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Yes, they are. The setting is currently in the end of the Dark Age and entering the next era.
The latest CGL sourcebook is Shattered Fortress, which covers 3146-3150. This will be followied by the long anticipated ilClan sourcebook that will supposedly end the Dark Age era and reveal which Clan fulfills their ultimate destiny by taking Terra.
As it was predicted back in the 90's at the end of MechWarrior 2?
Stoming on the moon, overlooking Terra.
Ok, so it isn't Clan Wolf for sure, and I doubt it would be Clan Jade Falcon (heck, I don't even know what the Clan landscape looks like after the Dark Ages). Whoever it is, MW2 knew what was up.
In all seriousness though, if the Clans do take Terra, I don't know how to feel about that one.
The Wolves are still split, and the Crusader Wolves relocated to an area in the border with the Lyran Commonwealth and FWL and formed the Wolf Empire. I don't recall the exact boundaries right now, but I think it's interior enough to strike at Terra if they wanted. Having them take it and then having them wiped out near the end of the ilClan era would neatly dispose of one of the two Clan Wolf factions, and it's not like we need two. (The exiled Wolves, for their part, are basically still doing what they've been doing since they formed.)
The Jade Falcons are currently the Designated Bad Guys like the Smoke Jaguars before them, so having them take Terra, commit horrible, horrible acts, and having the resistance against them being the crux of the new era is a possibility. The Hell's Horses are in a similar boat, but much less extreme.
The Ghost Bears and Ravens are merged with an Inner Sphere and Periphery nation respectively, and seem content with their situation. The Diamond Sharks went back to being called the Sea Foxes and are nomadic traders. Can't see any of them being the ilClan.
The Nova Cats were effectively annihilated by the Draconis Combine after backing the wrong (i.e., losing) side in their civil war.
The homeworld Clans are cut off from the rest of humanity because they view contact with Inner Sphere as being an incurable taint upon the Clan way of life, which resulted in a huge war. It was a tidy way to essentially write them out of the setting without needing to come up with some excuse as to how they were all destroyed. None of them would be interested in being ilClan (the only ones who want to go to the Inner Sphere have the goal of wiping it out).
Thank you for the write-up @Packrat , that was very interesting and informative.
I'm a bit shaky when it comes to the FedCom Civil War, but after that, I am really in the dark (no pun intended ). I always appreciate additional info when it comes to this era.
I'm a bit shaky when it comes to the FedCom Civil War, but after that, I am really in the dark (no pun intended
). I always appreciate additional info when it comes to this era.
I would think with WizKids faceplanting with Dark Age that the rule set and setting would have been properly dumpster fired.
But they might hang on to the lore bits-who knows?
I was never a fan, but I heard it was a good jumping off point for people new to the franchise.
But they might hang on to the lore bits-who knows?
I was never a fan, but I heard it was a good jumping off point for people new to the franchise.
I was under this impression as well. Essentially Dark Ages sort of soft-rebooted the franchise and simplified some things (essentially all the weapons and power creep started to become too complicated and a bit of a steep learning curve for newer players). My experience with this is essentially nil, so I am going more off of what I have heard about it.
Dark Ages was intended to simplify the setting, and bring the logistics back down to a more manageable scale. If you remember the FedCom Civil War and the Clan wars you were always dealing with multi regimental sized formations. The Dark Ages brought the numbers down to lance and company sized formations. There was also supposedly supposed to make the various factions more distinct since decades of "shades of grey" storytelling had blurred the distinctiveness a bit.
Both of these were probably a good idea for attracting new comers, but it alienated a lot of the veteran players. Probably didn't help that they advertised as a positive that you could fight using Agrimechs and Industrial mechs. I remember seeing that being pushed as a major selling point and I don't think that was the draw they imagined.
Jihad's not as bad as all that, considering the writers had to bridge the gap from the Reborn Star League/FC Civil War to the New Dark Ages. It's a mess, no doubt, but it can be fun to read in sort of a nightmare scenario sort of way. I mean, do they ratchet the crazies and power level of the Wobbies up to 10,0000? Yes. Some how the Word of Blake has dozens of surprise regiments and dozens of new warships and the fanatical soldiers to operate them and can attack all of the great powers of the Inner Sphere at once. And the writers did decide to just wipe the table clear of a lot of legacy units and characters and that upset a lot of people. The list of units that didn't survive the Jihad storyline is pretty depressing.
There are some good stories from period, especially using some of the under used elements of Battletech. I like the Roughriders/Taurian plotline. The Regulan Rampage at the end of the Jihad is fun for a faction that has gotten no air time ever. I love that Waco finally got his revenge. The novel Embers of War actually does a decent job of trying to show how the Word was able to sow confusion instead of just presenting them as mustache twirling mad men
Both of these were probably a good idea for attracting new comers, but it alienated a lot of the veteran players. Probably didn't help that they advertised as a positive that you could fight using Agrimechs and Industrial mechs. I remember seeing that being pushed as a major selling point and I don't think that was the draw they imagined.
Jihad's not as bad as all that, considering the writers had to bridge the gap from the Reborn Star League/FC Civil War to the New Dark Ages. It's a mess, no doubt, but it can be fun to read in sort of a nightmare scenario sort of way. I mean, do they ratchet the crazies and power level of the Wobbies up to 10,0000? Yes. Some how the Word of Blake has dozens of surprise regiments and dozens of new warships and the fanatical soldiers to operate them and can attack all of the great powers of the Inner Sphere at once. And the writers did decide to just wipe the table clear of a lot of legacy units and characters and that upset a lot of people. The list of units that didn't survive the Jihad storyline is pretty depressing.
There are some good stories from period, especially using some of the under used elements of Battletech. I like the Roughriders/Taurian plotline. The Regulan Rampage at the end of the Jihad is fun for a faction that has gotten no air time ever. I love that Waco finally got his revenge. The novel Embers of War actually does a decent job of trying to show how the Word was able to sow confusion instead of just presenting them as mustache twirling mad men
There's a fantastic thread over at the CGL forum (here) where Herb Beas, who was Line Developer for much of the Jihad era and one of the background authors for both WizKids' Dark Age setting and CGL's Jihad setting, explains the WoB agenda, and how it all went to hell in a handbasket.
The short version: WoB had prepared to wage genocide on the Clans, as the spear point for the Second Star League.
When that fell through, Cameron St. Jamais misinterpreted his orders and accidentally started the wrong war. Suddenly the WoB army found themselves fighting a defensive action for their very survival, against the entire Inner Sphere...
The short version: WoB had prepared to wage genocide on the Clans, as the spear point for the Second Star League.
When that fell through, Cameron St. Jamais misinterpreted his orders and accidentally started the wrong war. Suddenly the WoB army found themselves fighting a defensive action for their very survival, against the entire Inner Sphere...
I am a Dark Ages fan, and yes, it was a perfect jumping on point for new fans. It was very much a soft reboot/semi apology for Jihad, but that was lost on many veteran fans, who just wanted Clan War Era to never end. I would have been VERY happy if this game(video game) took place in the future of the setting and allowed the tabletop version end the Dark Ages as they will while setting up the Arano Restoration as canon.
The timeline doesn't add up. In real life, Jihad-era came after Dark Ages. BT got to 3067 and then MWDA time-skipped to 3132. The Jihad only came a few years later, as CGL (I think) had to bridge the gap between the two eras. Which was an issue because the Dark Ages era presented some fairly extreme shifts in the IS and they had some seriously intense explaining to do in order to take the status quo of 3067 and make it fit the chaos of 3132.
Never heard that once. I only ever saw people complaining about Dark Ages because of Jihad, not the other way around.
The Jihad plot line books most definitely came out after Dark Age. Dark Age and clicktech was done by wizkids. CGL took over the rights afterwards and fleshed out why and how the Jihad occurred and then brought the timeline back to the Dark Age.
Is it possible that you heard people complaining about the Jihad in that in the early Dark Age stuff it was a hand wave explanation of why everything changed?
Nope. All of them were "Jihad ruined everything! I'll never read dark ages! CLAN INVASION FOREVER!" to a man.
The jihad was terribly written on impossible premises.
The idea that one rogue faction could simultaneously pull the wool over all IS and Clan factions, and nuke everyone.
It stunk to high heaven as a reboot, and thier creative staff should have all been axed for suggesting it.
I recognize it for what it was; the moment Battletech jumped the shark, and I consider the extreme level of aftermath damage to be mostly fabricated Wobblie propaganda in the wake of the HPG network collapse.
I conduct any of my fan fiction or host tabletop sessions with this initiative.
The idea that one rogue faction could simultaneously pull the wool over all IS and Clan factions, and nuke everyone.
It stunk to high heaven as a reboot, and thier creative staff should have all been axed for suggesting it.
I recognize it for what it was; the moment Battletech jumped the shark, and I consider the extreme level of aftermath damage to be mostly fabricated Wobblie propaganda in the wake of the HPG network collapse.
I conduct any of my fan fiction or host tabletop sessions with this initiative.
As Frabby points to above, it wasn't so much WoB pulling wool over everyone's eyes so much as everyone was trying to pull the wool over everyone else's eyes with false flags, and WoB both taking advantage of this fact, and also being the scapegoat while trying to survive after having done a really big oops (accidentally nuking Tharkad), by activating all the contingencies at once (which were also really bad things). Naturally, when all the plans happen, none go well because of competing interests and lack of focus. It was also, aside from a basic summary of event, written after Dark Age was written up.
The real-world timeline goes something like this (to the best of my outsider understanding):
pre-2001 - As the BT timeline progresses, the year is now 3067 and the Civil War era is winding down. TPTB at FASA have long since planned out the next era, a shakeup called the Jihad, and have planted its roots as early back as the 1992 ComStar sourcebook. It will be a civil war of sorts between two factions of ComStar. As the BT timeline is developed mainly by means of novels, at least one Jihad novel (Shadows of Faith) is already being written to usher in the new era.
Early 2001 - Turns out Roc Books isn't interested in publishing further BT print novels. I'm unsure if one was cause for the other or if those were concurrent developments, but around the same time FASA decide that the era of classic boardgame BT is drawing to an end. The market is in decline, and Morton Weisman has been waiting for a good moment to retire for some time already. FASA declares they'll withdraw from the market. The BattleTech boardgame IP is passed on (first licensed and then sold if I understood correctly) to a new firm created by Jordan Weisman, WizKids, who plan to use the IP for a new game called MechWarrior: Dark Age.
(The distinct computer game IP is held by Microsoft, but is dormant at this time following the publication of MechWarrior IV in 2000.)
Mid-2001 - The BT fanbase is wailing and gnashing their teeth over the perceived "death" of the game. Lobbied by one of their freelancers, Christoph Nick, German BT licensee FanPro applies for and receives the full license to what is now "Classic BattleTech", renamed to distinguish the old game from the new MWDA game under development by WizKids. FanPro US hires many of the old FASA hands, including Herb Beas and Jason Schmetzer, which makes for an almost seamless transition of the IP. The FanPro US staff are more or less the same people working on MWDA for WizKids.
To ensure FanPro don't mess up the far future timeline of the MWDA game, however, their license is limited in that it precludes them from developing the timeline beyond 3067.
2003 - WizKids is bought by Topps. With FanPro picking up the line where FASA had left off (with the caveat that they can't go beyond 3067), the BattleTech boardgame IP is now sort of split three ways:
WizKids launches the MWDA clix game, a totally new wargame. Roc launches a new MWDA novel line to go with the game. To explain the massive changes to the setting it is set one or two generations in the future of CBT, jumping ahead to 3132 from 3067, and includes a highly destructive "Jihad" era that happened after 3067. Details on the Jihad are sketchy at best; it serves as backstory and explanation for any and all chages to the setting.
A group of freelancers and authors around Shadows of Faith author Loren Coleman form InMediaRes (IMR) and license the right to publish BattleTech fiction online from WizKids, launching BattleCorps.
FanPro is meanwhile producing new CBT rulebooks and sourcebooks, and even all-new novels which however are only published in German.
2007 - FanPro's license runs out and is not renewed. Instead, Catalyst Game Labs (an imprint of IMR) acquires the license. The writing and development staff for BattleTech remains essentially the same as they just transfer from FanPro US to CGL. With the MWDA game line drying up and discontinued by 2008, IMR (CGL and BattleCorps) are allowed to freely work on the timeline again, and immediately go about backfilling the Jihad era. CBT is renamed to just "BattleTech" again.
However, lacking novel rights (it seems Roc is still sitting on these for both CBT and MWDA, and doing nothing with them) the Jihad era cannot be narrated in the usual way. Instead, it is told through sourcebooks and BattleCorps publications as it unfolds. It is already known how things will end of course, as the MWDA game with all its sourcebooks and novels remains fully canonical.
Disclaimer: Anything I wrote above may turn out inaccurate or plain wrong. It is my best understanding of the situation. I don't have any insider information, only what was published or discussed on public forums.
pre-2001 - As the BT timeline progresses, the year is now 3067 and the Civil War era is winding down. TPTB at FASA have long since planned out the next era, a shakeup called the Jihad, and have planted its roots as early back as the 1992 ComStar sourcebook. It will be a civil war of sorts between two factions of ComStar. As the BT timeline is developed mainly by means of novels, at least one Jihad novel (Shadows of Faith) is already being written to usher in the new era.
Early 2001 - Turns out Roc Books isn't interested in publishing further BT print novels. I'm unsure if one was cause for the other or if those were concurrent developments, but around the same time FASA decide that the era of classic boardgame BT is drawing to an end. The market is in decline, and Morton Weisman has been waiting for a good moment to retire for some time already. FASA declares they'll withdraw from the market. The BattleTech boardgame IP is passed on (first licensed and then sold if I understood correctly) to a new firm created by Jordan Weisman, WizKids, who plan to use the IP for a new game called MechWarrior: Dark Age.
(The distinct computer game IP is held by Microsoft, but is dormant at this time following the publication of MechWarrior IV in 2000.)
Mid-2001 - The BT fanbase is wailing and gnashing their teeth over the perceived "death" of the game. Lobbied by one of their freelancers, Christoph Nick, German BT licensee FanPro applies for and receives the full license to what is now "Classic BattleTech", renamed to distinguish the old game from the new MWDA game under development by WizKids. FanPro US hires many of the old FASA hands, including Herb Beas and Jason Schmetzer, which makes for an almost seamless transition of the IP. The FanPro US staff are more or less the same people working on MWDA for WizKids.
To ensure FanPro don't mess up the far future timeline of the MWDA game, however, their license is limited in that it precludes them from developing the timeline beyond 3067.
2003 - WizKids is bought by Topps. With FanPro picking up the line where FASA had left off (with the caveat that they can't go beyond 3067), the BattleTech boardgame IP is now sort of split three ways:
WizKids launches the MWDA clix game, a totally new wargame. Roc launches a new MWDA novel line to go with the game. To explain the massive changes to the setting it is set one or two generations in the future of CBT, jumping ahead to 3132 from 3067, and includes a highly destructive "Jihad" era that happened after 3067. Details on the Jihad are sketchy at best; it serves as backstory and explanation for any and all chages to the setting.
A group of freelancers and authors around Shadows of Faith author Loren Coleman form InMediaRes (IMR) and license the right to publish BattleTech fiction online from WizKids, launching BattleCorps.
FanPro is meanwhile producing new CBT rulebooks and sourcebooks, and even all-new novels which however are only published in German.
2007 - FanPro's license runs out and is not renewed. Instead, Catalyst Game Labs (an imprint of IMR) acquires the license. The writing and development staff for BattleTech remains essentially the same as they just transfer from FanPro US to CGL. With the MWDA game line drying up and discontinued by 2008, IMR (CGL and BattleCorps) are allowed to freely work on the timeline again, and immediately go about backfilling the Jihad era. CBT is renamed to just "BattleTech" again.
However, lacking novel rights (it seems Roc is still sitting on these for both CBT and MWDA, and doing nothing with them) the Jihad era cannot be narrated in the usual way. Instead, it is told through sourcebooks and BattleCorps publications as it unfolds. It is already known how things will end of course, as the MWDA game with all its sourcebooks and novels remains fully canonical.
Disclaimer: Anything I wrote above may turn out inaccurate or plain wrong. It is my best understanding of the situation. I don't have any insider information, only what was published or discussed on public forums.
When you just look at a quick synopsis I can see where you are coming from, but CGL did an excellent job of working with what they had and making it not only possible but absolutely plausible.
WoB isn't some tiny faction. It is simplistic to call them a splinter group of ComStar. When Anastasius Focht staged a coup in ComStar post-Tukkayid, WoB split off with 1/3 of the network but since Focht still had Terra and had the support of the rest of the network, his group kept the ComStar name. However, ComStar's spy agency (ROM) basically defected en mass to WoB. When Focht made ComStar secular, he alienated a ton of the rank and file that grew up in the religion and they defected, including a lot of Tukkayid veterans. Then after a few years WoB makes a successful play for Terra and ComStar basically lets them have it. WoB was also pragmatic and traded tech to their host successor states for hardware, up to and including jointly developed WarShips.
So, you have a faction that has Terra, the unparalleled ROM intelligence agency and its secrets, and a good chunk of the ComGuard and HPG network. WoB is more like ComStar than ComStar at this point (~3058).
The situation is excellent for them. Their biggest threat, the FedCom, splits then goes to war with itself, leaving an independent area around Terra where WoB can pull worlds under its sphere of influence. There are a ton of regional conflicts and animosities to exploit. Their allies are less engaged than the other major states, so are able to build up. WoB uses the decade between taking Terra and starting the Jihad to set up contingencies and gather strength. They've got factories and shipyards making weapons, they've co-opted bits of the FWL military and government, they've been collecting assets squirreled away and recovering old warship hulks.
When the WoB does mess up and become public enemy #1, they hit all their various contingency plans. It seems like a lot, but remember, this is the faction that kept the succession wars rolling for centuries. This is par for the course, but instead of triggering conflicts one at a time they trigger them all then use their backdoor to crash interstellar communication before using their own limited forces strategically, with liberal application of WMDs, to keep everyone confused and off balance. Information warfare combined with shock and awe. This worked until communications were restored and the various factions unified to stomp the Wobblies. Perfectly reasonable.
For me, the only thing that even sorta felt out of place were the Manei Domani and hidden worlds, but then this isn't the first rabbit ComStar/WoB pulled out of its hat. I mean, in the last 50 years the first showed off a massive army that they happened to have and then revealed that they had a sizable WarShip fleet. Having more secrets isn't that far fetched.