TM

PRIMER
A UNIVERSE OVERVIEW

BattleTech is a science-fiction “space opera” set

in the factional, militarized universe of the thirty-
second century. Humanity has spread to the stars
and spawned titanic interstellar empires, each
controlling hundreds of worlds across a combined
region of space stretching more than a thousand
light years.
Following the rise of the six Great Noble Houses,
a mighty Star League was forged, heralding a
golden age of prosperity.
However, treachery undermined the Star
League and led to the murder of the First Lord
and the fall of House Cameron. The rulers of the
remaining five Great Houses each proclaimed
themselves the new First Lord of the crumbling
Star League, and thus began the Succession Wars.
For generations, armies of BattleMechs have
clashed across more than 2,000 colonized planets
of the Inner Sphere, ravaging world after world
until a brutal Jihad threatened to wipe them all
out. The rise of the Republic of the Sphere ushered
in a new era of peace, but that peace shattered
when the failure of the interstellar communications
network on Gray Monday threw the Inner Sphere
back into the chaos of war.
The year is 3151, and the Clans, the militant
descendants of the lost Star League Defense Force,
have emerged victorious on Terra and vanquished
the Republic. An ilClan, the Clan above all Clans,
has been declared, and the Great Houses and the
skilled mercenaries at their command brace for
renewed warfare as the ilClan strives to reestablish
the Star League of their ancestors.

THIS is BattleTech.
 BATTLETECH ERAS
The BattleTech universe is a living, vibrant entity that
grows each year as more sourcebooks and fiction are
published. A dynamic universe, its setting and characters
evolve over time within a highly detailed continuity
framework, bringing everything to life in a way a static
game universe cannot match.
However, the same dynamic energy that makes
BattleTech so compelling can also make it confusing,
with so many sourcebooks published over the years.
As people encounter BattleTech, get hooked and
start to obtain sourcebooks, they need to know
where a particular sourcebook is best used along the
BattleTech timeline.
To help quickly and easily convey the timeline of the
BattleTech universe—and to allow a player to easily “plug
in” a given sourcebook—we’ve divided BattleTech into six
major eras.
STAR LEAGUE (2005–2780)
Ian Cameron, ruler of the Terran
Hegemony, concludes decades of
tireless effort with the creation of the
Star League, a political and military alliance between
all Great Houses and the Hegemony. Star League
armed forces immediately launch the Reunification
War, forcing the Periphery realms to join. For the
next two centuries, humanity experiences a golden
age across the thousand light-years of human-
occupied space known as the Inner Sphere. It also
sees the creation of the most powerful military in
human history.
SUCCESSION WARS (2781–3049)
Every last member of First Lord Richard
Cameron’s family is killed during a coup
launched by Stefan Amaris. Following the
thirteen-year war to unseat him, the rulers of each of
the five Great Houses disband the Star League. General
Aleksandr Kerensky departs with eighty percent of the
Star League Defense Force beyond known space and the
Inner Sphere collapses into centuries of warfare known
as the Succession Wars that will eventually result in a
massive loss of technology across most worlds.
A Game of Armored Combat is set in this era.
BATTLETECH: Harebrained Schemes’ BATTLETECH
is set at the end of this era, specifically starting in 3025.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries: Piranha Games’
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is set in this era.
CLAN INVASION (3050–3061)
A mysterious invading force strikes the
coreward region of the Inner Sphere.
The invaders, called the Clans, are
descendants of Kerensky’s SLDF troops, forged into a
society dedicated to becoming the greatest fighting
force in history. With vastly superior technology
and warriors, the Clans conquer world after world.
Eventually this outside threat will forge a new Star
League, something hundreds of years of warfare failed
to accomplish. In addition, the Clans will act as a catalyst
for a technological renaissance.
Clan Invasion: The Clan Invasion box set is set in this era.
MechWarrior Online: Piranha Games’ MechWarrior
Online is set in this era.
CIVIL WAR (3062–3067)
The Clan threat is eventually lessened with
the complete destruction of a Clan. With that
massive external threat apparently neutralized,
internal conflicts explode around the Inner Sphere. House
Liao conquers its former Commonality, the St. Ives Compact;
a rebellion of military units belonging to House Kurita
sparks a war with their powerful border enemy, Clan Ghost
Bear; the fabulously powerful Federated Commonwealth of
House Steiner and House Davion collapses into five long
years of bitter civil war.
JIHAD (3068–3080)
Following the Federated Commonwealth Civil
War, the leaders of the Great Houses meet and
disband the new Star League, declaring it a
sham. The pseudo-religious Word of Blake—a
splinter group of ComStar, the protectors and controllers of
interstellar communication—launch the Jihad: an interstellar
war that will ultimately pit every faction against each other
and even against themselves, as weapons of mass destruc-
tion are used for the first time in centuries while new and
frightening technologies are likewise unleashed.
DARK AGE (3081–3150)
Under the guidance of Devlin Stone, the
Republic of the Sphere is born at the heart of
the Inner Sphere following the Jihad. One of the
more extensive periods of peace begins to break
out as the 32nd century dawns. The factions, to one degree
or another, embrace disarmament and the massive armies
of the Succession Wars begin to fade. However, in 3132
eighty percent of interstellar communications collapses,
throwing the universe into chaos. Wars almost immediately
erupt and the factions begin rebuilding their armies.
ILCLAN
(3151–present)
The once-invulnerable Republic of the Sphere
lies in ruins, torn apart by the Great Houses
and the Clans as they wage war against each
other on a scale not seen in nearly a century. Mercenaries
flourish once more, selling their might to the highest bidder.
As Fortress Republic collapses, the Clans race toward Terra
to claim their long-denied birthright and create a supreme
authority that will fulfill the dream of Aleksandr Kerensky
and rule the Inner Sphere by any means necessary: The
ilClan.
This is the current era of the BattleTech Universe, as
depicted in the Catalyst Game Labs tabletop game and
ongoing fiction.
Alpha Strike: The box set and primer you’re holding in
your hands are set in this era.
 THE INNER SPHERE
CIRCA 3151 CLAN HELL’S HORSES
RULER:
GOVERNMENT:
Khan Gottfried Amirault
Clan (caste-driven, warrior-dominant hierarchy)
CAPITAL
Budapest, Csesztreg
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official)
LANGUAGE(S):
CLAN JADE FALCON DOMINANT
Khan Stephanie Chistu (Terran); None
RULER: RELIGION(S):
Khan Jiyi Chistu (Sudeten) Founding Year 3070
Inhabited
GOVERNMENT: Clan (caste-driven, warrior-dominant hierarchy) Worlds 53 Currency Kerensky
CAPITAL
None; Hammarr, Sudeten
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official)
LANGUAGE(S):
DOMINANT
None
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 3050
Worlds 0/1 Currency N/A

HOUSE STEINER (LYRAN COMMONWEALTH)

RULER: Archon Trillian Steiner
Constitutional Monarchy
GOVERNMENT:
(with German Feudal stylings)
CAPITAL
Tharkad City, Tharkad
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT English and German (official),
LANGUAGE(S): Scottish Gaelic, Italian, French
DOMINANT
Christianity (Protestant), Judaism, Islam
RELIGION(S): TERRA
Inhabited
195
Founding Year 2341 THE ILCLAN (WOLF EMPIRE)
Worlds Currency Kroner RULER: ilKhan Alaric Ward
GOVERNMENT: Clan (caste-driven, warrior-dominant hierarchy)
CAPITAL
Unity City, Terra; Ooessay, Gienah
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official)
LANGUAGE(S):
DOMINANT
HOUSE MARIK (FREE WORLDS LEAGUE) RELIGION(S):
None
RULER: Captain-General Nikol Marik
Inhabited Founding Year 3050 (Invasion), 3151 (ilClan)
GOVERNMENT:
Parliamentary Confederacy Worlds 115 Currency Kerensky
(operating under military rule)
CAPITAL
Atreus City, Atreus
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official), Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Urdu
LANGUAGE(S):
DOMINANT
Christianity (Catholic), Judaism, Islam
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 2271 (original), 3139 (reformed)
Worlds 193 Currency Eagle CLAN SEA FOX
RULER: Khan Mori Hawker
GOVERNMENT: Clan (caste-driven, warrior-dominant hierarchy)
CAPITAL
None
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official)
LANGUAGE(S):

DOMINANT
None
 RELIGION(S):


 

Inhabited Founding Year 3068



Worlds 6*


     

Currency Fox
*plus various other enclaves
 


 RASALHAGUE DOMINION
RULER: Elected Prince Hjalmer Miraborg
Democratic Republic
GOVERNMENT:
(with Clan warrior-caste stylings)
CAPITAL
Asgard City, Rasalhague
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT English and Swedenese (official),
LANGUAGE(S): Dutch, German, Swedish
DOMINANT Christianity (Orthodox), Buddhism,
RELIGION(S): Judaism, Shinto
Inhabited Founding Year 3060
Worlds 112 Currency Bear-krona

RAVEN ALLIANCE
Khan Sterling McKenna,
RULER:
President Christián Avellar
Parliamentary confederacy
GOVERNMENT:
(with Clan warrior-caste stylings)
HOUSE KURITA (DRACONIS COMBINE) CAPITAL
RULER: Coordinator Yori Kurita Mackennopolis, Alpheratz
(CITY, WORLD)
GOVERNMENT: Autocracy (Japanese feudal stylings) DOMINANT
English (official), Japanese, French
CAPITAL LANGUAGE(S):
Imperial City, Luthien
(CITY, WORLD) DOMINANT
Christianity (Gregorian), Islam, Agnostic, Shinto
DOMINANT RELIGION(S):
Japanese (official), Arabic, English
LANGUAGE(S): Inhabited Founding Year 3083
DOMINANT Worlds 50 Currency Raven-escudo
Shinto (official), Buddhism, Islam
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 2319
Worlds 358 Currency Ryu

CLAN SMOKE JAGUAR

RULER: Khan Prohaska Moon
GOVERNMENT: Clan (Caste-driven, warrior-dominant hierarchy)
CAPITAL
None
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official)
LANGUAGE(S):
DOMINANT
None
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 3151
Worlds 0 Currency N/A

HOUSE DAVION (FEDERATED SUNS)

RULER: First Prince Julian Davion
Constitutional Aristocracy
GOVERNMENT:
(Western European feudal stylings)
CAPITAL
Avalon City, New Avalon
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT
English (official), French, German
LANGUAGE(S):
DOMINANT
Christianity (Catholicism), Buddhism, Judaism
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 2317
Worlds 358 Currency Pound

HOUSE LIAO (CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION)

RULER: Chancellor Daoshen Liao
GOVERNMENT: Dictatorship
CAPITAL
Zi-jin Cheng (Forbidden City), Sian
(CITY, WORLD)
DOMINANT English and Mandarin (official), Cantonese,
LANGUAGE(S): Russian, Hindi
DOMINANT
Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism
RELIGION(S):
Inhabited Founding Year 2366
Worlds 258 Currency Yuan
 HOUSE DAVION
(FEDERATED SUNS)

In the chaos that followed the col-

lapse of the Terran Alliance, humanity’s
first interstellar government, Lucien
Davion formed the Federated Suns with
a combination of diplomacy and force of
will. A native of the planet New Avalon,
and a son of one of its ambassadors,
Lucien swayed the leaders of twenty
worlds to join their fates to his and cre-
ated the Federated Suns in 2317.
A century and a half later, Simon
Davion rose to power and oversaw the
creation of a feudal system dedicated
to the protection and prosperity of its
people and to maintaining the positions
of those within its newly minted nobility.
More than 800 years since the
nation’s founding, enemy troops occupy
the realm’s capital, and the current First
Prince Julian Davion rules a nation
pushed to the brink. Despite these
tribulations, House Davion’s dedicated
MechWarriors push ever onward in
their quest to restore New Avalon to
its place as a beacon of liberty for the
Inner Sphere.
The brave warriors of this belea-
guered realm are aided in their quest
by mercenaries, which have taken up
the cause of freedom in exchange for
a seat at the table of House Davion’s
aristocracy.
The crest of House Davion is an
embodiment of the Federated Suns
motto “By Freedom’s Sword.”
 HOUSE KURITA
(DRACONIS COMBINE)

Raised in a military and social tradition

dating back more than six centuries, Shiro
Kurita believed himself destined to rule
and in 2303 launched the first full-scale
interstellar military operation in history.
After a decade and a half of hard-fought
battles, the self-proclaimed Coordinator
formed the Draconis Combine, consisting
of fifty-one star systems.
Centuries later, during the Star League
era, Urizen Kurita II further steeped the
Combine in the culture and heritage of
Japan and its samurai code of bushido:
he believed the Dragon—the Draconis
Combine—was destined to rule the Inner
Sphere.
That legacy, built across generations,
rests upon the Five Pillars that make up
the Draconis Combine: Gold representing
government, Teak for society and culture,
Ivory for philosophy, Jade for Economy,
and Steel for the military.
The feared yet respected MechWarriors
of the Pillar of Steel have always
represented the pinnacle of service to
House Kurita and its current embodiment
in Coordinator Yori Kurita. Yori’s leadership
and the martial tradition of the Combine’s
warriors have led House Kurita to occupy
the capital of the Federated Suns for the
first time in history.
All soldiers of the Draconis Combine
proudly display the emblem of House
Kurita, embracing its motto “Honor the
Dragon.”
 HOUSE LIAO
(CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION)

Franco Liao rose to leadership when the

Federated Suns and Free Worlds League
endangered the worlds of the Capellan
Zone. His solution to this looming threat was
unification.
Immediately upon the formation of the
Capellan Confederation in 2367, Davion troops
occupied its capital. Franco made a brutal
choice to survive: an orbital bombardment
destroyed the enemy, and his own capital city.
The ethos that “the State is all” reached
a new apex in 2505, when Kalvar Lorix
wrote “The Lorix Creed,” a tract naming the
MechWarrior as the pinnacle of military and
social evolution. Such thinking swept the rest
of the Inner Sphere.
Half a millennium later, the peoples of the
Capellan Confederation take pride in knowing
they must earn their citizenship. Duty to the
State and its current Chancellor, Daoshen Liao,
is lauded and respected, bringing out the best
in society.
None garner more respect and admiration
than Liao MechWarriors, whose unshakable
nationalistic pride and tenacity have met
setback after setback with determination
and grit throughout the centuries. In recent
years that resolve drove the Confederation to
reclaim its ancestral worlds from the faltering
Republic of the Sphere. With the Republic’s
demise, all Capellan warriors, from the elite
Death Commandos to the lowest soldier,
stand ready to face the ilClan and secure a
prosperous future for the Confederation.
The defiant dao sword of the Liao crest
represents the Capellan Confederation motto
“One Vision.”
 HOUSE MARIK
(FREE WORLDS LEAGUE)

In 2271 the Marik Commonwealth,

Stewart Confederation, Principality of
Regulus, and Federation of Oriente united to
create the first Great House: the Free Worlds
League. Led by Juliano Marik as Captain-
General, the League sparked imperialism
that spread throughout the Inner Sphere,
eventually resulting in the establishment of
six Great Houses.
While the forging of disparate fiefdoms
into a whole remains the League’s greatest
strength, it is also its Achilles heel, as internal
conflicts have wracked the nation for
centuries.
In 3079, those conflicts tore the League
apart. The sundered provinces soldiered on
alone for six decades, until an alliance of
necessity and the unyielding will of Captain-
General Jessica Marik gave rise to a reborn
nation from the ashes of the old.
Though the reforged League is still finding
its legs, House Marik’s MechWarriors—like
their current Captain-General, Nikol Marik—
have a knack for bringing order out of chaos,
an adaptability that instills in them the
confidence to rise over any obstacle.
That confidence and adaptability results
in a level of tactical experimentation not often
seen in the other Houses, such as the use of
aerospace assets in unusual roles, or the quick
adoption of reemerging technologies and
BattleMechs thought lost since the collapse
of the Star League.
Riding on the wings of the Marik eagle,
such versatility encapsulates the Free Worlds
League motto “United We Stand.”
 HOUSE STEINER
(LYRAN COMMONWEALTH)

The establishment of the Lyran

Commonwealth in 2341 was as much a
business merger as a political alliance
between the Protectorate of Donegal,
Federation of Skye, and Tamar Pact,
with the nation to be ruled by a council of nine
Archons. Eventually Katherine Steiner would assume
sole Archonship in 2408, firmly establishing House
Steiner as the central dynastic power in the region.
Over the centuries, Lyran business acumen turned
the Commonwealth into an industrial powerhouse, but
the nation’s military ambitions were often plagued by
the ineptitude of “social generals”: soldiers with more
noble lineage and business connections than tactical
or strategic expertise.
Many of the Commonwealth’s MechWarriors today
lack confidence in Archon Trillian Steiner’s leadership,
but they fight on, often in the assault-class BattleMechs
at their disposal.
In the Lyran throne room, two BattleMechs flank
the Archon’s throne and the emblem of House Steiner,
exemplifying their motto “Indomitable Will.”

THE HINTERLANDS
Clan Jade Falcon’s abandonment of their nearby
Occupation Zone, coupled with political and economic
stresses in the Lyran Commonwealth, caused several
smaller states to rise to power and carve out swaths of
former Lyran and Jade Falcon territory. Foremost among
them are the Vesper Marches, a region claimed by Duke
Vedet Brewer, briefly an usurper to the Lyran throne;
the Tamar Pact, a spiritual resurrection of one of the
founding member-states of the Lyran Commonwealth,
helmed by Governor-General Sarah Regis, a former
Lyran general; and the Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition, a
protectorate defended by Colonel Callandre Kell, leader
of the famed Kell Hounds mercenary unit. Other, smaller
realms have cropped up as well, including a remnant
Falcon contingent and the Malthus Confederation,
home to a long-standing organized crime family.
MERCENARIES

Since organized warfare began, soldiers of

fortune have marched alongside troops owing
fealty to one lord or another, buttressing kings
or toppling empires.
In the 3150s, the Great Houses—now
exhausted after generations of war—still
turn to mercenary outfits to further their
Machiavellian political agendas and bolster
their standing militaries.
Some mercenaries, such as the Northwind
Highlanders and Eridani Light Horse, have
histories dating back centuries, to the Star
League era and before. Others are recent,
improbable stories, like the newly reborn Gray
Death Legion under Ronan Carlyle. Many,
many more mercenary units live, fight, and
die with their names barely even known to
their employer.
Mercenary contracts can require anything
from garrisoning on a backwater world,
to protecting a rare bit of lostech during
transports, to combat-dropping into the teeth
of the enemy during a border invasion.
Regardless of the background or the Great
House they contractually fight for, mercenary
commanders often have to scrounge the
battlefield for spare parts to keep their force
in fighting shape, and brokering contracts
through Clan Sea Fox is almost as treacherous
as the battles their unit will fight. Bad deals or
poor performance can leave mercs trapped on
a distant planet without JumpShip transport,
reinforcements, or even supplies.
Despite all of these hardships, a mercenary
commander knows that business is booming,
and money and glory await the leader brave
enough to seize it…and smart enough to
survive it.
 THE ILCLAN
(WOLF EMPIRE)

Clan Wolf, the Clan of Founder Nicholas

Kerensky, has long stood at the forefront of
Clan history. The Wolves were the first Clan
to reach full combat readiness in preparation
for Operation Klondike, the Clans’ first
true crucible of combat, and its warriors
fought on two different worlds during that
campaign, prompting Nicholas Kerensky to
attach his legacy to the Clan. Furthermore,
Clan Wolf first developed Elemental battle
armor, which gave the Clan an edge over its
rivals in combat.
Nicholas Kerensky believed the Strana
Mechty wolf to be the perfect epitome of
the warrior spirit. Much larger and heavier
descendants of the North American wolf
of Terra, Clan Wolf’s totem was a wily and
stealthy pack hunter, a noble predator
worthy of emulation.
The influence of the Wolves’ first Khan,
Jerome Winson, shaped them into a
moderate Clan with a pragmatic outlook, one
that follows tradition only when prudent.
Like their namesake, they hunt in packs and
strike with resolve, using versatile, evolving
tactics that, though oftentimes unorthodox,
lead to indisputable victories—and with
victory, honor.
In 3151, Khan Alaric Ward led the Wolves
to glory by achieving the ultimate goal of
the Clans’ existence: the conquest of Terra.
Declaring himself ilKhan and claiming the
title of First Lord of the Star League, Clan Wolf
is now the ilClan, the Clan above all Clans. As
he rebuilds the Wolves’ strength, Alaric plans
his next moves, ready to forge a new destiny
for the Inner Sphere.
 The man who would become the Smoke
Jaguars’ first Khan, Franklin Osis, encountered
a smoke jaguar during a hunting expedition
in the jungles of Strana Mechty and drew on
his uncompromising strength and tenacity
to survive. This predator is a frighteningly
efficient, genetically engineered killer which
often hunts solely for the sport of it. Much like
their jungle-hunter namesake, Smoke Jaguar
warriors lunge for the jugular and strike to
inflict the most grievous damage. Disciplined
and brutal, the few Jaguars who remain are
among the most proficient and effective of
Clan warriors.
The modern incarnation of Clan Smoke
Jaguar stems from an offshoot that escaped
the Jaguars’ annihilation in 3060. Their
reemergence in 3151, along with their pledge

CLAN to support the new ilKhan, Alaric Ward, paved

the way for the Jaguars’ formal rebirth.

JADE FALCON
CLAN
Prideful, hidebound, and vicious: these
traits embody the Clan Jade Falcon way. SMOKE JAGUAR
Both on and off the battlefield, the Falcons
swoop down on their prey with merciless
swiftness and rend them like their namesake,
a genetic cross between a peregrine falcon
and a gyrfalcon.
The four founders of Clan Jade Falcon—
Khan Elizabeth Hazen, leader of the
Ghosts of the Black Watch; ace pilot Daniel
Mattlov; infantry trainer Carl Icaza; and
counterespionage operative Lisa Buhallin—
forged their Clan into a force capable of
defeating the most elite opponents.
Despite the Jade Falcons’ many early
military successes, the Clans’ Founder, ilKhan
Nicholas Kerensky, chose to join Clan Wolf
instead. This longstanding rivalry with the
Wolves culminated during the Battle of
Terra in 3151, which decimated the Falcons’
forces. Despite its diminished numbers, Clan
Jade Falcon remain proudly committed to
their Clan’s honorable ideals, while a small
pocket of Falcons in their original territory
still carry the emerald flame of their resolve.
 The reptilian sea fox that inhabited the
oceans of Strana Mechty seemed to honor its
prey before it consumed it, and the warriors
of Clan Sea Fox embraced this mindset from
the start. This, coupled with their reputation
as brutally effective merchants, earned
them the enmity of Clan Snow Raven, which
unleashed a larger marine predator to cull
the sea fox population in retaliation; however,
the Sea Foxes embraced this new predator’s
viciousness by rechristening themselves Clan
Diamond Shark in 2895.
By the turn of the thirty-second century,
the Clan—once again known as Sea Foxes—
pursued their mercantile roots in new ways.
Today’s Sea Fox warriors traverse the Inner
Sphere in massive ArcShips and CargoShips,
plying everything from commodities to
cutting-edge military hardware while quietly
acquiring pieces of the defunct interstellar
communications network.

RASALHAGUE
DOMINION CLAN
SEA FOX
The origin of the Rasalhague Dominion
lies in the merging of the destinies of two
different nations: the Free Rasalhague
Republic, and Clan Ghost Bear.
The Free Rasalhague Republic gained
independence from the Draconis Combine
in 3034 by acting as a buffer state between
the Combine and their perennial enemies,
the Lyran Commonwealth. However, the
arrival of the Clans in 3050 nearly destroyed
the young nation, reducing it to only a
handful of worlds.
Many of their lost worlds had been
conquered by Clan Ghost Bear, a Clan that
values family, loyalty, and honor. However,
the Ghost Bears soon saw that uniting
with the Rasalhague remnant gave them
the best path toward fulfilling their goal of
safeguarding the Inner Sphere. This fusion in
3060 resulted in a nation of quiet strength
capable of powerful fury when provoked.
 Formed by a union of two disparate
peoples, the Raven Alliance is the fusion of
the Outworlds Alliance and Clan Snow Raven.
The Outworlds Alliance was a collection of
peaceful agrarian worlds in the Draconis
Combine Periphery, often forced to defend
itself against pirates, raiders, and would-be
conquerors throughout the centuries. The
pragmatic, Machiavellian Snow Ravens, on the
other hand, commanded the largest navy in
the Clan Homeworlds.
When the Snow Ravens fled growing
chaos in Clan space, they settled in the
Outworlds Alliance—not as conquerors or
occupiers, but as neighbors that agreed on a
common goal. Although the gulf of cultural
difference between Outworlders and Snow
Ravens remains vast, the people of the Raven
Alliance share one vital quality: both groups
boast some of the most elite aerospace fighter
pilots in the entire Inner Sphere.

CLAN RAVEN
HELL’S HORSES ALLIANCE

Named for the hardy and carnivorous

Circean hell’s horse, Clan Hell’s Horses
has always prided itself on placing the
individual warrior at the forefront of Clan
military excellence. While other Clans
extol the virtues of BattleMechs and the
MechWarrior, a Hell’s Horse knows the
weapons they wield matter little as long
as they display courage, honor, and martial
excellence.
Whether piloting a ’Mech, donning
battle armor, driving a tank, flying an
aerospace fighter, or slogging through
the trenches, all warriors of this Clan are
viewed with the same lens. This outlook has
led the Hell’s Horses to employ combined
arms to frightening effect, often relying on
fast swarm tactics to shock and overwhelm
the enemy.
 COMBAT IN THE
THIRTY-SECOND CENTURY
The bitter fires of war across the Inner Sphere in the latter half of the thirty-
first century and the rise of the Republic of the Sphere’s fragile peace led to a
swords-into-plowshares mentality that reduced the overall number of BattleMechs
in the Inner Sphere. This gave the people of every ravaged nation time to heal and
rebuild. But the Blackout—the sudden and unexplained collapse of the interstellar
communications network in 3132—saw nations once more take up any available
arms against their neighbors as the Republic of the Sphere slowly crumbled from
within and without.
Forced to fight with whatever equipment was at hand, commanders initially
turned to conventional armor and infantry to bolster their meager ’Mech forces while
ramping up both military manufacturing and weapons research to a level not seen since
the previous century. As more ’Mechs rolled off the assembly lines—both tried-and-
true models and state-of-the-art experiments—most military leaders embraced and
perfected the combined-arms approach to warfare. The tacticians of the thirty-second
century make expert use of all the tools at their disposal, including combat vehicles,
aerospace fighters, battle armor, and conventional infantry, but BattleMechs tower over
the rest, literally and figuratively, as the undisputed lords of the battlefield.

NEW PATHS OF DESTRUCTION

At the time of the initial Clan invasion, the Inner Sphere powers and the children of
Kerensky faced each other with distinctly separate technological bases for their tools of war.
Following the ravages of the Succession Wars, Inner Sphere military hardware had stabilized
at a level far below that known to the Star League, and centuries of lost technology had only
begun to be recovered. The Clans, meanwhile, had maintained and expanded on Star League
technology, and took to the field with highly modular OmniMechs that shot farther,
ran cooler, and withstood more.
A century later, that enormous technological gap has closed to the point that
it barely exists any longer. Modern commanders can expect to face and field a
staggering variety of military hardware in countless combinations. Inner Sphere
engineers have fully unlocked the mysteries of ClanTech, adopting and even
further developing it in their own ways. Conversely, as the six Inner Sphere Clans found
themselves cut off from the Homeworlds and now permanent residents of their occupation
zones, the once-clear delineation between their “front-line” and “second-line” units has blurred beyond
recognition.
Weapons systems have branched new varieties at lightning pace: within each “family” of weapon,
such as lasers or autocannons, numerous new refinements and expansions now exist. New strides
were also made in protective technology, with the introduction of armor optimized to withstand
ballistic or laser weapons, heat-dissipating armor, and HarJel repair systems able to keep ’Mechs in
fighting shape on the battlefield far longer than ever before. All of these can be found on OmniMechs
now available across the Inner Sphere, and on exotic new variants of time-tested machines.