Date: 3025
Location: N/A
Title: Before the Succession Wars
Author: Patrick Larkin & Jordan Weisman
Type: Sourcebook (Stardate Vol. 1 #5/6)
Synopsis: "A Time of Troubles" continues...
V. The Age of War (2400-2550)
The Andurien War (2398-2404) is the first of many. More than a dozen border wars break out between 2400 and 2410. In 2412, heavy civilian casualties on Tintavel prompt all eleven states to sign the Ares Conventions to govern the conduct of interstellar war. It banned fighting near heavily populated areas and prohibited attacks against civilian economic targets.
War becomes formal as major conquest campaigns are too costly, and efforts to form alliances, such as the 2423-2425 Thousand Worlds Coalition (CC + TC), are short lived. The eleven major states are fairly stable during this period, except for the Rift Republic, which sees House Durant ousted and executed by Lady Terens Amaris in 2482, after a series of defeats by the Taurian Concordat (???!!). Terens is succeeded by her daughter, Melicanthe, as First Citizen in 2517.
The Terran Hegemony wins a quick victory in the Kentares War of 2431 and crushes a FWL invasion force on Oriente in 2477, and is left in peace thereafter, declaring neutrality in the other nations' conflicts. By 2500, it assumes the mantle of mediator. Ian Cameron became Director-General in 2549.
The Hegemony's military superiority is based on the development of the first BattleDroid on New Earth in 2439. Based on older mining WorkDroids, they are more mobile and more adaptable than conventional armored units. The Hegemony has exclusive control of BattleDroids until 2455, when several are captured during a raid on Hesperus II by a criminal cartel interested in selling the technology to all bidders. Despite the proliferation, Hegemony BattleDroids benefit from ongoing research, and are faster, better armored, and more heavily armed.
VI. Imperium (2550-2575)
Ian Cameron successfully mediates the end of the 4th Andurien War in 2551. In 2556, the Terran Hegemony, Free Worlds League, and Capellan Confederation sign a non-aggression/trade pact. Ian Cameron's diplomacy between 2556 and 2569 leads to a cessation of all hostilities in the Inner Sphere by 2570. The four Periphery powers refuse Terran friendship.
In June 2571, Ian invites six heads-of-state to a conference on Phobos. A month of negotiations garners agreement to his plan to form a Star League and reunify all human-settled worlds. Officials from all seven governments meet from 2571 - 2572 to work out the details.
Per the terms, House Cameron becomes First Lord, and the other six leaders form the High Council. Each of the seven member states retains domestic policy authority, but will adopt a common currency and calendar. Each member state contributes existing troops to the Star League Regular Armed Forces, while retaining household troops as an internal security force. Each Council Lord is allowed to pick their chosen successor.
From 2573 to 2575, the League ground forces are equipped with the best BattleDroids the Hegemony has to offer, and these troops are deployed to the borders of the Periphery states, which have joined together in an anti-League alliance.
VII. The Reunification War (2575-2600)
The High Council issues an ultimatum in August 2575 against the periphery states - the Outworlds Alliance, the Taurian Concordat, the Magistracy of Antares (?) and the Rim Worlds Mercantile League (?). All four reject the ultimatum by October 2576. SLDF war preparations begin in November 2576.
The SLDF strikes deep into enemy territory, capturing key military and industrial bases, and making dramatic advances at little cost. Resistance stiffens as the fighting moves closer to the Periphery capitals. A League task force is badly mauled in a deep thrust against Imbros III, forcing the SLDF to become more cautious. They hammer their way closer to the four capitals from 2579 to 2583. New Vandenberg, capital of the Magistracy (?), falls in 2584 after a five week battle that inflicts heavy casualties. The SLDF's 2586-2588 offensives consolidate control of the Magistracy, and bring SLDF forces in striking distance of Aurelius II, the Mercantile League capital - forcing the ruling faction there to surrender in 2589.
The League launches its final offensives against the Taurian Concordat and Outworlds Alliance from 2590 - 2592, replacing losses with new BattleDroid regiments and new WarShips, while the periphery armies make do with equipment of lesser quality and quantity. The Concordat Fleet is destroyed in the battle of Flannigan's Nebula in 2593, and the League occupies the Concordat homeworld - Port Fallon (?) - with heavy losses on both sides.
By 2595, the Outworlds Alliance stands alone, and sues for peace after a crippling series of defeats. They sign the articles of surrender in May 2596, after which fully half of the SLDF is assigned to occupation duty in the defeated Periphery states, which are divided up into six Territorial States administered by First Lord-appointed governors. A propaganda campaign builds popular support for the Star League, allowing occupation forces to withdraw from most worlds by 2606.
Ian Cameron dies in 2602, succeeded as First Lord by his son, Nicholas.
VIII. The Good Years (2600 - 2750)
Territorial Reconstruction runs from 2601 to 2632, integrating the conquered worlds, but administration is hampered by communications delays. Nicholas Cameron appoints Joshua Hoshiko as Minister of Communications, who spends 15 years creating the League Communications Network, cutting communications lag to less than six months to most worlds (longer to backwater planets).
Low cost water purification technology facilitates settlement on marginal worlds, and 1,000+ new worlds are settled by 2700, expanding the Human Sphere to 540 light years in diameter.
By 2640, most WarShips have been mothballed or scrapped due to the lack of an enemy, but BattleDroid regiments remain at full strength. In 2649, new First Lord Michael Cameron learns Tadeo Amaris' Rift Member State is rapidly expanding his personal army. The High Council imposes an Edict restricting household force sizes in 2650. Regular Army BattleDroid regiments maneuver on worlds bordering the Rift Member-State, and intelligence reports indicate Amaris begins disbanding his regiments shortly afterward.
Trade and commerce surge from 2600 to 2750 due to the adoption of a universal currency and removal of trade barriers. Water purification tech, however, results in the Ryan Cartel's bankruptcy. Trade efficiencies are such that worlds become dependent on others for food and water purifier maintenance.
Research on myomers facilitates development of human-usable bionic artificial limbs. By 2700, the average lifespan is 115. The best-selling book of 2746 is J. Paulo Terraine's "A Golden Age: The Coming Century."
IX. Twilight (2750 - 2765)
First Lord Simon Cameron dies by explosive decompression in February 2751 while inspecting a mining colony on New Silesia, leaving his eight-year-old son Richard as his heir. The High Council appoints the commander of the League Army, General Aleksander Andreyovitch Kerensky, as Regent and Protector.
The Council rules by decree from 2751 to 2761, amending the Edict of 2650 to allow an expansion of household forces. They grant themselves a greater share of tax revenues, while increasing levies on the six Territorial States. Unrest increases in the Territorial States, and two governors are assassinated by secessionist movements in 2758.
Richard Cameron ends the regency when he turns 18 in 2761, plotting to abolish the High Council and reforming the central government to make himself Emperor. Kerensky advises him to refrain, but is ignored. Richard issues Executive Order 156 in 2762, ordering the disbanding of all household armies. Stefan Amaris of the Rim Member-State supports it, but the other Council Lords refuse, forcing him to rescind the order.
The situation in the Territorial States continues to decline, and more League troops are relocated there to suppress unrest. In 2764, Stefan Amaris signs a secret agreement with Richard to protect Terra against the other Council Lords.
In 2765, New Vandenberg and several other worlds secede from the Star League, and Amaris advises Richard to send Kerensky there to stamp out the rebellion.
Notes: I will note where the StarDate article differs from later accounts (especially the adaptation in the opening pages of MechWarrior 1st Edition) and other canon sources.
The Age of War: MW1E adds some details to the Ares Conventions, but has the signing take place on New Olympia, and only involves ten states. (Sorry, Illyrian Palatinate.) Later accounts retcon the signing as being on the world of Ares, on the continent of New Olympia.
The Thousand Worlds Coalition is dropped from the MW1E account, but survives as a brief, albeit cryptic, reference in the Periphery sourcebook.
The MW1E keeps the story of Terens Amaris' coup against House Durant, but drops Melicanthe's name, and introduces the official name change from Rift Republic to Rim Worlds Republic as one of Lady Terens' reforms. Later histories have the shift from House Durant to House Amaris be a peaceful transfer, due to a lack of Durant heirs. Also gone is the mention of heavy combat losses to the Taurian Concordat, meaning that FASA had finalized their interstellar cartography and realized that such a conflict no longer made any sense. (Though the Mercenary's Handbook did feature the Oberon Confederation dispatching the hapless Wilson's Hussars on a deep, deep, deep, deep raid against the Taurian Concordat.)
MW1E also changes the theft from Hesperus II to being a Lyran Commonwealth commando raid rather than a criminal syndicate's operation.
Later accounts call the Terran Hegemony's "Kentares War" the "Tybalt Campaign," noting that it lasted from 2431-2440. Other known Hegemony battles of the Age of War include: The Draconis Combine attacked Styk in 2443; the Federated Suns attacked Basalt in 2445; and the Capellan Confederation attacked Ningpo in 2457. Aside from the Hesperus II raid, we don't have any record of Lyran aggression against the Hegemony in this period.
Imperium: The MW1E section follows the StarDate chronology, but adds in the names of the Liao, Marik, and Cameron heads of state involved.
The math is corrected, as the StarDate article came up with seven founding Star League members, rather than six, pitted against four Periphery realms.
Perhaps House Amaris could be considered the seventh, since they were pro-Cameron and battling anti-League rebels alongside the SLDF expeditionary forces - essentially counting the Rim Worlds Republic as one pro-League faction, and the Rift Republican Army rebels as an anti-League Periphery faction...or perhaps Jordan Weisman's early drafts included a sixth Successor State, now lost to history.
Reunification War: The BattleDroids history accounts are a fascinating look at BattleTech's first draft. MW1E updates many, many references, changing the Magistracy of Antares to the Magistracy of Canopus and the Rim Worlds Mercantile League to the Rim Worlds Republic. Interestingly, the StarDate article calls the Rim Worlds Mercantile League the "Rift Republic" during the Age of War, suggesting that either its name/political structure changed prior to the Reunification War, or that Jordan Weisman and Patrick Larkin wrote separate sections and didn't sufficiently proofread for internal consistency. Having New Vandenberg be the Magistracy capital is interesting, given how central to Taurian history that world becomes in canon accounts. Aurelius II and Port Fallon vanish from existence, replaced by Apollo and Taurus. Given its reluctance to do any fighting at all in the main history, it's kind of ironic that the first draft had the Outworlds Alliance fighting on to the bitter end.
Another key difference is that the League administratively divided the four periphery realms into six Territorial States. In the main chronology, there are just four Territorial States - one for each Periphery realm - maintaining the territorial integrity of each.
The MW1E account avoids getting tangled up in the messy details of the Reunification War by skimming over it in two sentences, noting that it lasted 20 years, ending in 2597 after the fall of the Taurian capital in the Hyades cluster.
The Good Years: One major difference is the introduction of hyper-pulse generators by 2630, rather than Hoshiko's League Communications Network. (So, apparently the BattleDroids universe never had HPGs.)
Colonization was more limited in MW1E, with new purification tech facilitating 750+ new colonies, rather than 1,000+ (which, added to earlier estimates, would put peak colonization in BattleDroids at 5,000+ worlds, compared to the 3,200-ish upper limit reached in the BattleTech chronology - though you could argue equivalence if you count unmapped independent colony worlds in the Periphery). It also omits mention of the size of the Human Sphere, which by this point is about 1,000 LY in diameter, rather than the 540 in StarDate.
MW1E corrects the name from Rift Member-State to Rim Worlds Member-State.
MW1E makes no mention of the near elimination of the Star League WarShip assets.
Twilight: The MW1E section adds more details, noting that New Vandenberg was joined in secession by 17 other Periphery worlds. The name of the "Rim Member-State" is updated to the "Rim Worlds State."