Thank you all again for the support for these videos! We can only go up from here. The Homeworld Clans history has closed, and we now circle back to the beginning, and follow the other thread to join the Clans and Inner Sphere together. After the fall of the Star League, we look back at the Succession Wars in the next Lore Video. I'll see you in the next one.
"Brett Andrews the true sucessor to the Betrayer, a hypocrite in every sense of the word and the greatest evidence of the clans rejection of anything remotely human. We can only cry for the innocents lost and laugh at the Betrayer's slaves for they have truly become everything Alexander Kerensky the great fought against."- The passages of the 3rd Wolverine Rememberance
Is it just me, or for a society that goes to great lengths to point out to Spheroids that they avoid the waste of the Inner Shere, the Clans tend to waste far more Time, Lives, and Resources than the Inner Sphere?
In a way yes but no. Clanners don't waste lives, because they don't cultivate lives. They churn bodies out like easy bake ovens thanks to iron wombs, sibkos, and pushing a warrior out by 16 almost. They don't have lives, they're war material. As for time, if anything they get right to pummeling someone the moment they catch a breath. It was a short while after the Inner Sphere just handed a Refusal butt whupping on them before they started Rock'em Sock'em Robot slapping each other as a way of saying "See, this is your fault!" The Clanners are more or less the Inner Sphere's image in the mirror before you wipe away the blood caked on your face that was the Succession Wars. They can claim superiority all they like, but they'll never prove it. Because doing so requires you to take five minutes to catch a breath instead of constantly punching someone's face in, which is their greatest flaw.
Inner Sphere: "I don't like you" or "I want what you got" so I'm gonna attack you with everything I have as soon as I think I can win. Clans: "I think I'm better than you" & "I want what you got" so I'm gonna keep attacking you at full force with as small an attack force as I think I can win with until I win.
Old video but I just ran into this channel. This is the best summarization of the Wars of Reaving. I've read that book twice and it's still a wonderful garbled mess.
Hello Madcat. Sounds, to me, like the Clans were even more insane than those that fought the Inner Sphere's 4 Succession Wars. In the end, even the Clans could not keep up their traditions, and devolved into mimicking the Inner Sphere's worst aspects. The Clans that moved to the Inner Sphere, were adaptable, at least. And they survived. While the madness of 'purity' sank it's fangs deeply into the Home world Clans. Ensuring that many would be totally lost. All this makes me wonder about the new IL-Kahn Era to come. A 2nd invasion of the Inner Sphere from the Home worlds? Or, the Inner Sphere Clans collectively uniting to be a major force in the Inner Sphere, and take Terra? I do hope that Clan Diamond Shark does not change. I would like to think I can get Clan tech when I can afford it, without needing to salvage destroyed Clan Mechs, and then trade for what I desire. I guess we shall see what the future brings.
Thanks for watching!! I wouldn't say more insane, I'd say on-par; but in the end that is Battletech's main point which is the "Human Condition". We war over pointless stuff, but if people in BT thought logically, there would be significantly less bullshit happening that makes BT what BT is. We love stompy robot wars. But it comes back to the original flaw; "What does the Hidden Hope Doctrine mean?" That's how we got Crusaders and Wardens, each side taking an "extreme" from the SLDF. Remind yourself where the Clans came from; they were former soldiers fighting a vicious war of vengeance, a usurper. Coming to a place without that conflict makes people antsy and well... the Exodus Civil War happened as a result. It's less so the Clans not keeping to their traditions, but more so REFUSING to change and adapt. There was a reason why (aside from writing and favouritism) that Clan Wolf (and Ghost Bear later on) were so successful originally; they were willing to adapt. The Homeworlds (Steel Vipers to begin, Star Adders later) have a very human perspective and think their returning to the IS was a mistake and irrevocably changed the Clans from what they were meant to be (According to Nicky Kerensky). The Spheroid Clans understandably didn't share that view and both sides called each other crazy. All this is to say; the Wars of Reaving were the Clans' Succession Wars but far less destructive on technology and more destructive on people due to the nature of Reavings. Of course Clan Star Adder thankfully woke up and decided to off the Vipers after they took things too far. Star Adder running the show is probably the best outcome for the Homeworlds as they are very "chill" as Clans come, but they do strongly believe in the original Clan Doctrine. I too am pretty interested in the ilClan (Not ilKhan, there's a difference ;) ) Era. I didn't mind Hour of the Wolf on first read, but over time it was a sub-par book. While the outcome of ilClan Wolf being the result was highly predictable, any other Clan rising to the station would've been met with similar criticism along the lines of "Okay, so Clan ____ is now ilClan, but how in the world would Wolf just let it happen?". Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But the best part that came out of ilClan for me (Personally) was the rebirth of my Clan Smoke Jaguar who are now reformed from their harsh lessons learned during Ops Bulldog, Serpent, and their time spent as the Fidelis so they're very much now a Warden Clan (Provisional in size) serving as Spec-Ops, which is such a brilliant turn-around as CSJ was originally made from former SLDF Black/Spec Ops personnel. CGL has stated they're wanting to do Homeworlds stuff starting with actual Wars of Reaving Novels, so that means they're wanting to set up some important plotlines there. I do hope the Homeworlds make an appearance again, even though their appearance is all but guaranteed to be villainous in nature. It's an exciting time for Battletech even if the kickoff of the ilClan Era is a bit choppy. The Merchant Clan... will always be the Merchant Clan. They're not gonna change their ways any time soon. Even their most recent appearances in novels and source is very much regarding their dealings with ilClan Wolf are very much opportunistic. They're Clan Capitalism and they only care about their bottom line. They may not be able to militarize themselves, but they can loan-shark your ass pretty hard, so Wolf better pay up soon.
(This is a long one, sorry about that)I wasn't really a fan of the Battletech franchise, I watched the animated series & owned both Mechassault games. I was playing War Thunder & I started liking playing the tank battles. Then I thought one that that Battletech was almost the same thing as the tank battles except that they have legs. I decided to give the franchise another chance & I started playing Mechwarrior Online. I watched TH-cam videos & played it & I loved the game. That's was where I started loving the franchise. I'm checking out lore videos such as yours & I like yours because they're so long & full if detail. I'm also rewatching the Battletech animated series. Anyway, sorry again for the long post & thanks for the lore videos.
Well done! This was incredibly informative and the subject matter was something I had wanted to get a better bead on. Keep up the good work in promoting the Setting.
Great vid, subbing. I kinda wish we’d get a series of novels for all of the Clans set during the Clan Invasion-FedCom Civil War in the style similar to the Aiden Pryde trilogies. Kinda unrelated but does this catch anyone’s intrigue as a story idea; a small group of Periphery mercs (that one bunch that’s basically a non-ordained order of Catholic knights) end up teaming up with some Goliath Scorpions and Nova Cats to stop a group of pirates who are close to discovering the location of a SL warship that was left derelict during the Exodus.
@@Hippy576 roleplay aside, I'd read Forever Faithful if you haven't yet. Hell of a redemption arc and a battle for survival the whole way. Jags were reborn with a conflict worthy of a Clansman. They have found the path. Beyond that book, the Fidelis have saved the Inner Sphere 3 times. Once along the (end of video spoiler) IS lore chapters, I'll be covering the Inner Spheres greatest fighting force since the SLDF.
Madcat529 I haven’t read that. I know about Stone and a deal he made with them but a lot of that lore seems to be left ambiguous. Unless there is info I’m missing. I’ve been re-reading all the novels and haven’t gotten to modern authored ones yet. Can’t wait!
There technically is part 8 in the form of the succession wars video. The Clan Homeworlds tale has ended, now we're catching up on the inner sphere which will eventually include the Spheroid Clans. New lore video is planned for this month (September)
@@maggiweber I'll do you one better; On my channel I have organized playlists for my content and you can find the entire mainline series in one place. Here's the link for you th-cam.com/play/PLNjOsDHfgT9Hz4EfTd0zqEpa1KB53ym-v.html
Great work man. One question, do you have any tips for me to get mechwarrior 4 running well on a modern machine, like a mod you could recommend or something?
Thank you! And yes, there is some guides on the r/Mechwarrior subreddit on the side bar for that page. Follow those (I strongly recommend reading EVERYTHING on the guide before actually doing anything as it's good to be aware of issues and fixes before hand) and you should be up and running in 10 minutes flat.
@@lucasZr113 welcome to the rabbit hole that is Battletech. Make sure you pick a Clan as your primary allegiance, we need to root out all the barbaric freebirth vermin in the galaxy.
You might notice I am shifting to the IS side of the lore as the end of this video. Considering Victor is of great import to the timeline, it is very very likely I will be talking about him in the future.
We need to purge the "Inner Sphere Taint" from the clans by playing duplicitous political games, staging coups, cheating in honor duels, and eradicating the Kerensky genetic legacy!! You know, by acting exactly like these hypocrite clans believe the Inner Sphere houses do. Remember Tukayyid! Remember the Great Refusal. We SHOWED the clans were built on a broken foundation again and again. We demonstrated through victory after victory over their "superior" warriors that the CLANS had abandoned the Star League far more than the even Sephan Amaris had. And, freaked out by this, instead of seeking the flaws in their screwed up society and fixing them, instead of reforming their Clan cultism by a return to the values of the SLDF & Alexander Kerensky (instead of his insane son), they simply PROVED BEYOND ANY DOUBT how fundamentally screwed up their whole philosophy is by the Wars of Reaving.
Yes, but actually no, haha. Alot of Clans (including my Jaguars) had already lost their way long before arriving in 3050. The Vipers were 100% the biggest hypocrites ever to exist and like all others, they paid for it. The inner sphere will get their reckoning all in due time. JIHAD
Yes and no. A few Clans saw through these flaws and managed to overcome them, most of those that went back to the Inner Sphere in particular. While the Wars of Reaving was due to several of the flaws in the system all springing up at once, the biggest contributor seems to be Brett Andrews, which is yet another example of the one flaw that any society in this universe has--the wrong person getting in charge and no one telling them "no" until it was too late. Although in this case, those that did try wound up dead...up until his allies turned on him.
I don't think their underlying philosophies were screwed up, I think *they* who became in charge in administering those philosophies became power-crazed, hubris-driven, & went nuts taking the means to an end for the end itself. In 1 of the novels that takes place after Marthe Pryde became khan, she thinks to herself that she didn't care so much for conquering the Inner Sphere to restart the Star League, she just wanted all of it for herself. And quite likely a lot of the true borns thought along similar lines, not just in regards to the Inner Sphere, but also in regards to the caste system.
Just watching this video for the first time. wow, a lot going on here. Aside from the Star Adders, who else is a remaining home clan? it seems like all of them got annihilated.
Exactly right. Zellbrigen unintentionally saved the Inner Sphere. However, once they throw that out the window... Well let's just say that even as a Crusader Clanner myself, I am glad the Vipers never got their final war with the inner Sphere.
@@Madcat529 With the IlClan era coming, the years are still young. I recall seeing in the Interstellar Players 3 book, Interstellar Expeditions something about "Clan Star Spirit" which made me do the "The WHAT" meme. Fear what lurks out in the Periphery once more, we got escaped Blakists and God knows What out there with the Homeworlds.
@@Atlas3060 that one is new to me, but with the information I have I know for a fact current and future fiction being made made it clear the Writers are DONE with Word of Blake. They had their stint and any remnants are not enough to be a threat even if they tried. And the writers are literally done with them. That one is a new one to me, as my information points to a merger between Clan Cloud Cobra and Clan Star Adder. Blood Spirits were eradicated in full by the Adders, literally nothing left of them. If there is it's limited to captured genetic codes but no living ex members. That said, I think something with the Homeworld Clans is coming, just not until after the ilClan arc is done, earliest towards the end. There's a clear direction they're going with latest fiction, alot of it told in Children of Kerensky. I'd recommend reading that and you'll see what I mean there :)
@@Madcat529 " They had their stint and any remnants are not enough to be a threat even if they tried. And the writers are literally done with them. " Agreed, I recall reading in some of the Jihad Final Reckoning that at best you have some Manei Domini skittering off to the Periphery; especially after one of them made a general plea to their brethren to just come with her and make their own little escape. We honestly do not need Exodus 3.0 (Nicky K's was 2.0 or maybe 1.5 for the Pentagon Worlds). As for the Children of Kerensky book, finished reading it and I'm of two minds about it. Yeah Wolf will probably win the big battle, but I wanted to face palm the writer's direction that "Let's invite the Falcons!' However I get it, the throw down for Terra town would always be a Falcon/Wolf thing since those two are the star Clans for the writers, sure sure fine. As for any HW Clans coming after IlClan, even that's dubious but the logical route. On the forums someone asked if the HW Clans would accept the IlClan and one writer unofficially answered "Assuming there ARE any left? No they wouldn't accept it because they see the Invading Clans as tainted anyways". Finally back to that Star Spirit thing, it's in Interstellar Players 3, page 97, the time stamp seems to be 3094 in terms of timeline but it's basically a decoded message in Interstellar Expedition's report on how they were treated when exploring Clan Space. Deep Periphery space Clan-wards was empty, logical. The part of the snippet which might interest you is "cil voted on institution of a Trial of Purg… while previously hidden Clan Blood Spirit Galaxies descend on Albion…nd Council vote approves Clan Fire Mandrill Absorption of Clan Cloud Co…ire Mandrill Khan Hollyann Kardaan: “The Wars of Purging have begun." ISP books were always half BS, half canon rumors so this'll be interesting to keep note of down the road when the writers expand on IlClan era. :)
Fan-made alternate logo intended for SJ remnant. But since the lore retcons for exactly how many wandering pockets of Former SJs has been changed to virtually 0 (they all became the Fidelis), it's been relegated to just a fan logo. I used it to imply a fundamental change to those people themselves after the Great Refusal.
I don't know what you mean by based, unless you mean established. There's a whole story there that removes their status as a Homeworld clan, but that's details for a future video when I get around to Jihad.
Thanks a lot for this. The disjointed nature really can't be helped, I think, in no small amount due to the beyond amateurish writing of the Source Material. A physical Attack by a Mech un-Clanlike? A shot into the Cockpit dishonorable? Calling for an un-augmented Trial, then drawing a Pistol? These are just a few of the things that simply make no sense. Events invented for the sake of inventing them. It would have been much better to start the Narrative with the Blood Spirits intervention in the Burrock Absorption. Not as a part of the Wars of Reaving, but to show that even the staunchest supporters OK Kerensky's Vision had decided to blatantly violate it as a means to foreshadow the Corruption that was already present in the Clans. At no point in the Wars of Reaving Manual do the Authors really give any substantive reasons for what happens, just some vague issues that, in my opinion, were never fleshed out enough to explain the severity of the practical disintegration of Clan Society.
I'm going to disagree with you on the "it doesn't make sense", because it does make sense. Brett Andrews was "chosen" (narratively) to be the vehicle of corruption in a classic tale of irony. The Steel Vipers have always been staunch traditionalist, and even made their big stinks with the invasion already. Having the Blood Spirits be the vehicle of change doesn't have as much impact because they didn't partake in the invasion. They were "there", as it were so they'd have little ground to stand on for the sake of completing the motive. If Blood Spirit took the place of Steel Vipers in the invasion, then yeah it would make for an interesting story, but I don't think it would be better than the one we got. Lastly, the disjointedness is not from any bad writing, it comes from quite literally 10+ very big and important dominoes being set up all at different times that people need to realize would go on to cause the Wars of Reaving. It was a matter of "do I say everything chronologically?" Or "take one one loose thread at a time?" I chose one thread at a time since it was easier to understand in the end.
@@Madcat529 I see your point, but there's nothing to make Clan Society completely break down the way it does. The Inner Sphere winning a Trial of Refusal isn't presented in such a way that it would cause such a degradation. It was a Trial. They lost. Now had there been some indication that the Clans were shaken to the Roots, for example, while the Warriors dealt with it perhaps resentful, but vast swaths of the other Castes were far more deeply affected, say to the point of completely questioning the truth of Clan ways, and that debate became a tool for someone like a Brett Andrew's, that would explain why so many Clan leaders join in. Otherwise, for a Society steeped in such Tradition I really can't see that happening.
@@scottjuhnke6825 This comes back to the fact that if every single person and nation acted reasonably and logically, there would be no battletech. Everyone is designed with the flaws they have so there can be conflict. Would it make more sense for the Clans to go "damn, we got our asses kicked. maybe we were wrong this whole time?" absolutely. But they don't, because there's no conflict with that. Instead they go "Damn, we got our asses kicked. Were we wrong this whole time? No... it's the Inner Sphere that ruined us... REEEEEEEEE". Any faction in battletech will crumble if you poke enough holes in it, that's not exclusive to just one faction. The Clans were very much shaken and it was a story told extremely well. Post Great Refusal, there was some years where the Clans didn't know what to do, so they fought with each other. Jade Falcon built back up, as did Crusader Wolf, Ghost Bear saw the writing on the wall and moved, the former SJ's were so lost they as a people basically got depression for a while until Paul Moon broke everyone out of Huntress and left to start the Fidelis with Trent. The other castes were already quite upset and also had good "screen time" in the books. The Society began making moves almost immediately after the Great Refusal, they were sick of the Warrior Caste's shit. Many civilian and tech perspectives were shown and they too were in various states of apathy and seeking change. When the Wars of Reaving happened, they all realized that the change may not have met everyones standards. It's a complicated series of events, and your points do highlight a flaw in the way the Wars of Reaving were told which is solely through sourcebooks. Sourcebooks by nature are segmented and disjointed because they often cover alot of complicated events in a short time, or need to cover many years worth of events and explain how they got to the end result. WoR is both at the same time which compounds the issue, and also why CGL is getting dedicated WoR novels made so alot of this can be cleared up. Battletech will never make perfect sense, but 95% of events are done well enough to suspend disbelief. I think you might need to do some independent research on WoR so you can find that point of "meh, guess it actually is fine", cuz I used alot of the same points you're using now, and after studying up, everything made alot more sense.
@@Madcat529 I found your video because I pulled my copy out again. I don't disagree with your assessment about the Clans being created for conflict, but I think we will have to disagree on post-Tukayid (sp)/Refusal Clans simply losing their way having an adequate explanation. Still, I did very much enjoy your presentation, and our discussion.
To bad that all battletech history and lore dealing with the dark ages. Is ignored by a majority of battletech fans as being to dark and with out hope of a bright light at the end of the dark ages tunnel. Most will ignore jihad or the time frame after jihad as unwitten and do pu or ar timelines. PU is parallel universe and AR is alternate reality.
Clan ky-oat (coyote) the man says... But, then you call them Clan Ky-oat-ee. You must be a plainsman. North Texas? Oklahoma? Kansas? Nebraska? Eastern Colorado?
@@Madcat529 The northern end of the plains? Unexpected. Well, greetings from someone who originated at the south end. Loving this playlist. I've loved MechWarrior since the 90s but never got into the lore... But, given the exodus currently under way, well; we 40k refugees are very much lore hounds. Thank you for your efforts.
Thank you all again for the support for these videos! We can only go up from here.
The Homeworld Clans history has closed, and we now circle back to the beginning, and follow the other thread to join the Clans and Inner Sphere together. After the fall of the Star League, we look back at the Succession Wars in the next Lore Video.
I'll see you in the next one.
The irony of the Clans falling to the exact same issues as the Inner Sphere is delicious.
There is a bit of poetic justice from within, but I do feel bad for my fellow Clanners.
To be honest, it was bound to happen regardless if they decided to invade the inner sphere or not, it’s human nature.
Truly we live in a golden age. Between this and tex talks I can't get enough!
*Golden Century.
"Brett Andrews the true sucessor to the Betrayer, a hypocrite in every sense of the word and the greatest evidence of the clans rejection of anything remotely human. We can only cry for the innocents lost and laugh at the Betrayer's slaves for they have truly become everything Alexander Kerensky the great fought against."- The passages of the 3rd Wolverine Rememberance
"I never thought the Clans would reave MY Invader Clan!" sobs ilKhan who voted for "Reaving Invader Clans."
Great summary of a mega-complicated section of lore. The Wars of Reaving are so unknown for such an interesting and important bit of BT history!
There is not much battletech lore on yt. Really appreciate this
Thanks!
The scientist caste conducts the Clan eugenics program. The society might just have won and the warriors won't realize it for a few generations
Is it just me, or for a society that goes to great lengths to point out to Spheroids that they avoid the waste of the Inner Shere, the Clans tend to waste far more Time, Lives, and Resources than the Inner Sphere?
It might look like that on the surface, but the clans lose far less in defeats than any other faction
In a way yes but no.
Clanners don't waste lives, because they don't cultivate lives. They churn bodies out like easy bake ovens thanks to iron wombs, sibkos, and pushing a warrior out by 16 almost.
They don't have lives, they're war material.
As for time, if anything they get right to pummeling someone the moment they catch a breath. It was a short while after the Inner Sphere just handed a Refusal butt whupping on them before they started Rock'em Sock'em Robot slapping each other as a way of saying "See, this is your fault!"
The Clanners are more or less the Inner Sphere's image in the mirror before you wipe away the blood caked on your face that was the Succession Wars. They can claim superiority all they like, but they'll never prove it. Because doing so requires you to take five minutes to catch a breath instead of constantly punching someone's face in, which is their greatest flaw.
Inner Sphere: "I don't like you" or "I want what you got" so I'm gonna attack you with everything I have as soon as I think I can win.
Clans: "I think I'm better than you" & "I want what you got" so I'm gonna keep attacking you at full force with as small an attack force as I think I can win with until I win.
@@19Pyrus70 this is the way
@@Madcat529
Selah!
Old video but I just ran into this channel. This is the best summarization of the Wars of Reaving.
I've read that book twice and it's still a wonderful garbled mess.
Thank you for watching!
Hello Madcat.
Sounds, to me, like the Clans were even more insane than those that fought the Inner Sphere's 4 Succession Wars. In the end, even the Clans could not keep up their traditions, and devolved into mimicking the Inner Sphere's worst aspects.
The Clans that moved to the Inner Sphere, were adaptable, at least. And they survived. While the madness of 'purity' sank it's fangs deeply into the Home world Clans. Ensuring that many would be totally lost.
All this makes me wonder about the new IL-Kahn Era to come. A 2nd invasion of the Inner Sphere from the Home worlds? Or, the Inner Sphere Clans collectively uniting to be a major force in the Inner Sphere, and take Terra?
I do hope that Clan Diamond Shark does not change. I would like to think I can get Clan tech when I can afford it, without needing to salvage destroyed Clan Mechs, and then trade for what I desire.
I guess we shall see what the future brings.
Thanks for watching!!
I wouldn't say more insane, I'd say on-par; but in the end that is Battletech's main point which is the "Human Condition". We war over pointless stuff, but if people in BT thought logically, there would be significantly less bullshit happening that makes BT what BT is. We love stompy robot wars. But it comes back to the original flaw; "What does the Hidden Hope Doctrine mean?" That's how we got Crusaders and Wardens, each side taking an "extreme" from the SLDF. Remind yourself where the Clans came from; they were former soldiers fighting a vicious war of vengeance, a usurper. Coming to a place without that conflict makes people antsy and well... the Exodus Civil War happened as a result. It's less so the Clans not keeping to their traditions, but more so REFUSING to change and adapt. There was a reason why (aside from writing and favouritism) that Clan Wolf (and Ghost Bear later on) were so successful originally; they were willing to adapt. The Homeworlds (Steel Vipers to begin, Star Adders later) have a very human perspective and think their returning to the IS was a mistake and irrevocably changed the Clans from what they were meant to be (According to Nicky Kerensky). The Spheroid Clans understandably didn't share that view and both sides called each other crazy. All this is to say; the Wars of Reaving were the Clans' Succession Wars but far less destructive on technology and more destructive on people due to the nature of Reavings. Of course Clan Star Adder thankfully woke up and decided to off the Vipers after they took things too far. Star Adder running the show is probably the best outcome for the Homeworlds as they are very "chill" as Clans come, but they do strongly believe in the original Clan Doctrine.
I too am pretty interested in the ilClan (Not ilKhan, there's a difference ;) ) Era. I didn't mind Hour of the Wolf on first read, but over time it was a sub-par book. While the outcome of ilClan Wolf being the result was highly predictable, any other Clan rising to the station would've been met with similar criticism along the lines of "Okay, so Clan ____ is now ilClan, but how in the world would Wolf just let it happen?". Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But the best part that came out of ilClan for me (Personally) was the rebirth of my Clan Smoke Jaguar who are now reformed from their harsh lessons learned during Ops Bulldog, Serpent, and their time spent as the Fidelis so they're very much now a Warden Clan (Provisional in size) serving as Spec-Ops, which is such a brilliant turn-around as CSJ was originally made from former SLDF Black/Spec Ops personnel. CGL has stated they're wanting to do Homeworlds stuff starting with actual Wars of Reaving Novels, so that means they're wanting to set up some important plotlines there. I do hope the Homeworlds make an appearance again, even though their appearance is all but guaranteed to be villainous in nature. It's an exciting time for Battletech even if the kickoff of the ilClan Era is a bit choppy.
The Merchant Clan... will always be the Merchant Clan. They're not gonna change their ways any time soon. Even their most recent appearances in novels and source is very much regarding their dealings with ilClan Wolf are very much opportunistic. They're Clan Capitalism and they only care about their bottom line. They may not be able to militarize themselves, but they can loan-shark your ass pretty hard, so Wolf better pay up soon.
Great job. Easy to follow. Very well edited.. keep up the great work
Well done.. From Australia
Thank you! From Canada
Love your lore vids.
Thank you!
Cant wait for the new "wars or reavings" novel that are eventually coming
(This is a long one, sorry about that)I wasn't really a fan of the Battletech franchise, I watched the animated series & owned both Mechassault games. I was playing War Thunder & I started liking playing the tank battles. Then I thought one that that Battletech was almost the same thing as the tank battles except that they have legs. I decided to give the franchise another chance & I started playing Mechwarrior Online. I watched TH-cam videos & played it & I loved the game. That's was where I started loving the franchise. I'm checking out lore videos such as yours & I like yours because they're so long & full if detail. I'm also rewatching the Battletech animated series. Anyway, sorry again for the long post & thanks for the lore videos.
No, thank you for watching! And welcome to the Battletech Universe ;)
Well done! This was incredibly informative and the subject matter was something I had wanted to get a better bead on. Keep up the good work in promoting the Setting.
Glad it was helpful!
This was magnificent ✌🌞 great work!! Stay safe, and keep up the awesome content
Thank you!
Great vid, subbing. I kinda wish we’d get a series of novels for all of the Clans set during the Clan Invasion-FedCom Civil War in the style similar to the Aiden Pryde trilogies.
Kinda unrelated but does this catch anyone’s intrigue as a story idea; a small group of Periphery mercs (that one bunch that’s basically a non-ordained order of Catholic knights) end up teaming up with some Goliath Scorpions and Nova Cats to stop a group of pirates who are close to discovering the location of a SL warship that was left derelict during the Exodus.
Sounds fun to me.
Excellent lore breakdown. Thank you.
Thank you for watching!
As always great vid. Always love to hear from a fellow Smoke Jaguar. So few of us left...
We are among Kerensky's Faithful now. Join us in the Fidelis, brother.
Madcat529 Paul Moon had lost his way. If he has truly followed Kerensky’s vision then the path may be found for all our brethren.
@@Hippy576 roleplay aside, I'd read Forever Faithful if you haven't yet. Hell of a redemption arc and a battle for survival the whole way. Jags were reborn with a conflict worthy of a Clansman. They have found the path. Beyond that book, the Fidelis have saved the Inner Sphere 3 times. Once along the (end of video spoiler) IS lore chapters, I'll be covering the Inner Spheres greatest fighting force since the SLDF.
Madcat529 I haven’t read that. I know about Stone and a deal he made with them but a lot of that lore seems to be left ambiguous. Unless there is info I’m missing. I’ve been re-reading all the novels and haven’t gotten to modern authored ones yet. Can’t wait!
I’m making a BT mercenary group based on descendants from Smoke Jaguar. Does “Dezgra Diaspora” sound like a good name?
Great Video man this was a master piece If you decide to side with a clan Clan Bhost bear for the win
Hell yeah! We slumber, but that just means you all live to see the next day :D
great vid
and still another thank you
Great series of videos!
Thank you!
Only more to come!
32:23
Clan Nova Cat: "Oh hey guys. You back?"
Sounds like it's an effort to pronounce Coyote with an "ee" at the end :D I'll guess Texas!
Alberta
Awesome mate!
Ok you got me hooked, subbed.
The Smoke Jaguars are back. Read the Battle-tech novel Hour of the wolf.
We ride the stars once again!!
As hybrid wardens now too ;)
Very well done. Congrats on hitting 1k =)
Thank you for your Videos :) much love from europe :) maybe you can make part 8, i would love to hear that
There technically is part 8 in the form of the succession wars video.
The Clan Homeworlds tale has ended, now we're catching up on the inner sphere which will eventually include the Spheroid Clans.
New lore video is planned for this month (September)
@@Madcat529 Thank you! I'm new in Battletech, im an immigrant from 40k. Thank you for your work, can you link me the succesion wars?
@@maggiweber
I'll do you one better;
On my channel I have organized playlists for my content and you can find the entire mainline series in one place. Here's the link for you
th-cam.com/play/PLNjOsDHfgT9Hz4EfTd0zqEpa1KB53ym-v.html
Great work man.
One question, do you have any tips for me to get mechwarrior 4 running well on a modern machine, like a mod you could recommend or something?
Thank you!
And yes, there is some guides on the r/Mechwarrior subreddit on the side bar for that page. Follow those (I strongly recommend reading EVERYTHING on the guide before actually doing anything as it's good to be aware of issues and fixes before hand) and you should be up and running in 10 minutes flat.
@@Madcat529 thanks, I haven't been to the sub yet, I just started following the lore after my friend told me about this universe
@@lucasZr113 welcome to the rabbit hole that is Battletech.
Make sure you pick a Clan as your primary allegiance, we need to root out all the barbaric freebirth vermin in the galaxy.
Congrats on 1k!!
also you should consider doing a video on Victor Steiner-Davion
You might notice I am shifting to the IS side of the lore as the end of this video.
Considering Victor is of great import to the timeline, it is very very likely I will be talking about him in the future.
I'm curious about the blakist jihad since that's when I got introduced into battletech.
I intend to cover that when I can :)
@@Madcat529 cool.
We need to purge the "Inner Sphere Taint" from the clans by playing duplicitous political games, staging coups, cheating in honor duels, and eradicating the Kerensky genetic legacy!! You know, by acting exactly like these hypocrite clans believe the Inner Sphere houses do.
Remember Tukayyid! Remember the Great Refusal.
We SHOWED the clans were built on a broken foundation again and again. We demonstrated through victory after victory over their "superior" warriors that the CLANS had abandoned the Star League far more than the even Sephan Amaris had. And, freaked out by this, instead of seeking the flaws in their screwed up society and fixing them, instead of reforming their Clan cultism by a return to the values of the SLDF & Alexander Kerensky (instead of his insane son), they simply PROVED BEYOND ANY DOUBT how fundamentally screwed up their whole philosophy is by the Wars of Reaving.
Yes, but actually no, haha.
Alot of Clans (including my Jaguars) had already lost their way long before arriving in 3050. The Vipers were 100% the biggest hypocrites ever to exist and like all others, they paid for it.
The inner sphere will get their reckoning all in due time.
JIHAD
Yes and no. A few Clans saw through these flaws and managed to overcome them, most of those that went back to the Inner Sphere in particular. While the Wars of Reaving was due to several of the flaws in the system all springing up at once, the biggest contributor seems to be Brett Andrews, which is yet another example of the one flaw that any society in this universe has--the wrong person getting in charge and no one telling them "no" until it was too late. Although in this case, those that did try wound up dead...up until his allies turned on him.
I don't think their underlying philosophies were screwed up, I think *they* who became in charge in administering those philosophies became power-crazed, hubris-driven, & went nuts taking the means to an end for the end itself.
In 1 of the novels that takes place after Marthe Pryde became khan, she thinks to herself that she didn't care so much for conquering the Inner Sphere to restart the Star League, she just wanted all of it for herself. And quite likely a lot of the true borns thought along similar lines, not just in regards to the Inner Sphere, but also in regards to the caste system.
Used play this all the time could take out a mad cat with a raven or Cougar
Just watching this video for the first time. wow, a lot going on here. Aside from the Star Adders, who else is a remaining home clan? it seems like all of them got annihilated.
It's on a visual card at the end of the video. Star Adder, Cloud Cobra, Stone Lion and Coyote
just subbed to you
With their technology, and no holds bar fighting. The damn clanners would have won the wor easy
Exactly right.
Zellbrigen unintentionally saved the Inner Sphere.
However, once they throw that out the window...
Well let's just say that even as a Crusader Clanner myself, I am glad the Vipers never got their final war with the inner Sphere.
@@Madcat529 With the IlClan era coming, the years are still young.
I recall seeing in the Interstellar Players 3 book, Interstellar Expeditions something about "Clan Star Spirit" which made me do the "The WHAT" meme. Fear what lurks out in the Periphery once more, we got escaped Blakists and God knows What out there with the Homeworlds.
@@Atlas3060 that one is new to me, but with the information I have I know for a fact current and future fiction being made made it clear the Writers are DONE with Word of Blake. They had their stint and any remnants are not enough to be a threat even if they tried. And the writers are literally done with them.
That one is a new one to me, as my information points to a merger between Clan Cloud Cobra and Clan Star Adder. Blood Spirits were eradicated in full by the Adders, literally nothing left of them. If there is it's limited to captured genetic codes but no living ex members.
That said, I think something with the Homeworld Clans is coming, just not until after the ilClan arc is done, earliest towards the end.
There's a clear direction they're going with latest fiction, alot of it told in Children of Kerensky. I'd recommend reading that and you'll see what I mean there :)
@@Madcat529 " They had their stint and any remnants are not enough to be a threat even if they tried. And the writers are literally done with them. " Agreed, I recall reading in some of the Jihad Final Reckoning that at best you have some Manei Domini skittering off to the Periphery; especially after one of them made a general plea to their brethren to just come with her and make their own little escape. We honestly do not need Exodus 3.0 (Nicky K's was 2.0 or maybe 1.5 for the Pentagon Worlds).
As for the Children of Kerensky book, finished reading it and I'm of two minds about it. Yeah Wolf will probably win the big battle, but I wanted to face palm the writer's direction that "Let's invite the Falcons!' However I get it, the throw down for Terra town would always be a Falcon/Wolf thing since those two are the star Clans for the writers, sure sure fine.
As for any HW Clans coming after IlClan, even that's dubious but the logical route. On the forums someone asked if the HW Clans would accept the IlClan and one writer unofficially answered "Assuming there ARE any left? No they wouldn't accept it because they see the Invading Clans as tainted anyways".
Finally back to that Star Spirit thing, it's in Interstellar Players 3, page 97, the time stamp seems to be 3094 in terms of timeline but it's basically a decoded message in Interstellar Expedition's report on how they were treated when exploring Clan Space. Deep Periphery space Clan-wards was empty, logical. The part of the snippet which might interest you is
"cil voted on institution of a Trial of Purg…
while previously hidden Clan Blood Spirit Galaxies descend on
Albion…nd Council vote approves Clan Fire Mandrill Absorption
of Clan Cloud Co…ire Mandrill Khan Hollyann Kardaan: “The
Wars of Purging have begun."
ISP books were always half BS, half canon rumors so this'll be interesting to keep note of down the road when the writers expand on IlClan era. :)
Kael Pershaw is still alive? Just how old *is* he? I imagined he was middle-aged around the time of Aiden Pryde's death.
He would die in 3073 after reaching 77 years old
@@Madcat529
He was *younger* than I thought...!?😅
@@19Pyrus70 50 is old by Warrior caste standards, 77 means they'd consider him in the same way we consider centenarians.
@@EmperorPylades
50 is old by modern military standards -- though still serviceable if healthy enough.
imagine playing with infinite ammunition
It's alot of fun! Opens up some ridiculous things you can't do otherwise! Easily some of the best fun I've had casually.
@44:13 Did I hear "Khan-flict", lol.
...huh.
Good catch!
What is the game played??? It looks awesome
Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries
Where's the Smoke Jaguar logo at 52:30 from?
Fan-made alternate logo intended for SJ remnant. But since the lore retcons for exactly how many wandering pockets of Former SJs has been changed to virtually 0 (they all became the Fidelis), it's been relegated to just a fan logo. I used it to imply a fundamental change to those people themselves after the Great Refusal.
What mod are you using for mech4 mercs? I see a rifleman and wasp in the mech list
No mods, just mektek abandonware.
Look on reddit under r/mechwarrior for guides on how to get it running on modern machines :)
what about the Scorpion Empire?
it looks based
I don't know what you mean by based, unless you mean established.
There's a whole story there that removes their status as a Homeworld clan, but that's details for a future video when I get around to Jihad.
@@Madcat529 consider it as a synonym with cool but with the undercurrent of not caring.
1a vid man
Thanks a lot for this. The disjointed nature really can't be helped, I think, in no small amount due to the beyond amateurish writing of the Source Material.
A physical Attack by a Mech un-Clanlike? A shot into the Cockpit dishonorable? Calling for an un-augmented Trial, then drawing a Pistol? These are just a few of the things that simply make no sense. Events invented for the sake of inventing them.
It would have been much better to start the Narrative with the Blood Spirits intervention in the Burrock Absorption. Not as a part of the Wars of Reaving, but to show that even the staunchest supporters OK Kerensky's Vision had decided to blatantly violate it as a means to foreshadow the Corruption that was already present in the Clans.
At no point in the Wars of Reaving Manual do the Authors really give any substantive reasons for what happens, just some vague issues that, in my opinion, were never fleshed out enough to explain the severity of the practical disintegration of Clan Society.
I'm going to disagree with you on the "it doesn't make sense", because it does make sense.
Brett Andrews was "chosen" (narratively) to be the vehicle of corruption in a classic tale of irony. The Steel Vipers have always been staunch traditionalist, and even made their big stinks with the invasion already.
Having the Blood Spirits be the vehicle of change doesn't have as much impact because they didn't partake in the invasion. They were "there", as it were so they'd have little ground to stand on for the sake of completing the motive.
If Blood Spirit took the place of Steel Vipers in the invasion, then yeah it would make for an interesting story, but I don't think it would be better than the one we got.
Lastly, the disjointedness is not from any bad writing, it comes from quite literally 10+ very big and important dominoes being set up all at different times that people need to realize would go on to cause the Wars of Reaving. It was a matter of "do I say everything chronologically?" Or "take one one loose thread at a time?" I chose one thread at a time since it was easier to understand in the end.
@@Madcat529 I see your point, but there's nothing to make Clan Society completely break down the way it does. The Inner Sphere winning a Trial of Refusal isn't presented in such a way that it would cause such a degradation. It was a Trial. They lost.
Now had there been some indication that the Clans were shaken to the Roots, for example, while the Warriors dealt with it perhaps resentful, but vast swaths of the other Castes were far more deeply affected, say to the point of completely questioning the truth of Clan ways, and that debate became a tool for someone like a Brett Andrew's, that would explain why so many Clan leaders join in.
Otherwise, for a Society steeped in such Tradition I really can't see that happening.
@@scottjuhnke6825 This comes back to the fact that if every single person and nation acted reasonably and logically, there would be no battletech. Everyone is designed with the flaws they have so there can be conflict. Would it make more sense for the Clans to go "damn, we got our asses kicked. maybe we were wrong this whole time?" absolutely. But they don't, because there's no conflict with that. Instead they go "Damn, we got our asses kicked. Were we wrong this whole time? No... it's the Inner Sphere that ruined us... REEEEEEEEE".
Any faction in battletech will crumble if you poke enough holes in it, that's not exclusive to just one faction.
The Clans were very much shaken and it was a story told extremely well. Post Great Refusal, there was some years where the Clans didn't know what to do, so they fought with each other. Jade Falcon built back up, as did Crusader Wolf, Ghost Bear saw the writing on the wall and moved, the former SJ's were so lost they as a people basically got depression for a while until Paul Moon broke everyone out of Huntress and left to start the Fidelis with Trent.
The other castes were already quite upset and also had good "screen time" in the books. The Society began making moves almost immediately after the Great Refusal, they were sick of the Warrior Caste's shit. Many civilian and tech perspectives were shown and they too were in various states of apathy and seeking change. When the Wars of Reaving happened, they all realized that the change may not have met everyones standards.
It's a complicated series of events, and your points do highlight a flaw in the way the Wars of Reaving were told which is solely through sourcebooks. Sourcebooks by nature are segmented and disjointed because they often cover alot of complicated events in a short time, or need to cover many years worth of events and explain how they got to the end result. WoR is both at the same time which compounds the issue, and also why CGL is getting dedicated WoR novels made so alot of this can be cleared up.
Battletech will never make perfect sense, but 95% of events are done well enough to suspend disbelief. I think you might need to do some independent research on WoR so you can find that point of "meh, guess it actually is fine", cuz I used alot of the same points you're using now, and after studying up, everything made alot more sense.
@@Madcat529 I found your video because I pulled my copy out again. I don't disagree with your assessment about the Clans being created for conflict, but I think we will have to disagree on post-Tukayid (sp)/Refusal Clans simply losing their way having an adequate explanation.
Still, I did very much enjoy your presentation, and our discussion.
Doesn't warship totem animals. Wears it as a living fucking fashion statement instead. Seems right.
To bad that all battletech history and lore dealing with the dark ages. Is ignored by a majority of battletech fans as being to dark and with out hope of a bright light at the end of the dark ages tunnel. Most will ignore jihad or the time frame after jihad as unwitten and do pu or ar timelines. PU is parallel universe and AR is alternate reality.
Clan Steel Viper? More like Clan Soy Viper.
Clan ky-oat (coyote) the man says... But, then you call them Clan Ky-oat-ee.
You must be a plainsman.
North Texas?
Oklahoma?
Kansas?
Nebraska?
Eastern Colorado?
Alberta, Canada
@@Madcat529 The northern end of the plains? Unexpected.
Well, greetings from someone who originated at the south end.
Loving this playlist.
I've loved MechWarrior since the 90s but never got into the lore... But, given the exodus currently under way, well; we 40k refugees are very much lore hounds.
Thank you for your efforts.
@@bob_the_barbarian thank you for watching! There will be a new lore video in September too!
@@Madcat529 I look forward to it eagerly.
Cluster conflict clan critical quiet cyote caused can can't could command reclaiming conclaves cockpit cauldron claymore cat castle calling cazma across
....can I claim a trial of grievance for what you did to my brain?
...and that means...?
You did a fantastic job my friend.
Thank you very much for watching 😊