34 replies to this topic

[Shiftfac3d]

So I am new to the MW world and am trying to really catch up on all of the lore but I have a question pertaining to all the groups within MW. What is the point of pledging to a house or being part of the republic? What about Merc Corps? I am assuming that is a mercenary group but I could be mistaken. What about all the clan's within this forum? Are these clans different from being part of a house or are they sub groups within that house? Just trying to understand so I can know how to go about selecting the one I wish to be a part of. Thanks.

[Alistair Steiner]

It's all lore and fluff. Houses Steiner and Davion are technically allied, but they're still rather different. Here's a basic rundown.

Davion: Generally the white knights, based on mainland Europe and big on honor, duty, fighting, and autocannons. Currently led by Hanse Davion, or "The Fox," a brilliant and shrewd tactician.

Steiner: Based mostly on modern-day Germany, House Steiner is all about big 'Mechs. They mostly fight defensively, where movement isn't as big of a deal as armor and firepower. Also the "merchant house" of the Inner Sphere, so quite wealthy. Mercs like them.

Kurita: Based on medieval Japan, this house follows bushido to the extreme, but with the up-and-coming Theodore Kurita, their tactics have changed to challenge Hanse's military strategies. Honorable, but deadly.

Marik: I honestly don't know much about them. Little lore, other than the House is usually embroiled in one civil war or another. Based on a mix of Indian, American (North and South) and other ethnicities At the moment, not fighting anyone, and high manufacturing capabilities (will become important in the Clan Invasion).

Liao: Mostly Chinese in ethnicity. Generally depicted as the "bad guys," Liao is often led by an insane Chancellor who thinks the universe literally revolves around them. Currently Romano Liao, who's... well bat poo insane. However, they have surprisingly good technological advancements, including the Raven.

Rasalhague: The FRR is fairly new, and made mostly as a buffer between House Steiner and House Kurita, so it contains a mix of the German and Japanese folks, with a majority of Scandinavian. The "official" language is Swedenese, a horrifying mix of Swedish and Japanese.

As for mercs, it's a grab bag. The Wolf's Dragoons have "mysterious" origins, and a vendetta against House Kurita, the Kell Hounds fight solely for Houses Davion and Steiner, the Snord's Irregulars search for ancient artifacts (and actually usually pretty important, considering how older technology is better than new, due to the way BT fiction works), etc.

And of course, there's "original" units being made, as well as more diversified units within the House Units. For example, according to fluff, the Skye Rangers technically fight for House Steiner, but are often trying to free themselves and become a separate nation. Similar to Ireland in the 20th century.

And of course the "Clans," who left the Inner Sphere 200 years ago, fought amongst themselves, formed a warrior society, and may or may not (in RP terms) be pushing through the Periphery right now. *cough* A lot of people came into BattleTech when the Clans were introduced, so they identify with them. At the moment, we can only declare for a House or Merc unit. Clan folks are going to have to wait.

And that's my wall o' text. Message me if you have any questions. And thanks for supporting MechWarrior!

[dal10]

you forgot that the davions are the bullies of the battletech world. and our next chancellor is just about the best leader the inner sphere has seen.

[Shiftfac3d]

So will these houses be implemented into the game and if so will they have a pool of mechs and weapons you can buy that no other house can get?

edit: so the merc groups have their own plan but if someone gets in their way they will fight them basically? Some groups do it for money, others do it for some other reasons such as finding artifacts right? And the groups you listed, are they original, being player made up, or real from the lore of MW?

So is Skye Rangers an outfit you all made up and came up with the story that you are trying to free yourselves or is that something that was really in the lore that was part of House Steiner?

So when I read a topic titled Clan Wolf or Ghost Bear, are these original clans that we made up or are they something from the Lore that people decided to build upon?

Edited by Shiftfac3d, 04 October 2012 - 07:18 PM.

[Boondale]

Every house, clan and faction stated is cannon from the Mechwarrior setting. The one thing that was overlooked is that the leaders for House Davion and Steiner are brother and sister. They were knowen as the Federated Suns at one point, but they had a fight and split into 2 diffrent factions.

As for House Marik, its a group of worlds that never quite get together on anything, but will fight as the Free Worlds League (Thats the name House Marik calls its faction). The FWL is prone to cival wars as stated above, but AFAIK has the best tech research because the FWL is heavy with the Word of Blake and Comstar factions.

Mercenery groups are based on Outreach (IIR it's in either Davion or Steiner space). Think of it as a whole planet devoted to arena battles and as an employment center. The Wolf Dragoons traces it's oragens as a refitted clan group that was sent to the Houses to gather intel about them for the empending invastion of Steiner, Davion and the Rasalhague houses.

Some of the main clans are Wolf, Jade falcon and Ghost Bear. In all there are 9 clans that are based on a caste system with Mechwarriors at the top and suport personal at the bottem. Withen each clan though are 2 factions, Wardens and Crusaders. The Wardens want to protect the houses where the Crusaders want to take them over so they can rule over them.

[Shiftfac3d]

So forgive my ignorance on the matter, just trying to gain an understanding but Clan Wolf for example, are they part of a particular House or are the clan's separate from the Houses. Skye Rangers are part of House Steiner, but Skye Rangers isn't a clan right, they are a unit within the larger unit, being the House Steiner?

[kracked49]

dal your next leader may be smart but he is still a Liao and that means that he will bugfug crazy too. Everyone of your leaders eventually becomes bugfuging crazy. It's in the genetic make up of the house.

[Boondale]

Shiftfac3d, on 04 October 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

So forgive my ignorance on the matter, just trying to gain an understanding but Clan Wolf for example, are they part of a particular House or are the clan's separate from the Houses. Skye Rangers are part of House Steiner, but Skye Rangers isn't a clan right, they are a unit within the larger unit, being the House Steiner?

All the clans are separate from the houses in MW. They each have there own history, mecha and backgrounds like the Houses of the Inner Sphere (The "Inner Sphere" being all the diffrent Houses in MW withen 190 light years around Terra (Earth)).

The Skye Rangers are IIR a Merc unit of note employed by House Steiner, so being a merc unit they get suport from House Steiner but for all intent they are a seprate unit with there own uniforms, insignia, mecha and wants/needs.

[Shiftfac3d]

When you say mecha does that mean if implemented in the game they will have exclusive mechs or is that imbalanced? Same for all houses and other clans, merc groups etc. do they get exclusive mechs and weapons.

[dal10]

kracked49, on 04 October 2012 - 08:05 PM, said:

dal your next leader may be smart but he is still a Liao and that means that he will bugfug crazy too. Everyone of your leaders eventually becomes bugfuging crazy. It's in the genetic make up of the house.

given that Sun Tzu lays the foundation for the confederation to pretty much being able to take on BOTH the republic of the sphere, and house davion. he is not crazy. Kali Liao is crazy, Sun Tzu is the ONLY successor lord who even managed to hold their capital planet during the Ji-had. He rebuilt the CCAF from a minor force, to a force capable of fighting any house in the sphere. He took back St. Ives despite davion opposition. Sun Tzu was a genius, given the smallest house in the sphere, he managed not only to hold on to what he was given, but made the Confederation a force to be reckoned with. He is one of the greatest leaders the Inner Sphere has ever seen.

[Pihoqahiak]

Shiftfac3d, on 04 October 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

So forgive my ignorance on the matter, just trying to gain an understanding but Clan Wolf for example, are they part of a particular House or are the clan's separate from the Houses. Skye Rangers are part of House Steiner, but Skye Rangers isn't a clan right, they are a unit within the larger unit, being the House Steiner?

The Inner Sphere, as Boondale mentioned, is the majority of colonized planets within a good distance of Terra (Earth). It was at one point ruled over by the Star League. Corruption and feuding eventually led to it's collapse. One of it's military leaders was disgusted with that behavior and led a large group of loyal military forces and their families out of the Inner Sphere, past the Periphery (the outer edge of colonized planets, loosely governed if governed at all) and into uncharted space. They eventually colonize a group of barely habitable planets and form a warrior based society and begin a breeding program for many generations. It's warrior members earn the right to have their DNA used to create a following generation of warriors (which are not clones, but basically test tube babies grown in labs). Their technology improves over their 250ish years away from the Inner Sphere, while the technology in the Inner Sphere degrades over that time period due to constant warfare, raiding and sabotage between the factions. The majority of the Clan leadership feel that their legacy is to return to the Inner Sphere and conquer it. Installing their vision of what civilization should be to it's people. This leads to a massive interplanetary war that spans many years. The period of the Battletech timeline that MW:O is currently placed is just before the Clans invade the Inner Sphere. Their forces are already moving into the Periphery worlds, scouting and prepping for the invasion. It's not known how PGI is going to handle Clan forces and factions yet.
Oh, and the bulk of mercenary units work small duration contracts for the various Houses of the Inner Sphere. Some mercenary units are quite large, but those are by far the minority, and a few also will take long term contracts to work for a House. It isn't uncommon for a mercenary group to work for one House one month on a contract, and then after that contract is completed, go to work for a different house soon after. Even rival Houses from their last employer.
The original setting and feel of Battletech was to portray mech pilots (mechwarriors) in a very similar light to medieval knights. Their mechs often handed down to them from parents or family, similar to a knight's sword and armor and many of them having varying degrees of a warrior sense of honor on the battlefield.

One more thing I thought I would add is that it seems that a large amount of players and fans of the Battletech/Mechwarrior franchise were introduced to it after the storylines involving the Clans played out. You'll likely see a lot of players chomping at the bit to be able to play as part of their factions and use their mechs if they become playable. They definitely have a very noticeable technological advantage. Their mechs have much better equipment overall, usually lighter, taking up less critical locations, less heat generation, more range, etc.

Edited by Pihoqahiak, 04 October 2012 - 09:05 PM.

[Boondale]

Shiftfac3d, on 04 October 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:

When you say mecha does that mean if implemented in the game they will have exclusive mechs or is that imbalanced? Same for all houses and other clans, merc groups etc. do they get exclusive mechs and weapons.

I think the best known clan mech is the Mad Cat. It is primarly used by Clan Wolf, but other clan pilots (I asume) could have won one in a Trial (formal challenge to a fight) of some sort. Anyone thats new to Mechwarrior thats reading this should know that Mechwarrior/Battletech has ben around for some 25-30 years now (if not longer) and has a huge amount of backstory. At one point the game had it's own magazine, Mech Tech that helped describe the setting and the technolagy of the mecha.

[FieserNiesel]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page

look here for answers, it is to much canon to summaries in a thread

[Shiftfac3d]

Thanks everyone who contributed to the thread. I now have a grasp of what is what and understand where MW:O is in all this with the clan invasion and what not. I have been reading up on sarna.net some but it has quite the massive database and I really don't know where exactly to start. That's why I came here and asked about the houses/clans/merc groups and what not. Anyways, thanks again.

[Stormwolf]

Shiftfac3d, on 05 October 2012 - 03:22 AM, said:

Thanks everyone who contributed to the thread. I now have a grasp of what is what and understand where MW:O is in all this with the clan invasion and what not. I have been reading up on sarna.net some but it has quite the massive database and I really don't know where exactly to start. That's why I came here and asked about the houses/clans/merc groups and what not. Anyways, thanks again.

Check this out:

http://bg.battletech...iverseGuide.pdf

It covers most of the factions and history without going into too much detail.

[Shiftfac3d]

Thanks for the link Stormwolf. It is very helpful on getting to know more about the history. I am about half way through it and am looking forward to reading the rest later tonight. This is definitely a good starting point imo to learning more about all that has gone down. Hopefully it will give me more direction when on sarna.net

[Malis A Novacat]

Shiftfac3d, on 04 October 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

So forgive my ignorance on the matter, just trying to gain an understanding but Clan Wolf for example, are they part of a particular House or are the clan's separate from the Houses. Skye Rangers are part of House Steiner, but Skye Rangers isn't a clan right, they are a unit within the larger unit, being the House Steiner?

The Skye Rangers are a part of the military branch of the LCAF, originating from the Federation of Skye, one of the founding states in the Lyran Commonwealth. Not Mercenary at all, but perhaps thinking mercenaries are free to leave if they are not happy. Skye joined the Commonwealth reluctantly and in the following centuries agitators frequently demanded a return to an independant state. The Tikanov Republic and the Sian Commonality have similar histories. The region they share has also been know as the Chaos March, and for good reason. Being close to Terra and as a major cross road for all the Successor States, the Chaos March has been trampled on by many feet.

Clan Wolf, Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, etc, are part of the "Kerensky Clans" that derived from the Exodus of the old Star League Defense Force. Of which there were twenty originally, though one instantly (storyline, copyrites, other reasons) became the "Not Named Clan". Every so often a group known as the "Minnesota Tribe" appears to create free rumors and speculation about the missing Clan. It's pretty much a Red Herring, but a fun part of the fluff in game.

Clans with a small 'c' can appear anywhere as small groups with a particular identity. Any organization or mercenary group can make the same sort of claim.

GC

[Gremlich Johns]

Boondale, on 04 October 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

Some of the main clans are Wolf, Jade falcon and Ghost Bear. In all there are 9 clans that are based on a caste system with Mechwarriors at the top and suport personal at the bottem. Withen each clan though are 2 factions, Wardens and Crusaders. The Wardens want to protect the houses where the Crusaders want to take them over so they can rule over them.

There are, in fact, originally 20 named Clans in the BT milieu. There are others which formed during the *****/Dark Age fictions (after 3067 game time I believe)

[Capp]

dal10, on 04 October 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

you forgot that the davions are the bullies of the battletech world. and our next chancellor is just about the best leader the inner sphere has seen.

Pray that the Maskirovka didn't hear you say that Chancellor Romano is not the best leader ever.

[dal10]

I am less worried about the maskirova than the Death commandos. now those mofos are SCARY. I would bet on death commandos vs just about any other spec ops group in the IS.