise Turkeys' ammo supplies while being reduced to a fraction of their strength. Naturally, in a repeat of their history against Kurita, they [[Book of Grudges|swore]] an oath to stand against the Wolves permanently.

===[[The Clans]]===
Laughable strategic and logistical ability and basically have no plan when they do something. But God have mercy on you if they're coming your way. 'Cus you're '''''fucked'''''. Each clan is named after an animal, and yes those are the animal's full names.

* Clan Blood Spirit: The smallest clan. Noted for having the toughest training, favored Battle Armor, and had no official allies after starting off idealistic but then becoming jaded grudge-holders. :( Despite above comment, not ACTUALLY an animal, but named for the warrior spirit that united the forces under Kerensky.
* Clan Burrock: The only clan to support the Dark Caste. Liked picking on the Blood Spirits before they were absorbed by Clan Star Adder.
* Clan Cloud Cobra: The Religious types. Loved aerospace fighters and jump jets. Obsessed with collecting genetic bloodlines other clans don't want.
* Clan Coyote: Native Americans in Space. Also like to scheme too much for their own good. Known for creating a shit ton of tech (unlike [[Adeptus Mechanicus|some people]] on Mars...)
* Clan Diamond Shark: Used to be called Sea Fox until Snow Raven killed their namesake (with their current one) the only clan that views the merchant caste as equal to their warrior one. Later brought back the Sea Fox and changed their name back. The only clan to allow all castes to vote, making them arguably a genuinely democratic republic.
* Clan Fire Mandrill: The clan whose gimmick was to always have a few subfactions to foster internal competition. At first it was manageable and it improved the clan, but then the factionalism snowballed into more than 10 mini-subfactions which made the whole clan a laughing stock among the clans.
* Clan Ghost Bear: The only clan to be founded by a married couple, as a result they're the only clan to still have normal family units. Much more protective of its civilian caste than the others. Nearly devoured the Free Rashalague Republic in the Clan Invasion, then merged with what was left after the Jihad. Went full blown good old fashion Viking Berserker when the Jihad nuked their civilians, attacking friend and foe alike in pure grief fueled murderous rage. Awesome.
* Clan Goliath Scorpion: Stoners with rose-colored nostalgia glasses. Also noted for elite marksmanship and ambush tactics. Likes to [[Blood Ravens|acquire artifacts]] [[Trazyn the Infinite|for cultural appreciation of the Star League]], sometimes with bad consequences down the line.
* Clan Hell's Horses: The only clan to think tanks are useful often uses combined arms tactics rather than just spamming mechs. They have a hot rod flames color scheme. Extremely heavily focused on teamwork. Including teamwork between castes and between the clan and its conquered worlds. Which has led to very good relations both internally and externally. Probably the only Clan other than the Star Adders that locals might actually support over a "liberating" Inner Sphere force. ''Maybe''.
* Clan <strike>Temper Tantrum</strike> Ice Hellion: Speed freaks with a big ego. Their Khan seems to bitch every time their forces lose, which is often.
* Clan Jade Falcon: The spotlight stealing clan second only to the Wolves, with whom they have a fierce rivalry. Slightly less evil than the Jaguars.
* Clan Mongoose: Basically a footnote in clan history. Extremely aggressive, tend to attack everyone near them. [[Fail|Got their asses kicked by everyone else before being absorbed.]]
* Clan Nova Cat: The spiritual types, they decide their policy with visions, which 9 times out of 10 ends badly for them. Some of the best marksmen in the clans, often competed with Clan Goliath Scorpion. Joined Smoke Jaguar in attacking the Draconis Combine, then sided with the Combine right after everyone decided the Jags had to go. Eventually got destroyed during the Dark Ages for backing the wrong Kuritan royal in a civil war.
* Clan <strike>Chimney Kitten</strike> Smoke Jaguar: Essentially super aggressive World Eaters trained to pilot mechs. Known to fuck shit up until their smaller numbers (due to infighting, shitting on their civilian castes and hating logistics) fucked them over in long campaign. Were eventually wiped out by the Inner Sphere counter-attack after they murdered an entire city from orbit. What goes around comes around. Recent ilClan lore had their descendants in the Fidelis sworn to the Wolf Khan in exchange for rebuilding their clan; [[What|despite]] their original [[Book of Grudges|hatred]] for letting the Second Star League annihilate them.
* Clan Snow Raven: The sinister & cunning space jockeys of the clans. Specialized in space combat and became BBFs with the Outworlds Alliance.
* Clan Spirit Cats: Offshoots of the Nova Cats after they were annihilated by the Combine.
* Clan Star Adder: Boring, but very, very practical, which benefited them a lot. They favor using assault mechs, and like to upgrade their lasers to heavy lasers. Living under them or as one of them is much more like real life. If you can do a job, you can have the job. Including a laborer wanting to be a warrior. Which ironically is the same approach that caused Clan Wolverine to be destroyed by Kerensky.
* Clan Steel Viper: Self righteous xenophobes who wanted to cooperate with the Inner Sphere but also treated freeborns like dirt, and then wondered why nobody liked them. Responsible for Clan genocide known as "The Wars of Reaving". [[Fail|Got genocided in return.]]
* Clan Widowmaker: The hyper-aggressive types. Their first Khan held a grudge against the Wolverines and framed them before being killed with support from Nicholas. Widowmaker later got annihilated for accidentally killing Nicky. What was left of it, however, <strike>gave birth</strike> (lies Clanners aren't born, they're grown) to the most dangerous MechWarrior ever, Natasha Kerensky.
* Clan Wolf: The spotlight stealing Clan, courtesy of it being Kerensky's personal clan. Split up into two factions following the Refusal War.
** Crusader Wolves: The guys who want to continue the invasion of Inner Sphere. Wound up migrating from their original invasion corridor to Lyran/Marik space & formed a new & dangerous upstart state called the '''Wolf Empire.''' Later <strike>[[Mary Sue|surprise surprise]]</strike>, won against the Republic and Jade Falcons on Terra to become the ilClan of the Third Star League [[FAIL|despite the other factions refusing to recognize them for now]] outside of the former Republic’s officials, Jade Falcons, & the Smoke Jaguars that are all a shadow of their strength. Naturally lost most of their forces to take the top prize.
** Warden Wolf-in-Exile: The guys who want to defend Inner Sphere against the rest of the clans, who they think are a mockery of Kerensky's teachings. Like the Kell Hounds, they got a massive "kill on sight" target painted on their back after the omnicidal Jade Falcon Khan got annoyed with their feisty resistance against her campaign into Lyran Territory. Somehow got convinced to rejoin the Crusaders Wolves in revenge against the Jade Falcons despite the story never addressing the Crusader-Warden divide on treating Inner Sphere nations as subjects to be conquered and ruled from above or charges to be protected and educated from partnership. The “official” motive of seeking payback against the Jade Falcons for razing their civilian population centers and killing their cadet academies can only go so far until the Green Chickens got defeated.
* <strike>Clan Wolverine</strike> Not-Named Clan: Aggressive and independent minded, these guys pissed off Nicky to such extent that they were annihilated after the vengeful Widowmaker Khan framed them of detonating a nuke on civilians after the Wolverines seceded from the Clans. Some survivors were able to flee as the '''Minnesota Tribe''' but they've been never heard from publicly since (though there are hints that they're around in the Deep Periphery in some recent novels and short stories). [[What|There are many theories about them returning to Inner Sphere and taking over it as shadow masterminds in order to destroy the clans.]] Basically, they did the caste thing but thought "Hey, why not let people do what they're best at?" and that sort of thing. It pissed off crazy pants ilKhan Kerensky because this approach made them more successful than all the other clans, proving his method was actually not the best way.

===Wars of Reaving===
[[Advancing the Storyline|Fed up with having to write more stuff about clans nobody cares about]], a bunch of clans were wiped out after the Jihad, or driven out of clan territory. While the in-story explanation is that a butthurt ilKhan decided it was time to make a powerplay after not having won anything out of the Inner Sphere Invasion, everyone knows that there were several clans that had no discernable effect on the game.
*'''''Annihilated or Absorbed:'''''
**Blood Spirit: Got wiped out for using civilian militias which "isn't clan-like" and [[Bullshit|marked for annihilation for letting people fight for their homes instead of cooperating with their new leaders as Clan honor dictates.]] As well as using [[Planetary Defense Force|en-mass civilian militias]] to attack their enemies.
**Burrock: Tried to re-establish themselves after being absorbed, got defeated.
**Fire Mandrill: Too fractured to fight back effectively.
**Ice Hellion: [[Fail|Killed themselves by trying to steal Jade Falcon and Hell's Horses territory.]] The remaining survivors remained joined Goliath Scorpion.
**Steel Viper: Took over the Clan Homeworlds and gave everyone free reign to remove the “taint” of the Invader Clans by any means necessary. Forgot that they themselves were an Invader Clan.
**Nova Cat: Destroyed by the Draconis Combine for being on the losing side of a civil war.
*'''''Exiled or Abjured:''''' These clans were forced out of the Clan Homeworlds on the pretense of being "corrupted" by Inner Sphere influences. Some later formed the '''Council of Six Clans''', representing the clans that now exist in the Inner Sphere.
**Ghost Bears: Banished to the Inner Sphere and eventually founded the '''Rasalhague Dominion.''' Joined the Council.
**Goliath Scorpion: Originally sided with the Homeworld Clans to drive the Invader Clans out of the Kerensky Cluster. Then was censured and abjured for absorbing Clan Ice Hellion Warriors and Star League descended mercenaries from Eridani Light Horse in their Clan eugenics program without permission. Ran away and conquered Nueva Castile and Umayyads (Spaniards vs. Arabs IN SPACE) in the Deep Periphery, forming '''Escorpion Imperio.''' By the eve of the Dark Age, they had also conquered their neighbors to the south, the Hanseatic League, and founded a new major Periphery power known as the '''Scorpion Empire''' that's second only to the Homeworld Clans as a military power in the Periphery.
**Hell's Horses: Stole some of Clan Wolf's territory in the Inner Sphere, and end up getting banished from the Clan Homeworlds. Developed a taste for experimenting with QuadVee Mechs (which can convert from a ground combat vehicle into a Quad Mech while also requiring a dedicated gunner). Joined the Council.
**Jade Falcon: Banished to the Inner Sphere and tried to conquer Terra but failed. Still rules the parts of the Inner Sphere they conquered during the Clan Invasion. Replaced the Smoke Jaguars as the most vicious clan under their latest Khan (who's willing to do anything to kill her enemies). Joined the Council. Later got most of their forces wiped out from omnicidal fighting against the Republic, Dragoons, and Wolves on Terra. Said genocidal Khan got killed off and replaced with a pragmatic reformer who agreed to follow the Wolf IlKhan in exchange for the Turquoise Turkeys becoming the IlKhan's body guards.
**Sea Fox/Diamond Shark: Ended up in what's left of the Free Worlds League. Split up into semi-independent merchant fleets and are now a collection of nomadic "Khanates" that sail the starlanes of the Inner Sphere. Joined the Council, but also joined the FWL as a member state. In the meantime, managed to bring the Sea Fox back from extinction, and changed back to their old name.
**Smoke Jaguar: Some of them showed up as super-secret Clanner loyalists called '''Fidelis''' to the Republic of the Sphere. More practical minded than their grandparents but just as likely to go [[rip and tear|berserk]] when fighting any clan warriors for their perceived betrayal. Still in the Fortress Republic. A scant few are found hiding in the Deep Periphery with the few warships that they still had. Later somehow let go of their grudge to pledge allegiance to the Wolve Khan in exchange for reforming their Clan under the IlKhan's protection.
**Snow Raven: Ran away and merged with the Outworlds Alliance in the Periphery, forming the '''Raven Alliance.''' Joined the Council.
**Spirit Cat: What's left of Nova Cats, allied with the Free Worlds League and formed an enclave in their territory.
**Wolf: Splintered into several factions. Basically conquered the central and coreward territories of Lyran Alliance under the '''Wolf Empire.''' Making the Steiners have a bigger headache, their Khan, Katrina Steiner's descendant, claimed the mantle of Archon through her bloodline. Wolves-in-Exile refuse to join and are doing their own thing. Clan Wolf-Alliance joined the Council. “Katrina Steiner’s descendant” is in fact a Trueborn Clanner that Katherine Steiner-Davion had made using both her own genetic material and Victor Steiner-Davion’s, because regular incest just wasn’t crazy enough for her. Later became IlKhan <strike>naturally</strike>.
*'''''Home Clans:''''' Theses clans still hold territory in the Clan Homeworlds and consider themselves "True Clans."
**Cloud Cobra: Still around.
**Coyote: Sneaky bastards. Got their hands on the genetic material of the last known descendant of House Cameron.
**Star Adder: TOP DOG. Their Khan was the one who stopped the psycho Steel Viper ilKhan by dint of beating his head inside out with the nearest handy blunt object.
**Stone Lions: Made from the Hell's Horses who were left in the Clan Homeworlds and didn't get exiled.

So basically there are now ten Clans: The six Spheroid Clans, and the four Home Clans. The rest are either dead, formed hybrid societies, or are even more minor than before and thus save the writers from some hard work in upcoming TROs.

==The Appeal of Battletech==
First and most obvious, giant stompy Battlemechs bristling with guns duking it out is cool. But despite that, Battletech is in general a more grounded and human setting. You don't have warp daemons, God Emperors, energy forces or psionic powers in Battletech or giant Space Cathedrals and machines that work better when people pray to them. Nor does it have artificial gravity, shields, sapient aliens, serious transhumanism, dyson spheres, general AI and other more wild science fiction ideas. While it does go into some suspense of belief in technology such as KF FTL drive and HPG FTL communications, most of the technology is still grounded within the realm of plausible belief. Society-wise, it doesn't go into the speculation on how civilization may come into conflict with divergent ideals or extraterrestrial life, instead you have human people like you and me struggling in a hostile universe where the most dangerous thing is often another human being under another flag. Not that the setting lacks for variety. The main factions are very well developed with their own distinct motivations, even if they do sometimes tend to lean into stereotypes too much. Battletech is for people who read [[Dune]] and find the idea of the Atreides, Harkonnens, Corinos and the other Great Houses of the Landsraad with their conflicts and their power plays to be far more interesting than what happened after Paul took over. Some others also consider it similar to a teen rated version of [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]] in space (but with mechs and sci fi tactics in place of mythical creatures and gore).

Battletech is one of the more morally grey settings out there. Moreso than many Grimdark settings where it's a matter of nasty jerks vs literal demons. While there are a few factions which are better or worse than others on the whole (Magistracy of Canopus vs Clan Smoke Jaguar) all of the factions have their share of virtue and vice, heroes and villains. Good people can come up from the Nobility of the Federated Suns, Citizens of the Capellan Confederation or the Iron Wombs of The Clans, as can a lot real nasty bastards. In that regard, this is a rather tragic universe. In this universe nobody is corrupted by Chaos or seduced by the Dark Side. Instead humanity took to the stars and flourishes, only to be brought low by human leaders with human failings.

As far as Mecha design goes, Battletech designs run the gamut from box-on-legs (Awesome, Dragon, etc), to egg-on-legs (Catapult, Marauder, etc), through to very polished designs (which were mostly stolen from Japanese anime shows). Wrong, they hired a third party artist who sold his designs to them and the other guys. Some of the later work, post-FASA, could be quite smooth, to the point of organic looking. As such, BattleTech is a pastiche of various art styles and design philosophies, covering the range of reactions from "cool-but-impractical", to "eh, practical-and-possible", and well out into the area that will make your engineering professor have a mental fit.

==Mechanics==
[[Image:Group-Plastic-Miniatures.jpg|thumb|right|The standard use of hexmaps renders the purchase of miniatures optional, though miniatures rules for the game are available.]]
[[Image:Blankrecordsheet.jpg|thumb|right|Record sheets are one of ''BattleTechs''' greatest blessings and curses.]]
The basic mechanic is simple. Two six-sided dice are used, with a to-hit (Equal or greater to) system. Initiative is interlaced, with the loser moving first and the winner able to react. All weapons damage is technically done at the same time, and therefore who shoots first is insignificant, although the order in which weapons fire from any given unit resolves is important. Larger weapons can scrub off large quantities of ablative armor, while smaller multi-hit weapons stand a better chance of forcing critical hits once a location is damaged. If you get hit, you mark off the weapons damage rating from your armor. If the shot penetrates your armor, you roll potential criticals. Firing weapons and moving about generates heat, which you must keep down to keep your 'Mech working properly.

Unlike games such as ''[[Warhammer]]'', where many units are either killed on the first shot or left unscathed, and little information is recorded, ''BattleTech'' uses record sheets to mark off each 'Mech's cumulative damage, ammunition, pilot status, and heat. Also, there are hit locations, so limbs can be blown off. The record sheets allow for effects that are more detailed, but this also increases the overall playtime. Although expert players can get through matches just as fast as players of other games of more or less equal size, new players often find that the game plays slowly. This is usually due to the time spent referencing hit-location tables, critical effects, etc. For new players, 2V2 matches are best, with 4V4 matches being the "cap", in order to have games that do not take excessively long. More experienced players can run games of 12v12 or larger in an afternoon, though these will often be multi-player games in which each ''player'' controls only a handful of 'Mechs.

One of the biggest appeals of ''BattleTech'' is that all of its units are made with a predefined set of rules. Custom designs are fully possible, though they are not likely to be welcome in tournament matches or pick-up games.

''BattleTech'' uses a build system based on 'Mech tonnage. You start with a Chassis limit, from 20-100 tons. You then determine engine size based on how fast you want your 'Mech to be (how many hexes you want it to be able to move per turn) you then allocate the remaining tonnage to control systems, weapons, ammo and armor. This method varies slightly depending on the technology of the chassis, but not overmuch. Though the system has recently been removed, there were previously three levels of technology.

'''Level 1''' (Now called "Introductory Tech") referred to early-era gameplay. Only the more rudimentary weapons and technologies are available, though the critical rules remain the same. This is the preferred level at which to learn, and is synonymous with the equipment available during the Succession Wars era. It is also the level of play made possible with starter boxes.

'''Level 2''' was Tournament-level gameplay. This introduced new equipment and electronics, as well as Clan technology (A more technologically advanced, but militant people). Though the rules are generally the same as those in level 1 gameplay, more-complicated equipment such as ECM, anti-missile systems, cluster munitions, etc. were better suited to more experienced players. It is the level of play made possible with separately-purchased rulebooks. Note that as the in-universe timeline advances, some more-advanced technology is designated "tournament-level", and several items that were Level 3 before the switch are also now "Tournament-Level".

'''Level 3''' referred to all advanced gameplay and equipment, including specialized gear from Historical manuals and the ''Solaris VII'' boxed sets/adventures. This has since been split out into "advanced", "experimental", and "era-specific" technology. This also included all equipment that was not listed in the core rulebooks. More complex rules were inserted in order to increase the realism and flexibility of the game. These include new weapons, new or altered terrain rules, artillery, alternate rules for major mechanics such as line-of-sight, etc. Though Level 3 rules included "prototype" equipment not printed in the core rulebooks, the standard rulebook in regards to Level 3 play was called ''Maxtech''. This has now been replaced by the Catalyst Games release of ''Tactical Operations'' and its sequels.

'''Advanced''' technology (not to be confused with "advanced rules" is covered largely in ''Tactical Operations'', and may be common but incorporates additional rules or restrictions that make it difficult to use without preparation.

'''Experimental''' tech is not mass-produced in-universe. The items are used in one-offs, prototype designs, and other weirdness. The ''Experimental Technical Readout'' series showcases this tech level, and most of the rules are in ''Tactical Operations'' or ''Strategic Operations''.

'''Era-specific''' technology incorporates advancements that were later abandoned in-verse. Usually these items were displaced by a superior version of the same technology, although there are some like the Listen-Kill missiles (which exploited a weakness in standard ECM protocols, later patched out) which are simply active for a few years and then abandoned once changing circumstances make them ineffective. Era-specific tech is the province of Historical sourcebooks, the ''Interstellar Operations'' rulebook, and a few campaign books.

==Spinoff Games==
Due to its popularity through the late 80s and early 90s, ''BattleTech'' spawned a multitude of spinoffs and expansion games.

'''[[Lost Worlds]]''' dueling books. NOVA adapted their melee dueling system to make four books for Battletech mecha. Each book has the opponent's view of the mech on each page, and a character sheet listing possible maneuvers. Since it used the same system as the rest of their books, you could have "20-ton Locust vs. skeleton with scimitar" duels.

'''Mechwarrior''' was a traditional pen-and-paper RPG set in the Battletech universe, using a ruleset similar to FASA's other hit RPG [[Shadowrun]]. It got second(1991) and third(1999) editions, then was later rebooted by Fanpro and Catalyst Games under the respective titles ''Classic Battletech RPG'' and '''Battletech: A Time of War''', likely to avoid conflation with WhizKids' ''Mechwarrior: Dark Age''. Also because by then the "Mechwarrior" title was fully associated with the video games.

'''AeroTech''' and '''BattleSpace''' were both games featuring Aerospace Fighters and DropShips/WarShips respectively, fighting in orbit before any of the action in the BattleTech game itself could begin. Both games eventually got absorbed into BattleTech's rules in the ''Total Warfare'' edition.

'''Battletroops''' was an infantry-scale game about the PBI who fight it out it in the shadow of Battlemechs. It later gained ''Clantroops'', an expansion pack that incorporated clan equipment as well as Battle Armor on both sides, but the game did not sell as well and the rules have since been abandoned.

'''Battleforce''' was a revision of '''BattleTech''', made in recognition of the fact that large-scale combat could not be effectively played out using the current system. Battleforce simplified each 'mech into a simple set of numbers, so that they could be clustered into units and fight over a much larger area. Battleforce 2, released about a decade later, also introduced planetary invasion maps and rules to go along with them. Although the maps are available in Map Compilation 2, the rules will be reprinted in the ''Strategic Operations'' and ''Interstellar Operations'' sourcebooks.

The '''Solaris VII Boxed set''' was made to simulate the fast-paced gladiatorial combat on the game's world of Solaris VII. It included new rules, new maps with special rules, new mechs, and supplements for roleplaying. Little known fact: some of the designs used in the original Solaris VII set were redesigns of the ''BattleTech'' 'mechs which were themselves copies of Japanese mechs! When the product tried to sell in Japan, half of the designs were already copyrighted by other well known anime companies, and the in-house designs were simply not "Japanese" enough for their tastes. Though the product itself flopped, its maps were reprinted and rereleased in 2004, as well as a complimentary up-to-date rulebook. Rules have since been standardized to match those of ''Classic Battletech'', but "Special Map rules" have been included.

The '''BattleTech Collectible Cardgame''' was produced by Wizards of the Coast in 1996, and ran until 1998. Though its popularity had begun to wane after the first core set, the release of the Pokemon card game was the nail in the coffin. The Battletech CCG hosted some very impressive artwork, though the game favored swarm-decks filled with plenty of weak, cheap 'mechs, and it's non-"Creature" cards were too weak to have an effective deck based around them. After five editions (''Battletech Limited''/''Unlimited'', ''Counterstrike'', ''Mercenaries'', ''Mechwarrior'', ''Arsenal'') Battletech CCG came out with ''Commander's Edition'', which picked some of the best cards of the last few editions (though it abandoned or revised some cards for inaccuracies or "brokenness") It had one final expansion, Crusade, which introduced the Steel Viper clan, though there were some prior cards that did reference the clan.

In July, 2013, Catalyst Game Labs released '''Alpha Strike''', a miniatures combat ruleset designed specifically to appeal to fans of Warhammer and Flames of War. It combined BattleForce statistics with improved miniatures rules. It's generally scoffed at by grognards but the only feasible way to play a regiment-sized battle in less than one lifetime.

==Video Games==
'''Official Games'''
* Crescent Hawk's Inception (Infocom, 1988)
* MechWarrior (Activision, 1989)
* Crescent Hawks' Revenge (Infocom, 1990)

* MechWarrior II (Activision, 1995)
* MechWarrior II: Mercernaries (Activision 1995)
** MechCommander (FASA, 1998)
* MechWarrior III (Microprose, 1999)
* MechWarrior IV: Vengeance (FASA/Microsoft, 2000), Black Knight (Microsoft, 2001), Mercenaries (Microsoft, 2002)
** These games had two expansions that gave more mechs, the Inner Sphere Mech Pack and Clan Mech Pack.
** MekTek released a legal port of Mercenaries, with both Mech Packs, new mechs, and battlesuits all inside, plus multiplayer support. Grab it from ModDB, abandonware sites, or your tracker of choice.
* Mechassault 1 (Day 1/Microsoft, 2002 for Xbox)
* Mechassault 2: Lone Wolf (Day 1/Microsoft, 2004 for Xbox)
* MechCommander II (FASA/Microsoft, 2001. The full game is offered by Microsoft for free [http://www.microsoft.com/en-ph/download/details.aspx?id=11457 here].)
* MechWarrior Online MMO (Smith & Tinker/Piranha Games, A F2P game first released on 2012 and currently out as a full product on Steam.)
* MechWarrior Tactical Command (Personae Studios, 2012?, [[Fail|for iPhone/iPad]]. After some uncertainty, MTC was fully released in the iTunes store. Too bad it sucks.)
* BattleTech (Harebrained Schemes, 2018) - funded through Kickstarter and headed up by Jordan Weisman)
** Turn-based strategy game, similar to the original tabletop game. Takes place during the Succession Wars, in a formerly empty area of the Periphery.
*MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries: (Piranha Games, 2019). Also takes place during the Succession Wars. Because nobody wants to take the time to portray the cluster fuck that is the Blake Jihad properly.

'''Unlicensed Games'''
* [http://www.mechlivinglegends.net Mechwarrior Living Legends] (Wandering Samurai/Clan Jade Wolf, 2011)

'''The following are free, homemade versions of Battletech:'''
* MechWar v1.12 (MS-DOS)
* [http://megamek.info/ MegaMek] (Java)
* BTMUX - ASCII-only MMO (anyone old enough to remember what a MUD is?) (any OS)<br/>You could play it in pure ASCII, or get [http://bt-thud.sourceforge.net/thud/ a graphical helper]<br/>Most of the existing ones are gone, but [http://frontiermux.com/news.php FrontierMUX] seems to still be alive.
* <strike>[http://neveron.com/ Neveron] (web-based mmo)</strike> [Taken offline on July 31st 2014]
* [http://www.titansofsteel.de/ Titans of Steel] (MS-Windows)

==Current State==
[[File:Never give up.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Little Urbie, the greatest of us all.]]
In 1998, the U.S. release of ''Pokemon'' for the Gameboy, and the subsequent cartoon and cardgame, had a damaging effect on the tabletop games market. Comic book stores which had previously stocked tabletop RPGs, wargames, and collectible card games found that they could turn a better profit by stocking more ''Pokemon'' goods and cutting out the weaker-selling products. Only a handful of better-selling tabletop games, such as products by Games Workshop and the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' games, were able to remain. In 2001, FASA ceased operations, and many fans of the ''BattleTech'' series began to look for other games. ''BattleTech'' was purchased by [[Wizkids]], who tried to soft-reboot the game as a Clix-style game with the tile '''Mechwarrior: Dark Age''', jumping the timeline to nearly a hundred years after the Clan Invasion, focusing the story to a much smaller area around Earth, and using almost entirely all-new factions. The fans were less than amused, so [[FanPro]] got the rights to continue releasing content for the original game under the moniker ''Classic Battletech''. Despite still having products released for it, ''Classic'' was often put on the back burner, as Wizkids showed preference to their clix-games. As WhizKids; game floundered, Battletech was later taken over by [[Catalyst Game Labs]], who dropped the "Classic" and released a new boxed set (6th edition) based on the newly revised core rules(also rewinding back to the original time period and working their way back up to the Dark Age era, but keeping the entire Inner Sphere in the picture). This boxed set, once again, contains plastic miniatures. Though the plastic miniatures (When compared to plastic miniatures produced by other companies) are decidedly low-quality, they are more than sufficient as playing-pieces for new players who are experimenting with the product. In making low-grade miniatures for the box set, the overall price tag remained low, while giving players something more tangible than a cardboard cutout. The game is beginning to gain popularity once again, despite the dropping popularity of tabletop games in general. In 2014 Catalyst Games released an updated box set with higher quality miniatures for the same price.

As of 2017, Catalyst have announced two new starter boxed sets. One is significantly lower-priced and features two 'Mechs with a new map (the first since FASA shut its doors). The second has two new maps, die-cut terrain (to drop onto the maps), and a reduced mini selection with all-new sculpts - designed by an ascended fa/tg/uy. These boxed sets were made available for purchase in 2019.

In July 2019, Catalyst decided to get off their asses and actually did something: They started a Clan Invasion Kickstarter that would hopefully bring the franchise back to life, promising over 100+ new designs for classic mechs, a box set and a boatload of new maps and merch. It surpassed their funding goal in 7 MINUTES and is currently running off of $2.8 MILLION in funding and is expecting to start shipping <strike>March of 2020</strike> delayed till July 2020. Also [[UrbanMech]] PLUSHIE! Catalyst is now currently relying on fan goodwill and revamped merchandise from kickstarting fundraiser campaigns to keep the IP steaming along but lore development has been of mixed reception depending on who you ask.

===MechWarrior Online===
[http://mwomercs.com/ Mechwarrior Online] has already been officially launched. Even though the launch itself was fairly lackluster, with no new features compared to the past few months of open beta, the game is in a somewhat average state of balance and gameplay, and the feel of piloting a BattleMech was translated faithfully - mixed in with rage about hundred-to-thousand dollar preorder packs for Clan mechs (not fucking kidding) and rage over various mechanics, such as knockdown, heat buildup, and LRM spam. Back in October 2014 PGI, after ousting their publisher and striking out on their own a few months back, has been making notable progress in advancing the game and interacting with the player base, albeit not without handling neckbeard rage poorly. Despite garnering some good will from the community after ridding themselves of their publisher, PGI has been doing their best to waste the Mechwarrior license and drive off good chunks of the player base with fairly unchanged gameplay, constant sales, and the fact it’s run for about seven years, now.

===Battletech 2018===
Harebrained Schemes announced their return to Kickstarter in fall 2015 in order to fund [http://battletechgame.com/ Battletech], a turn based tactics game featuring RPG mechanics for Mechs and MechWarriors. As of this writing the game has been fully funded and reached several stretch goals. In fact, the game's been released in April 2018. Battletech is a turn-based strategy game, more faithful to the board game than the mech-sims the series is known for on the vidya circuit. Think the new XCOM games, but with mechs.

The game started out with a boatload of bugs (which isn't really surprising for an indie kickstarter), but the devs handled the problem quickly. Soon after it was announced that HBS was bought out by their release partner Paradox Interactive, the current big dog for quality strategy games. As expected of a Paradox game, this was followed up by a number of overpriced DLCs to the point that the season pass costs more than the actual game! That said, the second to last free update (1.8) added 2 new excellent mechs, maps, missions, modding support and quality of life changes, while the last free update (1.9) added several SLDF Royal Mech Variants with more polish to the built in mod launcher, so not all money grabbing and bad. Update 1.9 is the last major content drop, with no further patches or updates planned as Harebrained Schemes is moving on to new projects. If you really want it wait for a Steam sale when the Mercenary Collection drops to around $30 USD for the base game and all DLC.

Several fan-made mod packs (notably [https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/79/ RogueTech] and [https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/452/ BattleTech Advanced 3062]) have been produced which significantly extend the life of the vanilla game. These mods introduce many new factions, dozens of new 'Mechs and tanks, hundreds of new pieces of 'Mech equipment, a far larger star-map sandbox to play in, and far more depth to the 'Mech customization system as well as many quality of life changes. RogueTech in particular attempts to bring the game more in line with the tabletop experience and offers a much higher degree of gameplay complexity compared to vanilla Battletech.


===Mercenaries 5===
After almost two decades since the last proper Mechwarrior game in the franchise (MechAssault doesn't count), we're finally getting an honest-to-gods story-based mechpilot sim game like the days of yore. Piranha Games, the company responsible for MWO, is also creating [https://mw5mercs.com/ Mercenaries 5], and is so far looking like a faithful re-creation of the classic Mechwarrior pilot sim games of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Game's out, and it's shit! Well, mediocre. Graphics snobs say the game looks horrid, suspecting they ripped assets full sale from MWO. But the main issue is repeating the same missions over and over again including in story missions themselves. There is no hand crafted missions like previous games even in its narrative missions and has a very weak plot, along with a well known issue where enemies spawn right on top of your team. Friendly AI at least got the artificial part right and there's no PVP. The devs have stated that they are working on the issues but little progress has been made at the time of writing.

[Update 01/22/2020] Mod support has been added and some of the previously stated problems have been addressed (sort of). Either way, it's a fun giant-stompy-robots-with-lasers game. Campaign missions are still lackluster and repeating the same missions over and over is bound to get a little stale. But hopefully modders will take over (like they always do).

==The Tetatae (Skub Tribal Jungle Chickens)==

There is only 1 known sapient Xenos race in the BattleTech setting. The Tetatae are tribal bird people armed with spears who inhabit a Jungle World. They show up in a far-off world in uncharted space populated with some stranded humans from the Draconis Combine. The inclusion of sapient species was such a [[Rage|controversial]] [[Fail|action]] that the novel introducing them, Far Country, was promptly ignored by both the lore developers and fans ever since it came out.

according to the Author the book was suppose to be the first of a canned series of books linked to a also reduced in scale tabletop expansion/campaign pack that would had dealt with the attempt to find the Clan Home-worlds by Comstar's Explorer Corps's (something started in the wake of a few events in the backstory to try to find the SLDF exiles only to end up ironically causing the clans to invade when one of their ship stumbles on the Smoke Jaguar's home system) that would had included potential alien encounters in their searches, instead of the full on expansion/campaign they decided to scale it into a source book minus alien encounters

==External links==
*[http://megamek.sf.net Play through the tubes with MegaMek]
*[http://www.sarna.net Battletech Wiki that holds much information about the universe]
*[http://bgb.booru.org/index.php Blue Gunner Booru, a /btg/-maintained taggable gallery of BT and related art. Perpetually in-progress.]
[[Category:Wargames]][[Category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]][[Category:BattleTech]]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Glorious_3d_Terrain.JPG|Glorious 3d terrain
File:More_Glorious_3d_Terrain.JPG|More glorious 3d terrain
File:Infantry_Strike_From_Behind_As_The_Kuritian_Lance_Takes_On_4_Steiner_Mechs_And_6_Tanks.JPG|Infantry strike from behind as the Kuritan lance takes on 4 Steiner mechs and 6 tanks
File:Kuritians_Advancing.JPG|Kuritans advancing
File:Surrounded.JPG|Kick party
File:Eridani_Light_Horses_MechWarrior.png|Bad mofo
File:You're_awesome.jpg
File:Dougram_and_shadowhawk_comparison.png|The original anime mecha Dougram (left) compared to the original "unseen" Shadowhawk (center) and the modern Shadowhawk (right), a robot so badass it transcends cultures and 4chan boards
</gallery>
</center>

==Factions Portal==
{{Battletech Factions}}
[[Category: BattleTech]]

==/tg/ Battletech Creations==
*[[Velatine Federal Republic]]
*[[/tg/ Homebrew Mech Designs]]
*[[Sunbats mercenary company]]
*[[/btg/ Harebrained Battalion II]]