Maps! I love them, especially for BattleTech. I find the ebb and flow of the national borders endlessly fascinating. All of the maps in this post are based directly on official BattleTech sources, just reduced in size and colored to emphasize each state.
This first map depicts the Inner Sphere in 2596, at the end of the Age of War and the beginning of the Star League. The ten major states of this period have formed, most of which will continue on through the centuries to come. In the center is the Terran Hegemony (gray). The Lyran Commonwealth is in blue, Free Worlds League in purple, green for the Capellan Confederation, yellow for the Federated Suns, and red for the Draconis Combine. The Periphery states are the Rim Worlds Republic (brown), pale teal for the Magistracy of Canopus, reddish-brown for the Taurian Concordat, and a deeper teal for the Outworlds Alliance. A single minor state - the diminutive Illyrian Palatinate - can be seen in beige just to the left of the Free Worlds League.
This map is at the height of the Star League, in 2765. With outright conflict banned among the member states shared borders have remained the same, but every state with space to expand has done so, dramatically in the case of the major Periphery states. The first "bandit kingdom" has formed, the Tortuga Dominion to the right of the Federated Suns.
The fall of the Star League caused changes almost immediately. The internal borders have begun to shift as the nations now known as the Successor States cannibalized the Terran Hegemony and began seizing disputed worlds from each other. More minor Periphery states have formed. The Lothian League sits right beside the Illyrian Palatinate and will influence that region of space for centuries to come. The two tiny states formed in the former Rim Worlds Republic don't last long.
In 2822 what was later known as the First Succession War is over. The stage has been set for the next two hundred years of conflict. The Successor States have nibbled away at each other, though losses on one border have been roughly balanced by gains on another. The Capellan Confederation and Outworlds Alliance have seen the most losses; the former from its neighbors and the latter from abandoning its outermost worlds. What can't be seen are the numerous worlds left depopulated, abandoned or rendered uninhabitable. The First Succession War killed untold billions of people through the unchecked use of weapons of mass destruction; some planets remain virus-wracked hellscapes 300 years later.
In 2864 the Second Succession War ended. The Successor Warlords had done incalculable damage to their neighbors. Factories, universities, shipyards, and other drivers of technology lay in blasted ruins. "LosTech" had set in. The states could no longer maintain their most advanced technologies. This was exacerbated by the techno-religious order known as ComStar, who held only Terra, but maintained faster-than-light communications systems known as "Hyperpulse Generators" throughout the Inner Sphere. ComStar would actively assassinate scientists, sabotage research projects, and destroy anything that could help the Successor States rebuild their tech base.
This is the Inner Sphere of 3025, at the end of the Third Succession War. Aside from the badly mangled Capellan Confederation, national borders have continued to reflect the give-and-take, low-level warfare of over a century. Several new Periphery states have formed. At the top of the map are three Bandit Kingdoms: Oberon, Star's End, and the Greater Valkyrate. Don't get attached. Another privateer realm has formed at the periphery junction of the Lyran Commonwealth and Free Worlds; this Circinus Federation will have a role to play in the coming decades. At the bottom of this area is a new power called the Marian Hegemony (orange), which will drive conflict in the region going forward. Another minor Periphery power can be seen just below the Capellan Confederation. This is the Aurigan Coalition, the setting for Harebrained Games' BattleTech video game. It does not last much longer, though there are hints for the state reforming in the latest sourcebook.
Mike Stackpole's Warrior trilogy were some of the earliest BattleTech novels, and they detailed the events of the short Fourth Succession War. The Capellan Confederation was cut in half by the Federated Suns. Two nominally independent states were formed from this action, the Tikonov Grand Union (which was soon absorbed by the nascent Federated Commonwealth) and the St. Ives Compact (seen here in light green). The Lyran Commonwealth took several bites out of the Draconis Combine. The Aurigan state has been removed from the map, though it was likely still extant.
3040 saw more changes. The Federated-Commonwealth Alliance had solidified, forming the largest single state ever seen in the Inner Sphere. To counteract this, the Draconis Combine and ComStar colluded to create a new state called the Free Rasalhague Republic. This established a buffer between the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth and the Combine, and combined with military aid, prevented much territory loss during the abortive War of 3039. Note also that the Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordat have begun to expand again, reclaiming lost worlds and establishing new colonies.
Little had changed by 3050. The Combine-Federated Commonwealth border saw some trading of worlds and the Marian Hegemony had expanded. A new minor state, the Rim Commonality, formed on the border of the former Lyran Commonwealth. The stage was set for the next dramatic upheaval in the Inner Sphere.
The Clans - descendants of the original Star League Defense Force, who had fled the Inner Sphere after the Amaris Civil War - invaded in 3050 and within just two years had cut a wedge out of the Inner Sphere. The Free Rasalhague Republic was reduced to just an handful of worlds and the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine suffered huge losses in their coreward territories. Surprisingly, it was ComStar who stopped the Clan invasion at a single great battle on the farming world of Tukayyid. But the Clans didn't withdraw, and would remain a part of Inner Sphere politics from then on. Their occupation zones are bright green for Clan Jade Falcon, orange for Clan Wolf, pale blue for Clan Ghost Bear, and dark gray for Clan Smoke Jaguar. (The red dot is the Wolcott system, which the Draconis Combine managed to hold.)
This map shows the Inner Sphere in 3057. Not much has changed aside from the Marian Hegemony beginning to conquer its neighbors, but this just sets the stage for another major shift.
The Inner Sphere of 3063. Due to a major misstep by the ruler of the Federated Commonwealth and the scheming of his sister, the Federated Commonwealth split into the Federated Suns and Lyran Alliance (which would later be renamed back to the Lyran Commonwealth). This created a region of tiny microstates and intrigue known as the Chaos March in the center of the Inner Sphere. The Capellan Confederation reclaimed St. Ives and began its century-long plan to seize all of its lost worlds. The Inner Sphere powers had formed a Second Star League, a military venture that succeeded in utterly destroying Clan Smoke Jaguar. Also of note is that Clan Wolf granted three worlds to Clan Hell's Horses to shore up their border with Clan Ghost Bear, though the Horses quickly found themselves ejected by the Bears. The Canopians and Taurians jointly began to settle the space between them, calling it the New Colony Region.
By 3067, things appeared to be moving steadily onwards. The FedCom Civil War was over and the usurper of the two realms was exiled to Clan Wolf. Clan Jade Falcon seized a few more worlds from the Lyran Commonwealth, the Periphery realms expanded and contracted, the Capellans recovered more of their lost planets, and the Chainelane Isles (above Clan Jade Falcon) appeared on the scene. What nobody knew is that the Word of Blake Protectorate - light gray, in the center of the map - would soon set off the greatest period of conflict since the First Succession War.
Just eight years later, in 3075, the map had changed dramatically. The Word of Blake Protectorate has expanded like a cancer into each of the Successor States. The Falcons have pushed further into the Lyran Commonwealth, as has Clan Wolf, though the latter had a huge swath of territory seized by the return of Clan Hell's Horses. Clan Ghost Bear has absorbed the remains of the Free Rasalhague Republic, planting the seeds for the Rasalhague Dominion. Clan Snow Raven has begun merging with the Outworlds Alliance and taken several worlds from the Draconis Combine, who also saw their Azami region all but succeed (the beige area near the Blakist Protectorate). The Federated Suns lost two regions along its Periphery border to new states based around Filtvelt and Malagrotta. Similarly, the Free Worlds League has lost its first constituent state, a prelude of things to come. But amongst all the chaos, there is a tiny dot of hope: the dark purple spot nestled in the "thumb" of St. Ives, a temporary free state centered around the former Blakist prison world of Kittery.
By 3081 the Word of Blake's so-called Jihad was over. In the center of the Inner Sphere was a new state: the Republic of the Sphere, formed by mutual assent as the exhausted Successor States washed their hands of this devastated region. The Free Worlds League fully dissolved into its various principalities and coalitions. Malagrotta's brief independence was ended as the Federated Suns chased the pirates out and reclaimed it, though Filtvelt retained its territory. The Azami settled their differences with the Draconis Combine and fully rejoined that nation. Due to the Circinus Federation's collusion with the Word of Blake, the Principality of Regulus carpet-bombed Circinus with strategic nuclear weapons, ending that state. Though few knew it at the time, the remaining Homeworld Clans had fought their own apocalyptic war and went fully isolationist; there would be no more Clans arriving in the Inner Sphere. This closed the "Classic" epoch of BattleTech for the 50-year time skip to the Republic Era, also known as the Dark Age.
The period between the end of the Jihad and Devlin Stone's retirement (and disappearance) as leader of the Republic of the Sphere is sometimes called "Stone's Peace," though this was a misnomer. Nearly every border shifted by 3130, including two large demilitarized zones between the Lyrans and Jade Falcons and between the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns. The Invading Clans abandoned the former Bandit Kingdoms, forming a region of small states known as the Barrens. Due to encroachments from the surrounding nations, the former Free Worlds League worlds coalesced into several larger - though still decidedly minor - states. The Taurian Concordat, abandoned by its putative Capellan and Canopian allies, shrank dramatically to just a few systems outside of its two main star clusters. Tensions had raised to the flash point, and it would only take a small spark to set the Inner Sphere ablaze again.
That spark was the Blackout, a near-complete failure of the faster-than-light HPG network. Under pressure from both domestic opportunists and foreign invaders, the Republic of the Sphere functionally collapsed. The first major powers to begin seizing Republic worlds were the Capellan Confederation, Federated Suns, Draconis Combine, and - in a stunning deep movement - Clan Jade Falcon. These powers had not yet begun to fight each other in 3135 (as pictured here), but this would soon change.
In 3145 the Inner Sphere was a very different place. The Republic of the Sphere continued to control a tiny part of its former territory, protected from invasion by a super-science "Fortress" technology that caused ships entering its space to misjump, often destroying the vessels. Denied their goal of Terra, the states turned on each other. Clan Wolf abandoned its former occupation zone, accepting an alliance with the Lyran Commonwealth to carve out a big chunk of the reforming Free Worlds League. After being betrayed by the Commonwealth, Caln Wolf invading that realm in turn, calling their new holdings the Wolf Empire. The Draconis Combine, working from intelligence provided by the Raven Alliance (formerly the Outworlds Alliance) ambushed and destroyed the bulk of the Federated Suns military and drove deep into their ancient enemies' state. Clan Jade Falcon took more of the Lyran Commonwealth in brutal "Mongol" warfare, and split the former Clan Wolf OZ between themselves, Clan Hell's Horses, and the Rasalhague Dominion. The Capellans continued to reclaim lost worlds from the Republic and Federated Suns.
3151 was the last year of the Republic of the Sphere. The Free Worlds League had fully reformed aside from a few remaining independent planets and the Duchy of Andurien. The Fortress had been withdrawn to just Terra itself, and Clan Wolf soon discovered how to defeat it. They offered this knowledge to the other Clans, though only Clan Jade Falcon acted on it. The Battle for Terra would soon decide the ultimate fate of the Republic of the Sphere. Meanwhile the Draconis Combine continued its invasion of the Federated Suns, seizing their capital world of New Avalon.
In the current year of 3152, the universe has been upended once again. The Dark Age is over, and Clan Wolf has taken Terra to begin the IlClan Era. The Jade Falcon OZ is a chaotic mess due to the loss of their fighting forces on Terra. The Hell's Horses, Rasalhague Dominion, and Lyran Commonwealth have begun claiming worlds, but also a number of small states have formed in the region. The Free Worlds League and Commonwealth have begun to reclaim the Wolf Empire. The Capellans were thwarted in their goal of seizing Terra and are dealing with a surprise invasion by the Duchy of Andurien (lavender), whom they thought was an ally. The Federated Suns has ejected both the Draconis Combine and Taurian Concordat, leaving the latter as only a rump state. And in the middle of the Inner Sphere lies Khaganate Terra and the core of a Third Star League. It remains to be seen how things will play out from here.
So there's a bunch of maps and a pocket history of the Inner Sphere. Join me again tomorrow as we return to posting pictures of miniatures. If you're enjoying these posts, please feel free to show your support via
paypal.me/RolandBoshnack or
https://gofund.me/4c4a38ff. Thanks!
Comments
Post a Comment