73 replies to this topic

[Darksider]

Absolutely the early USA and medieval Italy comparisions hold alot of value. The E.U. to some degree. Those were clearly influences on FASA when the FWL was envisioned.

[Deathz Jester]

Beazle, on 03 July 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Honestly, all the houses have bits and pieces of American and Canadian influence for 2 simple reasons.

1: The writers were mostly (all?) American, and so they applied their own perceptual filters to the creation of each state. (ie the Combine isn't what Space Japanese would be, but what an American thinks Space Japanese would be.)

2: The Americans were one of the first to go to space and begin colonization. Most of the worlds with heavy "American" culture lay within the borders of the Terran Hegemony. When the TH was destroyed, it's worlds were taken by the houses, bringing bits of their culture with them.

Where in the hell are you getting your logic from?

yes FASA was an American company, that doesn't mean that they're saying everything is American.


If you dont like reading, then sorry, your loss.

and while sarna isn't %100 accurate, they tend to hit the nail on the head almost %100 of the time.


The Great Houses of the Successor States

House Davion

See also: Federated Suns and Federated Commonwealth
Strongly influenced by Great Britain, United States, and France.
Capital world: New Avalon
The Federated Suns is an interstellar nation set within the BattleTech game universe, introduced by FASA Corporation in the 1980s. The Federated Suns have been ruled by the Davion Family, or House Davion, since the nation's founding in2317.
The FedSuns was founded in 2317 by Lucien Davion, Prime Minister of New Avalon, when he negotiated a mutual defense and assistance agreement, known as the Crucis Pact, with 20 nearby star systems. Lucien became the federation's first president and New Avalon its capital. A member of the Davion family has led the Federated Suns in unbroken succession for the past 700 years. Presently on the throne is Yvonne Steiner-Davion, youngest sister to the former ruler, Victor Steiner-Davion. Both are children of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner, whose marriage effectively sealed the Federated Suns' alliance with the Lyran Commonwealth. The Federated Suns claim approximately 400 inhabited star systems under its aegis, nearly double the number of worlds controlled at the beginning of the Succession Wars. In addition, uncounted other worlds are claimed and exploited by Davion forces.
Much of House Davion's growth over the past 200 years has taken place at the expense of Liao's Capellan Confederation. This was particularly true at the end of the Fourth Succession War, when the Federated Suns took more than 100 worlds from House Liao.
An even more serious enemy to the Federated Suns has been the Draconis Combine, ruled by House Kurita, which nearly succeeded in conquering the Davion realm during the First Succession War. By forging an alliance with the Lyran Commonwealth in 3022, Davion forced Kurita to spread its 'Mech resources along two frontiers, leaving many worlds thinly defended. Prior to the Fourth Succession War, Davion forces were able to exploit this vulnerability, seizing the Combine worlds of Tancredi II and Galatea, as well as Star League storehouses at Galtor and Rowe, while losing very few units themselves. With the outbreak of war, however, the Federated Commonwealth had to rearrange its priorities. By the end of the Fourth War, House Kurita had managed to seize 15 worlds, including Galtor, along its border with House Davion.
Surprisingly, the Clan threat has done much to destroy the traditional Davion-Kurita rivalry. There is even rumor of a love affair between Victor Steiner-Davion and Theodore Kurita's daughter, Omi Kurita, although official sources consistently deny the connection. It is known that Victor Davion led a mission to a Clan-held world to rescue Theodore Kurita's son, Hohiro Kurita (the younger). With the Clan threat diminishing for a time, tensions will no doubt resurface. Clashes, at least minor ones, between Davion and Kurita forces will recur.
Pejoratives: FedRat
Notable characters

• Hanse Davion

House Kurita


See also: Draconis Combine
Strongly influenced by Japanese culture.
Capital world: Luthien.
The Free Rasalhague Republic (FRR) was once part of the Draconis Combine.
In the BattleTech universe, House Kurita is the ruling family of the fearsome Draconis Combine. The only Great House that proclaims unabashedly its right to rule all of the Inner Sphere, House Kurita has dominated the Draconis Combine since its founding in 2319. Its progenitor was Shiro Kurita, the first Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. The current Lord of House Kurita is Coordinator Theodore Kurita, who succeeded his father Takashi Kurita in 3054. House Kurita has had a long history of antagonism with and aggression against its neighbors. Though its official symbol is the serpentine Chinese dragon, humorist Homer Kellogi thought the octopus a more appropriate symbol, since House Kurita's tentacles are everywhere. Though driven by an archaic sense of honor spelled out in the Dictum Honorium, House Kurita is not above using subterfuge and guile to further its goals.
A massive tome comprising many volumes, the Dictum Honorium would require several lifetimes to master. It spells out in fine detail the code of conduct for all citizens of the Draconis Combine, from the Coordinator to his Samurai to the lowest Unproductive. Due to its length and general impenetrability, few manage to read more than a few pages, and the Dictum has little actual effect on daily life. Several passages, such as the special rules allowing the taking (instead of summary execution) of prisoners of war valuable to military intelligence and ransom are kept secret from the public.
Common Nicknames: Kuritan
Pejoratives: Drac, Draco, Snake
Notable characters

• Minoru Kurita
  
• Hohiro Kurita
  
• Omiko Kurita
  
• Theodore Kurita
  
• Yorinaga Kurita

House Liao

See also: Capellan Confederation
Strongly influenced by Chinese, Russian, and Scottish culture.
Capital world: Sian
The Capellan Confederation has long been considered the underdogs of the Inner Sphere, known for mentally unstable leaders that are often violently oppressive towards their own people and great military losses in each succession war leading them to a shadow of their former size.
However, in more recent years, the Capellan Confederation has strengthened incredibly under the leadership of Sun-Tzu Liao. Often manipulative but the best leader the empire has seen in years, the Confederation has a strong alliance with the Free Worlds League, resulting in rapid technological increase, as well a social reformation among the people (known as Xin Sheng) restoring their pride. This culminated in the Confederation re-taking a pocket of territory on the Davion border known as the St. Ives Compact which revolted with Federated Commonwealth help in the 4th Succession War, during Sun-Tzu's grandfather's rule.
More recently the Confederation has gained strong alliances with both major Periphery factions on its borders, giving it access to the rear guard of both the Free Worlds League and Federated Commonwealth (Federated Suns in the post civil war era), as well as strong but technologically inferior military allies. This leaves the Confederation as one of the strongest factions in the post-civil war classic period.
Notable characters

• Maximillian Liao
  
• Sun-Tzu Liao

House Marik


See also: Free Worlds League
Multicultural, with strong European, American, and Indian overtones.
Capital world: Atreus
The Free Worlds League is notable as the first successor state founded in the Inner Sphere. While their history is wracked with many vicious civil wars and tensions along the Liao border, much of the Leagues territory there originally belonged to the Capellan Confederation. The dawn of the Clan invasion changed their role in the galaxy considerably as one of the two untouched nations and, until Operation Serpent, neutral factions in the war.
This brought the Free Worlds League to being an economical powerhouse, supplying materials ranging from food to 'Mechs, to other factions in need; often trading for advanced Clan technology. During this time the split between the Word of Blake and Comstar impacted the League as well, making them the first House to remove Comstar from control of House communications, in favor of the Blakeists.
The Free Worlds League has a strong emphasis on combined arms tactics, with almost all of their regiments featuring a large number of infantry, armor and aerospace assets, as well as one of the largest navies in the Inner Sphere. The focus on 'Mechs, however, does exist within their elite regiments that make up the Knights of the Inner Sphere, in an effort to return to Star League tradition of minimizing loss of life by reducing war to just a handful of combatants. Near the end of3067, the Free Worlds League had a space navy that greatly outpaced those of the other Successor States.
After the Word of Blake Jihad, the Free Worlds League dissolved and is now a defunct power.
Notable characters

• Thomas Marik
  
• Janos Marik

House Steiner


See also: Lyran Alliance, Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Commonwealth
Greatly influenced by Scandinavian and German culture.
Capital world: Tharkad
The Lyran Commonwealth was considered the Inner Spheres greatest economic power. While as much involved with the Succession Wars as every other state, their focus had historically been on defense and border skirmishes, rather than invasion. The Lyran Commonwealth is frequently contested by the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League, which no doubt helped lead to the creation of the Federated Commonwealth in later years, when the Lyran Commonwealthmerged with the Federated Suns.
The Lyran Commonwealth is also classically known for inept military commanders, who gain their status through social settings and favors rather than training and skill, often hailing from rich families. This has been known as a crippling factor for the successor state, as their equipment and technology easily outpaced their rivals in the first three succession wars.
Notable Characters

• Katrina Steiner
  
• Melissa Steiner

House Steiner-Davion


See also: Federated Commonwealth, Federated Suns and Lyran Alliance
Capital worlds: Tharkad and New Avalon
The Federated Commonwealth came into being with the marriage of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner, joining the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth into what was the most powerful of the Successor States.
The union lasted only 20 years, as unrest caused by the Clan invasion and the assassination of Melissa Steiner-Davion enabled Melissa and Hanse's second child Katherine Steiner-Davion to seize much of the former Lyran Commonwealth from her brother, Victor Steiner-Davion's control. Katherine went on to stage a coup against her younger sister, Yvonne Steiner-Davion and took control of the former Federated Suns half of the Commonwealth while Victor was off fighting Clan Smoke Jaguar. This lead to a civil war which raged for five years before Victor's allied forces successfully defeated Katherine and her supporters.
Rather than try to reforge the union of the two nations, Victor opted to aid the healing process by returning both nations to their prior separate constitutions and abdicating as Archon-Prince in favor of his surviving younger siblings; ArchonPeter Steiner-Davion and Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion.
[edit]Notable characters

• Katherine Steiner-Davion
  
• Victor Steiner-Davion

ComStar


See also ComStar
Capital: Terra
While not strictly defined as one of the Successor States, ComStar is politically influential, as it maintains a monopoly over the HyperPulse Generators (HPG), which are crucial to interstellar communication; the threat of a communications blackout makes ComStar a significant power within the Inner Sphere. ComStar, itself, is composed of quasi-mystical technicians who tend the HPG arrays. They profess to be neutral to the politics of the Inner Sphere. Jerome Blake is something of a religious figure to ComStar; oaths such as "By the blessed Blake" or epithets such as "Blake's Blood!" are not uncommon. Jerome Blake was the original founder of ComStar, after the Star League fell, and is considered by those within ComStar to be the savior of the Inner Sphere.
Notable characters

• Anastasius Focht
  
• Jerome Blake
  
• Julian Tiepolo
  
• Myndo Waterly

Word of Blake


See also Word of Blake
The Word of Blake was once part of ComStar, but splintered from the order due to a difference in beliefs. It was founded by Demona Aziz, the then-Precentor of Atreus. Created after the death of Primus Myndo Waterly and the Battle of Tukayyid that halted the Clan invasion, it at first received support and refuge from the Free Worlds League, who employed them to control their hyperpulse communications network. However, it launched an invasion of Inner Sphere territory, and eventually captured Terra from ComStar in 3058. When the Star League was disbanded in 3067, the Word of Blake launched a jihad against the rest of the Inner Sphere. The opening of the Jihad included an attack by allegedly rogue mercenary units on the Wolf's Dragoons homeworld of Outreach, as well as assaults on Tharkad, New Avalon, Luthien and several other important worlds. The goal of the Word of Blake Jihad was an extension of the original plans of ComStar's founder, Jerome Blake, Operation Silver Shield, to capture some of the Terran Hegemony worlds and hold them under ComStar's control.
However, resistance began to grow when Professor David Lear and the Republic of the Sphere's future founder, Devlin Stone, escaped from a Word of Blake reeducation camp and organized a local resistance movement that destroyed Word of Blake forces on Kittery. Soon, the resistance developed into a widespread organization that was joined by ComStar, the Successor States, the Clans, and the mercenary unit Wolf's Dragoons. Once united, they succeeded in pushing the Word of Blake back, until their final defeat on Terra in 3081.
Mercenaries

Also not a true Successor State, mercenaries play a large role in the Inner Sphere, and some of the larger groups (Wolf's Dragoons, for one) have considerable political and military influence.
Notable Units

• Wolf's Dragoons
  
• Eridani Light Horse
  
• 12th Star Guards

http://www.sarna.net...uccessor_States

[Butane9000]

After reading up about the houses and factions and seeing his post I think Zakatak has it right.

It's definitely a blend of Canada, the U.S.A and the EU rolled up into one intragalactic love fest. Which is all good.

[Bloodgutter]

Mike Silva, on 13 May 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

I can't speak to FRR, but I'm under the impression that Davion is very heavily flavored by feudal western Europe, where Marik is more modern western style democracy.

However, if that were 100% truth then there would be no "House Marik" where one particular line tends to maintain power over a number of decades or centuries. If there's an explanation for this I'd love to hear it; it's something I never quite understood.

Post-apocalyptic feudalism is normal for humanity if you read history, e.g. The fall of the roman empire, the black death, the massive socioeconomic upheaval of the industrial revolution, the fall of the Star League to name a few, and it only makes sense for these new lords to band together to present a unified front against aggressors who don't speak their language.

[Bloodgutter]

Beazle, on 03 July 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Honestly, all the houses have bits and pieces of American and Canadian influence for 2 simple reasons.

1: The writers were mostly (all?) American, and so they applied their own perceptual filters to the creation of each state. (ie the Combine isn't what Space Japanese would be, but what an American thinks Space Japanese would be.)

2: The Americans were one of the first to go to space and begin colonization. Most of the worlds with heavy "American" culture lay within the borders of the Terran Hegemony. When the TH was destroyed, it's worlds were taken by the houses, bringing bits of their culture with them.

And to top it all off I think it is obvious that the FWL is represented by North America. A powerful central body that can't really control itself internally while exerting influence to keep the border confederations in line economically and socially, with many in between and outlying "protectorates" that are too comfortable having the benefits without paying their fare share for them.

Oh, and to Canada; If we in the U.S. wanted your country we would have it in about 2 1/2 weeks. About 90% of your people (give or take) live within 75 miles of our border, there is nowhere for you to fight us, unless you want to do it from your living rooms. And you call us lazy.

BTW the FWL flag is an eagle, a RAPTOR (which is a predator), in full flight.

Edited by Bloodgutter, 07 July 2012 - 08:03 AM.

[therealswilly]

The Wikipedia page states that it has a North American/Native American and Greeko-Roman influences.

[Beazle]

Iron Harlequin, on 04 July 2012 - 02:40 PM, said:

Where in the hell are you getting your logic from?

yes FASA was an American company, that doesn't mean that they're saying everything is American.

I get my logic from the definition of logic. Where as you seem to get yours from a lack of comprehension of the written word.

At no point in my post did I say that they were "saying everything is American".

I suggest you use some of your internet-serach-and-quote skills to look up the concept of a "perceptual filter".

Your excessive quotation of Sarna also contained nothing at all that discredited either of my two points.

In short, your post is bad, and you should feel bad.

[Deathz Jester]

Beazle, on 10 July 2012 - 05:46 PM, said:

I get my logic from the definition of logic. Where as you seem to get yours from a lack of comprehension of the written word.

At no point in my post did I say that they were "saying everything is American".

I suggest you use some of your internet-serach-and-quote skills to look up the concept of a "perceptual filter".

Your excessive quotation of Sarna also contained nothing at all that discredited either of my two points.

In short, your post is bad, and you should feel bad.

Oh please define logic, oh wise one. I'm pretty sure I comprehend written words, I dont think you know what comprehension means.

And I dont know what the word serach is. Please enlighten me on the definition of serach.

My "excessive" quotation of Sarna discredited your original statement of "all houses have traces of american influence" if you knew how to pay attention to what you're reading, you'd know that. The only 2 houses that blatantly state they are influenced or even imply they are influenced by American Culture are FWL and Davion.

So in short, I dont feel bad.

Have a nice day

[Beazle]

Iron Harlequin, on 10 July 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Oh please define logic, oh wise one. I'm pretty sure I comprehend written words, I dont think you know what comprehension means.

And I dont know what the word serach is. Please enlighten me on the definition of serach.

My "excessive" quotation of Sarna discredited your original statement of "all houses have traces of american influence" if you knew how to pay attention to what you're reading, you'd know that. The only 2 houses that blatantly state they are influenced or even imply they are influenced by American Culture are FWL and Davion.

So in short, I dont feel bad.

Have a nice day

Your absolutely correct. It is completely obvious that you are my intelletual superior. I should go shoot myself for being so stupid as to leave a typo in an internet forum post. It is completely logical for you to disregard everything in that post once you have located one single error.

I don't know why i thought the fact that i put time into reading actual sourcebooks, and used actual thought to put out an actual opinion could ever compare to somebody who copy/pastes from a wiki. Furthermore it was ignorant of me to think that a term like "perceptual filter", followed by a example of what it ment, could ever be construed as logic.

The fact that you copy/pasted pages of text in order to illistrate how wrong I was about a point I never made clearly proves you the better man on pure word count alone.

Obviously i have no concept of the difference between "bits of" and "blatantly", and I shall have to educate myself. I am honeslty at a loss as to how I could be so stupid as to confuse such an obvious equality of scale.

My lack of knowledge of the Terran Hegemoy, (on which i based my initial post) is very wisely pointed out by your complete and total disregard for it's existance in both of your replies. Truely sir, your show your wisdom in not wasting time adressing what was total fantasy on my part.

I am glad you don't feel bad.

[Balls of Steele]

Beazle, on 03 July 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Honestly, all the houses have bits and pieces of American and Canadian influence for 2 simple reasons.

1: The writers were mostly (all?) American, and so they applied their own perceptual filters to the creation of each state. (ie the Combine isn't what Space Japanese would be, but what an American thinks Space Japanese would be.)

2: The Americans were one of the first to go to space and begin colonization. Most of the worlds with heavy "American" culture lay within the borders of the Terran Hegemony. When the TH was destroyed, it's worlds were taken by the houses, bringing bits of their culture with them.

Thing is though, the Combine isn't meant to be Space Japan, although every faction is flanderised to a degree. These are space-nations that cover hundreds of worlds with hundreds of billions of people. At the very least I'd expect that there would be elements of almost every and all earth cultures in every successor state. The "dominant" culture is the one that seems to define the state, at least in a stereotypical faction. I'd go as far as saying it's the Capital world of each faction that really sets the trend for how people perceive the nation, with most every other world simply following suit, or not as the case may be.

This is how I see the FWL anyway, since they're the only faction that doesn't have a dominant culture, but a loose alliance of several. In other words, kind of what a nation colonised by hundreds of different peoples would actually look like.

Yes FASA is an American company, hence the possibility for a perception filter, but I like to think they are open-minded and intelligent enough for this to be a null factor. Yes the factions aren't implemented perfectly, but they shouldn't have to be, this is a gaming universe not a study in anthropology.

Bloodgutter, on 07 July 2012 - 08:00 AM, said:

Oh, and to Canada; If we in the U.S. wanted your country we would have it in about 2 1/2 weeks. About 90% of your people (give or take) live within 75 miles of our border, there is nowhere for you to fight us, unless you want to do it from your living rooms. And you call us lazy.

BTW the FWL flag is an eagle, a RAPTOR (which is a predator), in full flight.

How often have you fought in -45C? I'm sure the Canadians could make such an endeavour very costly for you, if your country's past record in occupations is anything to go by.

[Gaius Cavadus]

Zakatak, on 13 May 2012 - 12:45 PM, said:

Although we arguably have [...] the best trained "standard" infantry besides Isreal.

Yeah, I was opfor at NTC for six months. Had three or four Canuck units go through there.

No offense but the best compliment I can pay Canada's infantry is that I've seen worse. Not trying to pick a fight or anything.

[Beazle]

Balls of Steele, on 11 July 2012 - 04:37 AM, said:

Thing is though, the Combine isn't meant to be Space Japan, although every faction is flanderised to a degree. These are space-nations that cover hundreds of worlds with hundreds of billions of people. At the very least I'd expect that there would be elements of almost every and all earth cultures in every successor state. The "dominant" culture is the one that seems to define the state, at least in a stereotypical faction. I'd go as far as saying it's the Capital world of each faction that really sets the trend for how people perceive the nation, with most every other world simply following suit, or not as the case may be.

This is how I see the FWL anyway, since they're the only faction that doesn't have a dominant culture, but a loose alliance of several. In other words, kind of what a nation colonised by hundreds of different peoples would actually look like.

This is a good point. ( I know this, because i've expressed it myself a time or two ) In a very offhanded way it is part of what i was trying to say myself. I've always viewed the the Inner Sphere as being more cosmoplitan than most BT fans seem to think it is. This is the point i was trying to drive across with my comment of "bits of" American culture being found in all the houses. The key point of that statement being the "bits of" part.

I don't think any of the houses can be described as purely one thing or another. No society that exists along side another (and trades populations via conquests) can escape a certain amount of cultural blending.

Quote

Yes FASA is an American company, hence the possibility for a perception filter, but I like to think they are open-minded and intelligent enough for this to be a null factor.

Here we will have to agree to disagree. I could go on about this point, but, since i agree with your next point it is largely irrelevant

Quote

Yes the factions aren't implemented perfectly, but they shouldn't have to be,

I agree. In fact I would take this a step further and say that it's better this way. Cultures change with time, the influence of other cultures, and with technology. To try to perfectly recreate historic cultures in a future setting would be folly. Things would seem unnatural, because they would be.

Quote

this is a gaming universe not a study in anthropology.

Nope, this is a discusion about the anthropology OF a gaming universe.

Quote

How often have you fought in -45C? I'm sure the Canadians could make such an endeavour very costly for you, if your country's past record in occupations is anything to go by.

I was stationed for a couple years at Fort Richardson, which I'm willing to bet is much farther north than 80% of the population of Canada. Where I grew up I actually had to drive south-east to get across the border. All this is pointless however, because the closests we will ever come to invading Canada is carpooling to a Red Wings away game.

[Ilithi Dragon]

Personally, the FWL has always struck me as a cross between the Articles of Confederation United States and Ancient Rome in the transition phase from Republic to Empire, especially post 4th Succession War.

They are not perfect analogues for either, nor a combination of both, but they're the two closest that I can think of - the Articles of Confederation fit the conglomeration of independent world/states that is a hallmark of the FWL star nation, and the nature of the parliament and the Captain-Generalcy, and the increasing power of the Captain-Generalcy, bears striking similarity to the Roman Senate, and the transition from a Republic governed by the Senate to an Empire ruled by the Caesar.

[Noaceik]

They are based on the Byzatine empire, basicly eastern Rome.