BattleTech History for Dummies with Dr. Shadowing, Chief of Dummyology.

[SkyShadowing]

I figured a lot of newbies might like to know some of the lore behind the BattleTech franchise without having to browse Sarna randomly, given that you might not even know what you're looking for. This isn't a deep dive off the ladder, but rather a top-level overview of some of the more important things that happened.

Part 1: The Alliance and the Demarcation Declaration

Our story begins on a little blue planet called, in English, Earth. The primary point of divergence is in the 1980s, though it's not so major a diversion as other franchises. Rather, the Soviet Union did not fall, and the Cold War continued on until 2011, until a civil war broke out between a faction of liberal reformers and a faction of hardcore communist conservatives.

Obviously, the threat of Soviet nukes falling into rebel hands was not something any civilized nation desired, most prominently NATO. The US and its allies intervened on behalf of the liberals. They liberated Poland and Chekoslovakia and, victorious, divided the former Soviet Union into several nations (not along modern-day political boundaries either).

After this the victorious Allies looked at each other and nodded, realizing that mutually they were exponentially stronger than they were apart. So the EU decided to unify into the newly formed, much stronger, political entity of the Western Alliance. They invited the USA to join, and the USA hesitated, but then the Alliance threatened an embargo and the US decided to cut their losses and join.

Over the next few decades the Western Alliance expanded. After a brief standoff with China when Japan joined the Alliance that ended with China joining the Alliance but East Asia retaining some autonomy from the Alliance Parliament, the union had grown to the point where they could only rightfully call themselves the Terran Alliance, because of course Earth became Terra like every other 80s sci-fi franchise. The Alliance had previously been rather benevolent but with hegemony achieved it became much like any other nation.
Early in the 21st Century, two scientists, Thomas Kearny and Takayoshi Fuchida, posited that if you messed with the universe juuuust right you could create an instantaneous teleportation between two points of gravitational stability up to 30 lighttears large. Their peers regarded their theories as a great big joke and they were thrown into disgrace in their profession. Both died unvindicated- Kearny with nothing of note, Fuchida as the husband of a Katherine Kurita. Remember that last name (and yes the Kuritas are descended from the real-life Takeo Kurita who served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during WW2).

In the 21st Century scientists made discoveries of subatomic motion and they realized, pulling out the papers, that Kearny and Fuchida were right. After some tests through Project Deimos (the funding of which created considerable issues on Terra because poorer nations regarded it as a waste of funding), Kearny and Fuchida were vindicated and the Alliance sent a manned mission to Tau Ceti, where they discovered a planet so Earthlike that it was immediately named New Earth, and became the first interstellar colony (Mars and the Moon were both also colonized before this, as was Venus).

The first colonies were all founded by richer nation-states of the Alliance- European nations, the USA, and such. They picked the best of the litter. As the years wore down and colonization became more and more affordable more organizations and nations started establishing colonies under Alliance leadership. As their dependence on Terra decreased, the Alliance split into a two-party system: the Expansionists and the Liberals. The Expansionists were nationalists that had no qualms about military force to ensure Terra's leadership: the Liberals became more and more radicalized, as the Expansionists retained power.

Eventually, some colonies on the edge of Alliance space, which would later become divided into the Inner Sphere (the 5 Great Houses) and the Periphery (everything else) declared their independence. Eager to express their power, the Alliance Parliament, with the Expansionists still in power, sent the Alliance Global Militia's Colonial Marines to enforce Terra's will. They failed. Badly. Very badly.

So badly in fact that the Liberals were immediately swept into power.

They made one great big decision immediately: Terra had no right to dictate to the colonies. Any of them. In fact, if you were more than 1 JumpShip jump away from Terra, you were free. Good luck. You're not Terra's problem anymore.

Suddenly every world beyond a small bubble was independent of Terra. If they had wanted it or not.

That was the Demarcation Declaration, and it set the stage for the next era, the rise of the Great Houses and the Age of War.

 

[SkyShadowing]

I'll keep going just in case anyone cares.

Part 2: Rise of the Great Houses, the Age of War, and the Ares Conventions

In the wake of the Demarcation Declaration and the collapse of the Alliance's rule over its colonies, chaos ensued. Power structures began to emerge, centered on colonies that were more developed, in more advantageous positions, or more lucky. Smaller microstates reached alliances of unification with their neighbors, and expanded, annexing and integrating.

In the midst of this, the Terran Alliance all but collapsed into a pile of corruption, each side of the Expansionist and Liberal divide becoming more and more polarized and radical, until matters were settled less in the halls of Parliament and more in the streets, both sides having groups of thugs, paramilitaries, and other, less savory agents to enforce their will. Neither side could accomplish anything: eventually, civil war on Terra seemed all but inevitable. In the Exodus that followed (not THAT one), Terra's brightest minds, and anyone else who could, fled the crumbling Alliance for the former colonies, fleeing the danger of staying home.

When the civil war became inevitable in 2315, James McKenna took his Fleet and bombarded two uninhabted islands on the planet's surface. Shocked, the people of the cradle of humanity listened as McKenna tore the government apart verbally, calling on all citizens to end this farce of their government. Millions marched in support of his actions, the military returned to their barracks, and those who refused to surrender were destroyed from orbit when possible, or through ground action when they hid in cities.

McKenna declared the beginning of the Terran Hegemony, and abolished political parties, and a strong central government, headed by a Director-General, who would serve for life, and appoint governors to all worlds. Democracy in Terra was dead, but given the collapse that had marred its last few decades, few wept.

In light of this renewed threat from Terra, the consolidation of the other worlds, none too willing to return to Terra's chain around thier necks, greatly accelerated. In the end, humanity was divided into several nations.

The Five Great Houses:
The Federated Suns, with their capital on New Avalon, as a defensive measure, under the rule of House Davion.
The Draconis Combine, capital of New Samarkand (much later Luthien), as an imperialistic state that conquered most their neigbors, under the rule of House Kurita.
The Capellan Confederation, on Capella (then Sian), as a response to FedSuns aggressive expansion, under the rule of House Liao.
The Free Worlds League, on Atreus, as a looser confederation of nations, eventually under the 'rule' of House Marik
The Lyran Commonwealth, on Arcturus then Tharkad, as an alliance of mercantile nations, under the rule of House Marsden, then Steiner.

On the Periphery, too, several nations were formed.

The Major Periphery States, in descending order of might.
The Rim Worlds Republic, under House Amaris (who were Terrans and held Hegemony citizenship and were unabashadly a dictatorship), on Apollo. Bordered the Lyran Commonwealth.
The Taurian Concordat under House Calderon, on Taurus. Borders the FedSuns.
The Magistracy of Canopus, on Canopus, ruled by House Centrella, the only matriarchal power in the Inner Sphere that practices enatic (only women) succession. Borders the FWL.
The Outworlds Alliance, a backwater alliance sandwiched in a little divet on the FedSuns/Combine border.

Peace settled, with the Hegemony making a few grabs of land as an experiment to see how well it could go, but the check of these new major powers, the Great Houses (referring strictly to the Inner Sphere nations and not those on the Periphery) dashed many Hegemony plans of conquest. When James McKenna's son proved himself incompetent, and their expansions began to meet with defeats, McKenna stepped down and almost immediately died of cancer. His nephew, Michael Cameron, a modern Renaissance Man, was elected as Director-General, and restored peace from the slip into chaos that had resumed. Michael Cameron made the Hegemony the premier technological power in the Inner Sphere, and established the Camerons as the Sixth Great House of the Inner Sphere in 2340.

After a few successions and the continued consolidation of the Inner Sphere into the Great Houses, in 2398, the Capellan Confederation declared war on the Free Worlds League in the First Andurien War. The remaining minor nations in their region took the opportunity for land grabs, and very soon the other Great Houses got in on the action. This kicked off the 150-year period known to historians as the Age of War.

14 years later in 2412, FWL forces invaded the Confederation world of Tintavel. After the Capellan defenders resorted to guerilla hit-and-run tactics, both sides unleashed their strategic arsenals, and the resulting conflict destroyed the planet so utterly that within a few years everyone left had either fled or died. In response, Chancellor Aleisha Liao called on the Great Houses and other nations to adopt rules to reduce civilian casualties and prevent these scales of calamities again. Agreeable, 8 of the 10 invited nations agreed, including all 6 Great houses, the Rim World Republic, and the Principality of Rasalhague (who would later be absorbed into the Draconis Combine). The only two to not sign were the Taurian Concordat, who distrusted all the Inner Sphere nations but especially the Capellans, who had performed massacres similar to Tintavel upon the Taurians, and the United Hindu Collective, who was a pacifistic nation that would later be absorbed into the Federated Suns. They feared that the Conventions would legitimize warfare as a means of settling disputes. They were absolutely correct. The Conventions prevented calamities but made war commonplace.

No side made great accomplishments over any other. Technology continued to advance, creating many weapons that would be used. Finally, in 2443, a group of Combine tanks were utterly obliterated by Hegemony forces. Those forces? Gigantic, well-armed and armored, bipedal weapons systems. The first BattleMech, the Mackie, had taken the field, and wars would never be the same.

Within a few years, though, despite the Hegemony guarding the secret of BattleMech construction viciously well, they would slip into the hands of the other nations, who would begin creating their own.

In 2502, Deborah Cameron took the position of Director-General, and was a popular ruler. Rather than fighting wars, she decided to increase Hegemony power another way: by acting as a mediator between warring factions. This was a spectacular success. She also expanded Hegemony territory by jointly colonizing marginal worlds with the support of other nations. These policies proved so productive, in fact, that her son Joseph decided to continue at the expense of the military. He was assassinated, and his brother Ian took control, and elements of the Hegemony Armed Forces attempted a coup that failed.

Ian Cameron, though, had bigger plans. The Hegemony was on the verge of an economic crisis, having mined out most of its territory, and Ian Cameron had a vision of Terra as the ruler of not just the Hegemony but ALL of humanity.

A league of the stars. The Star League.

 

[Zarcon]

More please! . Enjoying it.

 

[wundergoat]

A point about the Taurians - part of why they refused to sign the Ares Conventions is they figured when a real war broke out, the Conventions would go out the door anyways. Why pretend that they'll reign in wanton violence?

Great job, really enjoying your rundown of BT history.

 

[Deaghaidh]

This is brilliant. Didn't reply before because I didn't want to disrupt the flow from one post to the other, thought you might want it to be one long series to be stickied.

But yeah, keep going! Don't white-wash the Star League though, they were actually kind of dicks. And by kind of dicks I mean committed war crimes.

 

[SkyShadowing]

Oh by all means comment and correct me. It's more than welcome.

I'm thinking about grabbing stills from the opening cutscene that the streams showed (if you're worried about spoilers it's literally nothing you don't know if you're a lore fiend) and inserting them in at the 'appropriate' points (not going too crazy, I mean).

 

[SkyShadowing]

Part 3: Rise of the Star League, the Periphery War, and the Golden Age

In the wake of the coup, Ian Cameron had uncontested control of the Terran Hegemony, with a military cleared of the subversive elements (by the coup, not the Soviet manner, most were actually paroled and released), he turned to the mounting resource shortages of Terra's dominion. He furthered research to appease what was left of the military, but was scared of giving control of Terra's resources to the other Great Houses.

The method of jointly colonized worlds helped, but Ian Cameron had the dream of seeing all of humanity reunified under Mother Terra's careful stewardship- naturally, of course, with the Camerons at the head.

The people of the Inner Sphere were becoming tired of the Age of War. The Third Andurien War between the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League was raging in 2551, and Hegemony mediators arrived as usual to attempt to negotiate an end. House Liao had no interest in peace. House Marik, though, did, and was interested in Ian's dream of humanity united.

When the war turned bad for House Lia, Chancellor Terrence Liao was more amenable to a peace treaty, and House Marik promised to give Liao control over the contested worlds if they agreed to sign on with the Star League. The Capellans agreed. A public peace treaty ending the war was signed, but the Treaty of Geneva was signed in secret as the first bricks in the foundation of the Star League.

Naturally, two men can keep a secret if one of them are dead, and the people were in favor. The rulers of the Great Houses, of course, were another matter. House Steiner and the Lyran Commonwealth had the largest economy in the Inner Sphere, and membership in the League was vital if it was to be viable. Archon Tracial Steiner came to power in 2555 and agreed that a mutual defense treaty was a valid solution, and signed the Tharkad Accords in 2558.

House Davion was recovering from a vicious civil war, and delayed until they felt they could negotiate from a position of strength. Ian Cameron and First Prince Alexander Davion signed the New Avalon Accords, joining the Star League in 2567.

House Kurita's Coordinator Hehiro Kurita was personaly very open to joining the League, but his subordinate nobles would take some convincing. It took two years for enough concessions to be made to allow House Kurita to join, signing the Treaty of Vega in 2569.

Two years later, in 2571, the six House Lords of the Great Houses met on Terra to sign the 2,000 page Star League Accords.

Copies of the Accords were sent to the 4 Major Periphery Powers- the Rim Worlds Republic, the Taurian Concordat, the Magistracy of Canopus, and the Outworlds Alliance. All of them politely refused. Ian professed regret, but then spun the propaganda machine portraying the Periphery as lost and backwards and dangerous.

Ian's wife Shandra Noruff was named the new commander of the Star League Defense Force, which completely absorbed the Hegemony military as its 'Royal' Divisions and a significant portion of each member-state's militaries. To attempt to 'convince' the Periphery to join, the new SLDF undertook excercises. The excercises were a colossal embarassment, being soundly beaten by the House armies they were skirmishing against. The Periphery smiled, poured themselves a glass of wine, and settled in with little fear.

That was a mistake.

When the Outworlds Alliance purchased a few companies of Light and Medium BattleMechs, the grapevine inflated it to an entire Regiment (4 Mechs form a Lance, 3 Lances form a Company, 3-5 Companies form a Battallion, 3 Battalions form a Regiment). The SLDF demanded to station troops there to protect the Outworlders from pirates. They sent SLDF regular units backed up with Kuritan House Army forces. The situation was tense, and the tension hit a snag when the Santiago Massacre happened, with a Combine soldier killing 27 Outworlder citizens.

In 2573 a Taurian fleet misjumped into FedSuns space, and in a panic forces engaged. When Ian Cameron tried to intervene to negotiate, the Taurians rebuffed him personally. In revenge, Cameron blamed the entire situation on the Taurians (it was in fact most likely the FedSuns fault) and the Star League placed punitive sanctions on the Periphery. This hurt the Star League as well, and a new scheme was cooked up.

A last 'invitation' was dispatched demanding the Periphery join the Star League. The Periphery, who prided themselves on their independent and frontier spirit, said no. The invitation was not optional.

The Star League, bastion of a peaceful future, declared war upon the Periphery in 2578.

Gregory Amaris, President (dictator) of the Rim Worlds Republic, supported the Star League, but rebel elements of his nation overthrew him and placed him in house arrest.

The Reunification War lasted until 2596, focusing their efforts on one nation at a time. First was the Taurian Concordat, who put up good resistance. In response, the Star League officially abrogated the Ares Conventions, setting them aside for all time. Second was the Outworlds Alliance, who were too weak to put up much resistance- but House Davion, feeling jilted by Star League promises that had not materialized, sent covert aid to the Outworlders.

Third was the Rim Worlds Republic, whose army was mostly armor and infantry, and resisted well until the Combine sent armies to the fight: the Combine were far more merciless than the SLDF or Lyran forces invading now, and resistance crumbled. Gregory Amaris was placed back in control. The RWR was actually the last to fall.

The Magistracy was the last invaded, and held true to the Ares Conventions.

With the Reunification War complete, the Periphery States were integrated as Territorial States, who would be able to voice opinions, but not voite, in the Star League High Council (the 6 Great Houses).

This long age of peace was a golden age for humanity. Economies prospered. Technology advanced. Even the most bitter Periphery inhabitant acknowledged that it was nice to have SLDF forces around with their guns pointed at the pirates, that things were better. The Great Houses continued to scheme and plot, but the might of the SLDF, the most powerful military in history, kept them in check. Leonard Kurita, son of Hehiro, was an unbalanced lunatic, but House Kurita kept their house in order by killing him.

The Periphery, however, was exploited by their more powerful neighbors. Corporations, governments, all piled on. Things were better, true, but it came at a cost that would not truly be realized yet.

One of the most important scientific advances was, when it was determined from Kearney and Fuchida's original work back in the 21st Century, that it might be possible to create a temporary wormhole between points. The energy costs of creating one large enough to actually send things through was exorbitant and unrealistic, true... but a tiny one could allow data through. They named this the HyperPulse Generator, the HPG, and established a network of stations. Important Hegemony worlds formed the First Circuit, followed by Great House capitals, followed by other worlds. Before this the only method of interstellar communication was through JumpShip couriers. Now a message that could take years to reach the far side of the Inner Sphere would only take months.

When the Rim Worlds Republic began to build up their forces to uncomfortable levels, the Star League forced him to back down. In continuation of this, Michael Cameron passed Council Edict 2650, which limited the size of the House armies. To most nations this was unfortunate, but tolerable. To the Combine, whose warriors viewed themselves as samurai, it was anathema. Freed, masterless ronin MechWarriors began adventuring, mostly approaching Star League bases and challenging (and usually, at first, defeating) Champions of the SLDF. This was the first Hidden War, and the first signs that the good times were ending... slowly.

Jonathan Cameron succeeded Michael as First Lord in 2690, and he was... interesting. He was tormented by visions of the Hegemony and Terra aflame. In response, he poured vast resources into the military, making sure the Royal divisions of the SLDF were ahead of the curb. In addition, he developed the creation of an interstellar defense network consisting of drone ships and planet-based defense forces, called the Space Defense System (SDS). The most powerful of these SDS was the Reagan System around Earth. These supplemented the Castles Brian ("Castles Named After Brian Cameron" that I failed to mention as Director-General of the Hegemony) that were vast fortresses on the border that were designed to allow a defending force safety and tie-up an invading force (by forcing them to keep attackers present). The Hegemony's defenses were beyond compare.

The good times officially ended in 2725 when House Kurita invaded the Federated Suns. First Prince Roger's eldest daughter, Mary, had married Soto Kurita, and their son, Vincent Kurita, depsite some laws passed removing him from the official line of succession, had a strong claim on the throne of the Davions. The Davions refused to allow the throne to pass into the hands of the hated Kuritas and refused his claim. When the Star League High Council did not make a decision, the Combine struck. Crusader Kings 2 players at this point will be nodding, as we know exactly what happened.

Jonathan Cameron by this point had become completely unbalanced, so his sister stepped in at his behest and the Star League settled the issue by dispatching SLDF forces to stop the fighting. However, it had irreperably damaged relations between the Federated Suns and Star League, because it had taken 4 years for the cease-fire to be imposed. House Kurita also forever vowed to remember that the Camerons had sided against them. Both began to slowly withdraw their support and cooperation from the League.

Simon Cameron took the throne in 2738. He attempted desperately to restore the League's unity, but nowhere was more damaged than the Periphery. Jonathan Cameron had, in his disinterest, allowed the Council to pass a law that allowed Inner Sphere corporations to utterly fleece the Periphery, and they were feeling the sting, and resentment was rising.

Simon undertook missions to all capitals, starting with the Lyrans, and intending to continue to each nation in turn. He never got the chance. While touring a mining asteroid, one of the Mining Mechs charged the booth he was controlling it from, smashing it and sucking Simon Cameron out into space. His death was quick.

His eight year old son Richard was named First Lord, and a regency began. The High Council appointed the commander of the SLDF, General Aleksandr Kerensky, to the post. He would find himself fighting a losing battle for the First Lord's favor with the President of the Rim Worlds Republic, a name that would forever more live in infamy.

Stefan Amaris.

 

[Covertops22]

Lord how I hate Stefan Amaris.

 

[SkyShadowing]

Part 4: The End of the League

When Simon Cameron died (there has never been a cause proven but assassination is not unlikely), he left a Star League in deep disrepair, through his father's actions. The Periphery was on the verge of outright rebellion. The Draconis Combine and Federated Suns were both disillusioned with the union. And his only heir was an 8-year old boy.

The High Council met on Terra (in the Court of the Star League, the capital city, colloquially called 'Unity City', in Puget Sound) and did possibly one of their last few good acts. They named General Aleksandr Kernesky, commander of the SLDF, as Richard Cameron's regent. Aleksandr Kerensky was immensely popular and well known to be utterly incorruptible.

Any faith his appointment sparked was quickly quashed, though, by the High Lords passing laws that benefited them directly at the direct cost of the Periphery.

Richard Cameron was a young, confused boy, and Kerensky was unable to properly mentor the boy because his duties as SLDF commander kept him busy and, most importantly to the High Lords who kept him in his post for this very reason, away from the capital, leaving the control of the League to the High Lords. In his confusion, one man seemed to understand him beyond any other, and became his closest and most trusted friend. That man was Stefan Amaris, ruler of the Rim Worlds Republic.

His appeal to Richard was entirely by design. Amaris was a snake. Unbeknownst to many others, he was secretly building up forces of BattleMechs in not just his own nation, but all the other Periphery nations, manipulating them towards launching a war of independence. None of the Periphery lords trusted him personally, only to act in his own best interest. They believed he was seeking independence for the RWR, and were happy to go along with his schemes as long as it got them, too, independence. They were very wrong.

Amaris styled himself as a country bumpkin to keep the Court scornful of him, but to Richard, he understood the boy's fascination with old heroes- Genghis Khan, Richard the Lionheart, Ian Cameron, and more. With everyone else trying to manipulate Richard for their own ends, his trust and love impeccably went into Stefan Amaris.

General Kerensky, like many, did not trust, and when able he tried to steer the boy towards others, but it was a fight that was long since lost. Eventually, Amaris, feeling the heat, told Kerensky he would return to his nation, and Kerensky was satisfied. Amaris was merely completing his final preparations.

When Richard came of age, one of the things he passed was an exorbitant taxation bill upon the Periphery. He also tried to outlaw House armies, but Kerensky talked him down, and sided with the High Lords that it was illegal. This rebuke by Kerensky only served to drive Richard further into Amaris's influence.

In 2765, the inevitable occurred. 18 worlds of the Taurian Concordat declared themselves free of the Star League (though not the Concordat), and the SLDF garrisons found themselves in a mire. Then the secret reinforcements arrived, and the SLDF knew they could not win without reinforcements, especially when the word sparked the general revolt all across the Periphery- except in the RWR.

It was then that a secret treaty between Amaris and Richard was revealed, that, should the defense of Terra come into question, the Star League could unequivocally call upon the forces of the RWR, most loyal realm, to defend the Cradle of Humanity and the Hegemony. With little other options, Kerensky called upon the Terran forces of the SLDF, and Rim Worlder troops filled the gaps. Richard was excited. He ordered their guests be treated extremelly well... and be shown how to control the defenses, including the Castles Brian and the SDS systems. They were most interested in those.

Unbeknownst to Richard, for every 1 Regiment of RWR troops set to arrive, 2 actually did. Few noticed the discrepancies. As Kerensky called more and more troops, the situation became more and more lopsided. Finally, with his troops ready, Amaris struck.

On December 27, 2766, Stefan Amaris presented a present to his closest friend, First Lord Richard Cameron. It was a jewelled pistol. Richard was delighted. Stefan took it from him, pointed it at Richard's head, and shot the First Lord dead. Immediately his guards seized control of the security, and after a very close call of almost being taken out by loyalist troops, he was in control. All across the Hegemony, his troops seized control of the nation.

A few days later, after a confusing blackout for the rest of the Inner Sphere, Kerensky received a message from Emperor Stefan Amaris of the Amaris Empire, asking his loyalty. Naturally, Kerensky refused.

Amaris did not sit idly by. He rounded up every other member of the Cameron family, and after toying with them, had them all murdered. He left their bodies in the throne room and ordered it sealed.

Kerensky knew that he was facing the strongest defenses ever constructed, and his troops were spoiling for a fight. Wisely, he decided that he knew a perfect target to take out their aggression. After all, if all the Rim World troops were in the Hegemony... none were in the Rim Worlds. He ordered all SLDF forces to converge on and seize supplies from the defenseless RWR.

An immediate ceasefire was declared between the remaining 3 Periphery states and the SLDF. The Periphery lords, though no friends of the Star League, were horrified at what Amaris had done. They'd been more willing to work with Amaris so long as it benefited their own aims of independence, but Amaris had not just aimed to free himself of the Star League, but aimed to BECOME the Star League, and they would have vastly prefered the Camerons to Amaris, whose malice was legend.

The SLDF crushed the few remaining forces defending the RWR, working with the remnants of the rebel Rim Republican Army, the organization that pre-dated the Amaris takeover of the Republic, when it actually WAS a Republic. Kerensky asked every Great House for support. They offered none. The people, still supportive of the Star League, though, kept their lords from sabotaging Kerensky. However, Amaris held members of the Kurita family hostage, and the last promise of the dying Coordinator to his heir extracted a promise to work with Amaris diplomatically. They also covertly supported Kerensky.

On July 14, 2772, the SLDF began Operation Hegemony, the campaign to liberate the heart of the Star League from the Amaris yoke. The fighting was fierce, especially on worlds with either Castles Brian or SDS, and the only method was to fight through. Casualties were high, but invariably the SLDF, the strongest military ever assembled won. The conditions they discovered on liberated worlds were deplorable: Amaris was treating his captured citizens as slaves.

As the SLDF poured in, Amaris began to lose his mind. The campaign was slow and arduous, but eventually the SLDF became capable of neutralizing to a small degree the defenses of an SDS.

Finally, on January 23, 2777, forces began to assemble for the jump to Terra. The Reagan SDS was waiting, as were Castles Brian and a large number of defending Amaris forces. Kerensky hailed his men as heroes, and finally, they jumped.

The fighting over Terra was fierce, but invariably, the SLDF recaptured Terra, the capital, and captured Stefan Amaris alive. Kerensky treated him with respect, put him in a nice prison, and began investigating.

When the SLDF troopers discovered the horrors that awaited them in the throne room, Kerensky's mercy ran out. He flew and looked at it himself, flew immediately to the palace Amaris was under arrest in, ordered him and his family lined up, and executed them by firing squad. Kerensky was heard to utter his opinion on the man who had massacred the entire Cameron family: "there will be no sympathy for the devil."

And then the question became: what next? Amaris had killed all legitimate claimants to the throne of the Star League. The High Council returned to Terra to decide the matter. Their first action was to appoint Jerome Blake as Star League Minister of Communications. This was, in fact, their last action. Each of them felt that they were the best candidate to take the throne. Each of them refused to consider any other, and it became apparent that they had no interest in deciding a new First Lord. They were more interested in their own power. Finally, they dissolved the High Council, and effectively, the Star League. Each returned home.

Kerensky spent years pleading with the House Lords to reconsider, but it was pointless. Finally, he returned to Terra to undertake a new action. He knew what was coming.

In secrecy, he spread the word to his troopers that he had one last action he would request, not order: he wished to lead them away. To leave the Inner Sphere and the Periphery behind. It was a mark of their love for their commander that 80% agreed, and the remainders didn't leak any word. Kerensky knew that his army, the strongest, would only help destroy the Inner Sphere if they had stayed. He ordered those that remained to assist Jerome Blake's recovery efforts on Terra and the Hegemony, and finally, his troops loaded up, and jump after jump headed Coreward (north). The Great Houses watched, wary, but none interfered. Finally, they vanished, their final destination unknown, perhaps even to them. Many of the Successor States, and the ComStar that followed, would attempt to locate them. They would not succeed. As of 3025, what became of them remains a mystery, despite a few possible interactions.

Many of the remaining SLDF troops signed on with House Lords. Some, like the Eridani Light Horse, became mercenary outfits. A few remained with Jerome Blake, who kept them concealed.

It was not long before when, in December 2786, Minoru Kurita declared himself unilaterraly the true First Lord of the Star League and effectively declared war upon the rest of the Inner Sphere. Following his lead, each of the remaining House Lords declared themselves First Lord as well. Forevermore the five states of the Inner Sphere would be known as the Successor States- claimants to the Star League crown.

Back on Terra, Jerome Blake undertook a plan to protect the Hegemony, but it came too late. Eager to increase their power, the Great Houses gorged themselves, annexing the closest of the Hegemony planets. Finally, Blake's plan was down to one option. Declaring the Star League Department of Communications neutral, he renamed it ComStar, and offered to the House Lords free and open communications so long as they respected their neutrality. He used his forces to seize the Sol system, Terra, Mars, and the other planets. Disappointed, each of the House Lords regretfully agreed. Each possibly thought that when they won the war, they would be able to deal with Blake.

Instead, they would find their hands full with a war of savagery, hatred, and length that the Inner Sphere had never seen before. It was known as the Great Succession War at the time. Soon after it ended, it would be renamed. The First Succession War. It and its siblings lent their name to the most terrible era in human history, the Succession Wars era.

 

[Deaghaidh]

Unpopular Opinion:

Stephen Amaris did to the Camerons and the Hegemony what they did to the Periphery. Pretend to be friendly, send troops to 'help', backstab and massacre, demand obedience. The Star League had the shiniest toys but in the end all their lofty principles were just a more complicated way of saying "Obey or be destroyed." Karma's a bitch, then you die.

 

[Iracundus]

Arguably Amaris just put the nail in the coffin. The Star League had been in decline for years, with the Davion succession issue showing the increasing weakness of the League and the Cameron family, and how the balancing act was failing. By delaying intervention, it had lost the support of the Davions, and when it did finally intervene, it lost the support of the Kuritas. Simon Cameron was probably the last chance for the League to save itself as his oratory seemed to successfully rally the people and might have forced the House Lords to back down, at least temporarily for maybe a generation. Who killed Simon Cameron is one of the great unsolved mysteries, but many had motives.

Kerensky and the SLDF arguably destroyed whatever chance the Terran Hegemony had of salvaging itself. First, by refusing to take power himself, Kerensky left the Hegemony essentially leaderless. Second, by gutting the civil service of any civil servant who served in any role under the Amaris administration, he replaced competent civil servants with either corrupt or inexperienced replacements, fatally crippling any rebuilding efforts. Without the Hegemony to act as a powerful intermediary party between the other Houses, the League was doomed.

 

[Deaghaidh]

The Star League began in the first place because the resource depleted Hegemony economy couldn't survive without access to the other houses. Unlike the Houses the Periphery powers were weak enough to be forced into a colonial dependency, fueling the good times and shining cities of the Hegemony.

Even had Kerensky taken the Hegemony intact and with a functioning government, it was doomed without the Houses. They could no longer safely send troops to force the Periphery powers to send tribute. The Hegemony was doomed when the Star League council broke up. Kerensky was smart enough to recognize an untenable position. Leaving Blake in charge tells you something, as it reflects Earths last real asset, it's central location.

Blake leveraging his strategic position as the literal center of the IS was enough to allow a remnant of Terran government to survive. But the Star League and Hegemony were both dead as soon as the House lords lost their fear of the SLDF and stopped cooperating.

 

[Iracundus]

The House Lords still had fear of the SLDF as the combined SLDF probably had enough to engage in mutually assured destruction with at least one of the Houses. That was why there was such anxiety as the Exodus began because it looked at first that Kerensky was maybe moving against Kurita.

The alternate universe where Kerensky is assassinated and the Exodus called off, suggests the Hegemony could have survived. It would have required the SLDF to stay behind to deter the Houses from annexing the Hegemony, and it would have required Blake and the military leader of the SLDF working together to leverage the Hegemony's location, the HPG network, and the technological edge of the Hegemony. Rebuilding had to be coordinated. The Touring the Stars supplements showed some Hegemony worlds attempting to rebuild on their own but the efforts were not enough, and they needed aid from outside.

 

[SkyShadowing]

The SLDF was still the most powerful military in the Inner Sphere and was utterly and completely devoted to Kerensky. They had enough forces to reasonably conquer one of the Great Houses, but Kerensky had absolutely zero desire to rule and complete loyalty to the Star League. Whatever happened after the Exodus (which I will not be touching on here as this is geared towards new people coming in for the 3025 era), during his time in the Inner Sphere Kerensky really was the great and honorable man, the perfect soldier.

The entire reason the House Lords were so happy to make him regent AND keep him as head of the SLDF was because they knew he was too honorable to say no (especially with the Periphery making moves towards war), and keeping him as 'figurehead' meant that his light was so blinding that people couldn't then look and see the shadows they were casting.

While Kerensky planned his exodus the Great Houses were crapping themselves because they knew if he decided to blame them for the fall of the League, he absolutely had the power to conquer one of them. A lot of Combine nobles were terrified when the Exodus fleet came their way, but the Coordinator had a gut feeling that he knew what Kerensky was up to, and he was right.

 

[Iracundus]

Kerensky was a failure as a political leader though. If he had managed to get one of the Houses to cooperate, as Ian Cameron did originally, he might have been able to get other Houses to back down. House Liao signed on to the League after Marik did, and then the others followed for fear of being left out and being targeted.

Of all the House Lords, probably Kerensky's best bet was either Davion or Liao, as Barbara Liao has a quote clearly expressing her retrospective regret at their actions as being a big mistake.

The problem Kerensky made was similar to what the Camerons did. By avoiding offending anyone by failing to come down on any one side, he ended up pleasing nobody and offending everyone.

 

[Covertops22]

At any rate one could say Kerensky ushered in the Wars that followed at a much faster pace. It was all going to boil over eventually, and I don't think a politically savvy enough Star Lord could have stopped it from happening. It would have started in the Periphery, with a domino effect to the Houses in quick succession with all of them fighting for different reasons; which would have put huge strain onto the SLDF. Would we have seen the devastation that we see now had he not left? Speculation says no, but one has to think that the SLDF would have defended and ultimately gone on the offensive to crush opposition. The Houses would be fighting each other, the SLDF, and would most likely have to defend against the Periphery to an extent. I am of the opinion that sure, the setting would be different as well as the political landscape, but war would still be an ever raging event and would have ushered humanity's end even quicker had he stayed and fought it out.

Even though Kerensky seemed like a good man, he invariably caused the next 300+ years of war and human suffering on a scale that easily makes him the most vile human to have ever existed. All the deaths, the LosTech, the backward technological stagnation, etc could easily be blamed on his leaving. I guess that'd be just one view point.

 

[SkyShadowing]

Cooperating with one of the Great Houses would have been tantamount to declaring that house the new First Lord, as Kerensky had no desire to take that position for himself. The Great Houses were acting purely in self-interest to a massive degree of greed. The Great Houses had been somewhat agreeable to House Cameron because the Hegemony was, at the time, clearly the most powerful nation in the Inner Sphere.

Never forget that the SLDF was not the Hegemony's military. At its core, the Royal divisions were the remnants of the Hegemony Armed Forces. The rest were forces from the Successor States. Everything went to hell not long after they settled down on the Pentagon Worlds. They were held together only by loyalty to the Star League itself, with the Camerons as a 'neutral ground.' I highly doubt many would fight for one of the Successor States that wasn't their own. They were loyal to Kerensky, not the Successor Lords.

Kerensky basically had two options: declare himself First Lord and use the SLDF to fight, or side with one of the Successor States and fight all the rest as the SLDF disintegrated around him. Even so, keeping the SLDF"s WarShips, BattleMech Divisions, and other assets in the Inner Sphere would have made the 1SW far, far more destructive. Kerensky knew that, and he took Option #3- remove the largest, most dangerous assortment of military assets from the Inner Sphere so that the coming war (which really WAS inevitable) would be less destructive.

 

[Iracundus]

The alternate universe where Kerensky gets assassinated and his successor goes back and salvages the Hegemony shows what Kerensky could have done. It may or may not have salvaged the League but it would have saved the Hegemony, and the threat of the Hegemony backing one House might have made other Houses back down.

The other option Kerensky could have done was to have indeed sided with one House. He would have been kingmaker. Sure he would have been hated by the others but he would have enabled one House to establish a potentially decisive superiority over its neighbors and thereby force either a diplomatic solution or have enough for a military knockout to another House or even eventually conquer the Inner Sphere. A House that successfully conquered and absorbed another House would potentially be in much better state to actually win the succession and end the wars. The Succession Wars can be compared to the Warring States period of China. Literally centuries of conflict and political intrigue and jockeying. What finally ended the era? One state finally gaining a decisive advantage and then sequentially absorbing all its rivals. Kerensky's departure made such an advantage impossible.

Again Kerensky by avoiding any side, effectively ensured the wars would continue as the balance of power ensured no House had the means to achieve any victory. Kerensky had the power to break that balance decisively but he chose to abstain to keep his own hands clean. His self-righteous refusal to act when he had the power to do so shatters the image of him as hero.

 

[SkyShadowing]

Kerensky had no loyalty to any one of the House Lords. He probably didn't even like them very much. Not one raised more than a single finger to fight Amaris, and when he won against the enemy their response was to basically say "thanks, now we're going to remove you from your position as Protector of the Star League and let us handle things."

My point I'm making is that Kerensky couldn't bear to watch the Inner Sphere burn. He had no power to prevent the war. He could, however, do what he could to minimize it. The 1SW already set the universe back to the Age of War in terms of average technology. If the SLDF had stuck around? Technology would have regressed even further because a lot more things would have been destroyed. Kerensky's loyalty was not to the House Lords but the people, who would have suffered even more had he and his army stuck around. I have a hard time agreeing with the idea that a man that chose pacifism over war is not a hero, when the universe itself in its entirety recognizes him as one.

Empires Aflame, for the record, is explicitly non-canon, and thus I'm not taking it into account.

 

[Iracundus]

The universe kinda hates him especially for what his son did. He is a flawed hero at best because his actions then his subsequent inaction doomed the League and the Hegemony. He might have credit for defeating Amaris but his actions afterwards deserve to be condemned, such as gutting the Hegemony's civilian government and then leaving the Sphere. We only have his own reasoning that staying would have made things worse and more destructive. We don't know whether it would have really been the case or not. I would disagree. His ability to either salvage the Hegemony or to be kingmaker by siding with one side potentially could have limited the war if the Hegemony became the middle power, or shortened it by making it possible for one side to actually win. Being kingmaker does not require liking any House Lord. It would have been a political decision done for the sake of ultimate peace. He could have chosen the least bad option among the House Lords, but he didn't. Kerensky didn't choose pacifism. He chose the worst of all possible choices. He chose to keep his own image and hands clean by abstaining so he could stay on his pedestal as the defeater of Amaris and liberator of Terra. It was an act of political cowardice. I have thought so since the 1980's.

Empires Aflame is a what-if alternate universe. However it demonstrates how things might have gone from the same starting point in the timeline, so such possibilities can be used to argue what if Kerensky (or his sucessor) had stayed. The fact that in that alternate timeline, the average level of technology did not sink quite as low shows that the SLDF staying would not necessarily have resulted in worse destruction.