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The Aftermath Of 3052

Alternate History Fiction

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#1 Bill Bullet

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Posted 28 July 2015 - 10:12 PM

The following contains excerpts from "The Aftermath of 3052: A Comprehensive Study of the Events, People, Battles, and Changes in the Inner Sphere", the historical textbook by Dr. Johann DuPont of the New Avalon Institute of Science.

Spoiler


((So what started as a thought exercise became a thought marathon and next thing I knew it was two hours later and friggin huge. The above Spoiler contains references to the Alternate History created by the MWO CW event "Battle of Tukayyid" and other events within the CW Beta 2 as I have seen/heard of them. But hey, history is written by the victor innit? Blue text links send you to sarna.net for those who may be unsure/unaware of lore and canon characters.))

Edited by Bill Bullet, 28 July 2015 - 10:16 PM.


#2 xX PUG Xx

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Posted 29 July 2015 - 01:20 PM

Awesome read in the style of the articles in the source books, I like it :D Also a fair summary of the situation we find ourselves in, I like the way you have rationalized the ability of different Factions to be in place to defend each others worlds, "The Silk Road" ;)

#3 Bill Bullet

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 06:38 AM

Well hey, we may all hate each other in the IS but at least we're not Clanners :P

#4 Aranzor

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 07:46 AM

The current map looks like something more from the year 3152 than 3052. Your assessment with this and then putting it to the lore makes it almost make sense!

It does make one wonder as well. If there was a book company out there interested in 'rebooting' the Battletech series, similar to the way Star Wars has been treated, what do you think would be the best 'cut off' from which to build new canon?

Challenge time though: How to make the next season restart make sense....

#5 Bill Bullet

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 07:55 AM

Actually despite the awful game system it spawned from, I'm a huge fan of the MechWarrior Dark Age books. Instead of a reboot, I'd also like to see a novelization of the Jihad Era. I always found it sad that an Era with such a huge impact on the BT universe never got any novelization. Though the lack of canon is pretty fertile ground for fan fiction lol

#6 xX PUG Xx

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 08:45 AM

*The Caledonian chuckles to himself while changing the Jade Falcon medallion for the Free Rasalhague Republic item, after putting his Loki into storage and warming up his Thunderbolt*

I agree about the Jihad era, there is so much, destruction, turmoil, political intrigue and good ol' 'Mech on 'Mech battles and there are few novels to portray the stories. I've read through a couple of the Jihad sourcebooks but they are more enyclopedic in nature. I would love to know what happens to some of the main characters in seventy odd years between CBT and DA. Some of the battles, especially the liberation of Terra, would have to be horrifying, metal smashing, epics and then there are characters; Manei Domini anyone? Just creepy!

#7 Jakob Knight

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 07:50 PM

View PostxX PUG Xx, on 30 July 2015 - 08:45 AM, said:

*The Caledonian chuckles to himself while changing the Jade Falcon medallion for the Free Rasalhague Republic item, after putting his Loki into storage and warming up his Thunderbolt*

I agree about the Jihad era, there is so much, destruction, turmoil, political intrigue and good ol' 'Mech on 'Mech battles and there are few novels to portray the stories. I've read through a couple of the Jihad sourcebooks but they are more enyclopedic in nature. I would love to know what happens to some of the main characters in seventy odd years between CBT and DA. Some of the battles, especially the liberation of Terra, would have to be horrifying, metal smashing, epics and then there are characters; Manei Domini anyone? Just creepy!



About the only things I remember from the DA novels (which I still re-read when I can)is that Victor Davion marries Isis Marik, and joins Devon Stone in resisting the Jihad, eventually becoming one of the founding Paladins of the Republic, while his sister Katherine remains a shadowy power in Clan Wolf, known to be present but never stepping foot again in the Inner Sphere. Minoru Kurita donates his genetic heritage to the creation of a special caste within the Nova Cats, while Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao dies in the initial bombardment of the Cappellan capital by the Word of Blake.

While the game MWDA was set to support may have been seen as toyish by many (though the miniatures of the units were top-notch...I still have a Battlemaster and Madcat Mk IV on my desk), the setting and story were something only really appreciated after a long time after they have gone out of circulation. The story of the slow collapse of an empire founded on the highest principles and intent on avoiding the mistakes of the past, due to the greed and pettiness of its citizenry, and also the story of those who can see what is being lost and give their all in a vain attempt to stop the inevitable, is a chronicle that is perhaps the most human of all of the Battletech series.

Perhaps the best song I've heard that sums up the story of MWDA is Within Temptation's 'Our Solemn Hour', that just seems like every word is pulled from the fall of the Republic. The interesting thing is how well it could also be used to describe the period of the Jihad.




Also, great work on the Aftermath history, Bill! The conclusions fit how each event very possibly would have occurred if the one action taken by Ulric Kerensky had happened, undermining the very foundations of what normally followed even as it provided the Clans with what they wanted most. And, it was not beyond possibility Ulric would have done what is stated here if he decided to throw the Wolf Clan fully into the role of Warden that other Clans wouldn't take for years afterwards (using Mercenaries to ensure it was Clan Wolf that took Terra in order to shield it from the other Clans while also forcing the Wolves to accept Inner Sphere ways).

Edited by Jakob Knight, 30 July 2015 - 08:03 PM.


#8 Bill Bullet

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Posted 30 July 2015 - 08:58 PM

The IS loss on Tukayyid created some pretty fertile ground for alt-history writing and I wanted Aftermath to reflect the current CW situation as closely as possible so the fact that MercStar was the leading unit in the event was why I wrote up Ulric's decision to use mercs. The rest of it follows my (admittedly sparse and second hand) knowledge of the goings on in the CW map.

#9 Grayson Sortek

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Posted 14 August 2015 - 10:47 AM

View PostBill Bullet, on 30 July 2015 - 07:55 AM, said:

Actually despite the awful game system it spawned from, I'm a huge fan of the MechWarrior Dark Age books. Instead of a reboot, I'd also like to see a novelization of the Jihad Era. I always found it sad that an Era with such a huge impact on the BT universe never got any novelization. Though the lack of canon is pretty fertile ground for fan fiction lol


Agreed! I read most of the Dark Age series on Kindle just because it was convenient... There are a few novels starting at the Jihad Era, The Isle of the Blessed comes to mind, but none of them really go into the events. For this reason I started working on my own fan-fic following The Hounds of Artemis and starting with The Defense of Elnath.

Maybe I'll post some of it in this section of the forums, because I just discovered them today!





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