Dawn of the ilClan Era
With the recent release of ilKhan’s Eyes Only, Trial of Birthright, and VoidBreaker, BattleTech’s ilClan era feels like it is getting into full swing. With those books, fans finally have a fairly complete picture of what has happened around the entire Inner Sphere for the first year and a half of the era. That makes now a great time for fans who are either new to the setting or who haven’t stayed up-to-date with the timeline to jump to its present and start enjoying the new era both through its fiction and by playing games set in it.
The Dark Age
Before diving into the ilClan era, I think it is worthwhile to be familiar with what came before. The Dark Age was created as the setting for the MechWarrior: Dark Age miniatures game in 2002. Its kickoff was a nearly total collapse of the Hyper Pulse Generator network that crippled interstellar communications across the entire Inner Sphere. That triggered rebellions throughout the Republic of the Sphere that eventually cascaded into that nation pulling back to just the worlds closest to Terra and raising a barrier known as the Wall that prevented anyone else from jumping into their remaining territory.
During the following decade and a half, the unfortunate worlds of the Republic left outside of the wall were swallowed up by their neighboring nations. In 3149, the Wall around the remaining Republic worlds dropped. Devlin Stone, the founder of the Republic who had mysteriously disappeared years before the blackout, had returned and the Republic was no longer in hiding!
The Republic enjoyed initial successes with counterattacks against those who had invaded Republic systems outside of the wall, but Stone wasn’t able to save the nation he had forged in the fires of the Jihad. The Republic was facing too many enemies and had already lost too many worlds. At the beginning of 3151, Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon discovered the means to bypass the remaining wall around Terra and launched their invasions of the Republic’s capital world that would mark the start of the new ilClan era.
If you haven’t stayed up-to-date with BattleTech’s story through the Dark Ages, I recently shared the set of books I recommend for an overview over the era: Dark Age Catch Up.
The Battle for Terra and the ilClan Trial
The invasion of Terra by Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon marked the beginning of the new ilClan era. The two Clans bet their entire toumans on being able to defeat the Republic and claim the role of ilClan. While the Republic might have been able to defeat one of them, it was hopelessly outmatched against both and had little chance of victory.
After the Republic surrendered, Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon agreed to fight a trial to determine which of them would gain the honor of ascending to ilClan. With their ultimate prize on the line, they bid everything that they had left. The trial was three days of no holds barred fighting. In the end, thanks to help from Clan Wolf-in-Exile and Wolf’s Dragoons, Clan Wolf emerged as the victor. Khan Alaric Ward was now ilKhan, and Clan Wolf was the ilClan.
The events of the battle for Terra and the ilClan trial are covered by the ilClan sourcebook. It is a detailed recounting of the events of the invasion in the style of a military history book complete with maps of how different units maneuvered during key points in the fighting.
On the fiction side, Hour of the Wolf covers this period. While it holds an important place as the fiction kickoff for the new era, in my opinion it is also overly ambitious in scope. Rather than following a few characters closely, it presents a ton of different points-of-view and doesn’t spend enough time on any of those characters. When I read it, it felt too much like a long series of battle scenes without enough reason to care about most of the characters involved in those battles.
Around the Inner Sphere
While the battle of Terra and the ilClan trial were focused on just Terra and its solar system, 3151 also kicked off a time of drastic changes for the entire Inner Sphere. Some of these changes were in-progress before the invasion, but others were direct consequences of it. These events spanning 3151 through mid-3152 are covered by a series of four sourcebooks that each focus on a different region of the Inner Sphere.
Tamar Rising
The Hinterlands
In order to join the attack on Terra, Khan Malvina Hazen ordered nearly every warrior in her Clan to abandon the Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone and join the fight against the Republic. As soon as they realized the region was undefended, opportunists began to make their moves. The criminal Malthus Confederation was amongst the first to consolidate power, but they were far from alone. Clan Jade Falcon merchants seized control over Alyina to establish a new merchant-led nation. A Lyran general went rogue and reformed the ancient Tamar Pact. A former Archon set up his own nation. The Kell Hounds retook Arc-Royal and shrugged off commands from the Lyran Commonwealth. Clan Hell’s Horses gobbled up many of the former Falcon worlds. And a few of the few remaining Clan Jade Falcon warriors rallied under the leadership of a newly chosen Khan on Sudeten.
For a lot of BattleTech fans, this part of the Inner Sphere has been the most interesting and exciting part of the ilClan era. Khan Jiyi Chistu’s Jade Falcons are a drastic change from the Clan under Malvina Hazen, and that has attracted fresh fans to the faction. Meanwhile, the variety of other small factions have given people a wide selection of potential allegiances.
It also probably helps that this part of the setting has also gotten more fiction for the new era than the other hot spots around the Inner Sphere. A Question of Survival, Without Question, Gray Death Rising, Elements of Treason: Duty, Elements of Treason: Honor, Elements of Treason: Opportunity, No Substitute for Victory, and Lone Wolf and Fox all take place in the Hinterlands.
The Hinterlands have also gotten the first mercenary campaign book, Hot Spots: Hinterlands, and will be getting the first Aces box. Both of these will make it even easier to play games in this part of the ilClan era’s setting.
Empire Alone
The Wolf Empire
Clan Wolf also largely abandoned their holdings for their invasion of Terra. Khan Alaric Ward did slightly better in his preparations than Malvina Hazen, and he left Othar, one of his warriors, in charge of the Wolf Empire. That didn’t mean Othar had an easy task ahead of him though. The Empire faced two aggressors after the majority of its warriors left. Forces from the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and Silver Hawks Coalition acted without permission from the central Free Worlds League government in order to reclaim worlds that they had lost to Clan Wolf. Then Wolf’s Dragoons, enraged by how ilKhan Alaric Ward had treated them following the conclusion of the ilClan trial, launched their own attacks against the relatively unprotected Wolf Empire. Making Othar’s job even harder was a complete breakdown in communications between Terra and the Empire. The one bright spot in his situation was Clan Sea Fox offering to get the Clan Protectorate to help secure Wolf Empire worlds. Of course, Clan Sea Fox was going to charge a high price for that assistance.
Where the Hinterlands completely fragmented, the Wolf Empire is instead on the precipice in mid-3152. At that point, the Free Worlds League, which had been trying to rein in the regional forces making unauthorized attacks, has shifted its position and is about to launch a full scale invasion of the Wolf Empire.
Both Redemption Rites and Lethal Lessons cover the fighting between Wolf’s Dragoons and the Wolf Empire. Letter of the Law focuses on the early attacks by the Silver Hawks and the Clan Protectorate coming to the Wolf Empire’s aid.
Overextended Caesar
One of the secondary plots in Empire Alone is the push back against the recent expansion of the Marian Hegemony. In the Free Worlds League, the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey liberated three worlds that had been held by Marian invaders. Then the Magistracy of Canopus and Marian Hegemony skirmished across their border. In both cases, the Marian Hegemony came out on the losing side as Caesar Ignatius O’Reilly bit off more than he could chew.
The only bit of fiction for the fighting against the Marian Hegemony so far is the short story Isolde’s War in Legends II.
Broken Alliances
The other secondary plot from Empire Alone is the breakdown of the alliance between the Capellan Confederation, Magistracy of Canopus, and Duchy of Andurien. The relationship between Chancellor Daoshen Liao and Magestrix Ilsa Centrella-Liao seems to have turned sour, and the Duchy of Andurien launched an invasion across their border with the Confederation.
Dominions Divided
Rasalhague’s Decision
Dominions Divided has two primary story lines. The first is the Rasalhague Dominion’s reaction to the rise of Clan Wolf as ilClan. Because the Ghost Bears have accepted democratic systems for the Dominion, they held a vote so that the people of the Rasalhague Dominion could decide whether or not to join ilKhan Alaric Ward’s newly formed Star League. Used to stability, the people of the Dominion ended up divided between those who wanted to join with Clan Wolf and those that feared such a move could shatter the relative peace they had been enjoying. Those divisions were then seized upon by various opportunists, and the situation ended up being highly polarized.
When the vote was held, the result was a narrow victory for the joiners. Already annoyed at the insistence on a vote, ilKhan Alaric Ward was dismayed at the narrow margin of victory. He felt that with such a slim majority in favor of supporting him, the Rasalhague Dominion would be an unreliable ally, so he rejected the Dominion’s request to join the Star League until they could prove their support. That unexpected outcome ignited the divisions that had formed between the different political factions and sparked a civil war across the Dominion. Eventually the violence burnt itself out with the Clan Ghost Bear Khans and the Prince still in favor of joining the Star League.
Based on what I’ve seen in fan groups, this is the most controversial part of the ilClan era. A good number of Ghost Bear fans were unhappy with what they felt was a sudden transition from their view of the Rasalhague Dominion as a happy family and a sleeping bear to a nation tearing itself apart. Personally, I enjoyed this story. The people of Rasalhague have a long history in the setting of being rebellious, and the Ghost Bears, like any Clan, look at violence as the honorable way to settle disagreements. Political divisions in the Dominion had also been a big part of their few appearances in the Dark Age. I also liked how the book presented people with varying motives all latching on to the divisive Star League vote as a way to recruit new followers and advance their own interests. Having the joiner and denier factions being composed of disparate groups holding those positions for sometimes contradictory reasons felt very real to me.
On the fiction side, A Question of Survival offers a small view into the vote for whether or not to join the Star League and the immediate aftermath of ilKhan Alaric Wards refusal of its results. The Clan Wolf and Star League perspective on the Dominion’s vote are also a small part of Trial of Birthright.
New Avalon and the Dragon’s Tongue
In the late Dark Age, the Federated Suns were battered. The most drastic losses were the result of the Draconis Combine advancing deep into their territory and conquering the Federated Suns capital of New Avalon. The campaign to liberate New Avalon and push the Combine back towards the historic border is the other primary story line in Dominions Divided. The campaign was a hard one for the Federated Suns, but they were ultimately successful. In part that success was due to the Combine’s internal divisions with Coordinator Yori Kurita willing to abandon Gunji-no-Kanrei Matsuhari Toranaga. During the campaign, the Federated Suns was also dealing with its own internal divisions with First Prince Julian Davion and Prince’s Champion Erik Sandoval-Groell not seeing eye-to-eye.
The Damocles Sanction covers the campaign to liberate Federated Suns worlds and the growing rift between the First Prince and the Prince’s Champion.
This is the next part of the ilClan era setting that will be getting a Hot Spots book later this year with Hot Spots: Draconis Reach.
Alexander’s Folly
During the Federated Suns campaign against the Draconis Combine, Duke Alexander Hasek of the Capellan March complicated things for the Federated Suns. Following an attack by assassins, he incorrectly blamed the Taurian Concordat for the death of his lover and launched an invasion of the Periphery nation. The Taurians managed to capture him and attempted to ransom him back to the Federated Suns. Unwilling to either pay the ransom or allow a Duke to stay captive, First Prince Julian Davion ordered an operation to free him. While that operation is successful and Duke Hasek was returned to the Capellan March, his actions left their mark on both his relationship with the First Prince and the relationship between the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat.
On the fiction side, these events are also covered by The Damocles Sanction.
ilKhan’s Eyes Only
The Republic’s Carcass
ilKhan’s Eyes Only tells the story of the central remnants of the Republic and Terra under the control of the ilKhan. Like Alaric Ward and Malvina Hazen, Chancellor Daoshen Liao was set on defeating the Republic of the Sphere and conquering Terra. He lacked the knowledge of how to bypass the wall though, and so he missed the invasion. Instead, he focused his forces on conquering the worlds surrounding Terra in preparation for an assault once either the wall failed or he acquired the technical information to allow it to be bypassed.
Meanwhile on Terra, the ilKhan needed to deal with guerilla fighters who were still loyal to the defeated Republic and a population that was not interested in adopting the Clan way of life. To Alaric’s dismay, it turned out that forming a Star League was more complicated than just conquering a planet. In order to get things under control, the ilKhan was forced to get help from former members of the Republic of the Sphere and abandon his plans to immediately convert the world to Clan systems of governance.
Once Terra is finally stable enough, the ilKhan ordered his followers to liberate the worlds closest to Terra in order to create a buffer region around the world. These forces ran directly into the Capellan Confederation regiments and warrior houses waiting for a chance to attack Terra. The fighting was brutal with two things giving the advantage to the Star League – the naval superiority provided by Clans Sea Fox and Snow Raven, and the unexpected attack on the Capellan Confederation by the Duchy of Andurien. The Star League forces pushed the Capellans off of the worlds surrounding Terra in order to establish a Star League Protectorate, but they were once again left battered. The final bits of this story see Daoshen Liao’s forward base on the the world of Liao bombarded by Snow Raven WarShips and Alaric Ward broadcasting his intentions of ruling the entire Inner Sphere as First Lord of a new Star League.
Trial of Birthright and VoidBreaker cover different aspects of the events around Terra. The upcoming Blood Will Rise will present some of these events from a Capellan perspective.
What’s Next?
Catalyst Game Labs has said that with ilKhan’s Eyes Only out, they intend to pause the timeline for a bit so that more fiction can fill out the events through mid-3152 and we can all enjoy playing in the time period for a while before the setting moves forward again.
That said, one of the things that I love about the ilClan series of sourcebooks is that rather than cleanly wrapping up story lines, they each leave things in an interesting place with unresolved conflicts. If a play group wants to push their campaign past mid-3152, there are plenty of hooks and unresolved questions to use as inspiration for what comes next in their games.
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