BattleTech - Lore Interview with Jordan Weisman

PC Gamer interviewed Jordan Weisman about the lore of BattleTech.

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So the Star League represents a sort of peaceful golden age?

Well, BattleTech is a world of grays. What looks like a great and shining empire from the inside of it looks like a conquering colonial government from the outside. Those who didn’t sign up to become part of the Star League soon find themselves being subjected to or forced to become members of Star League. This starts a series of battles along the edges of known space. That center space has become known as the Inner Sphere, which is roughly centered on Earth, the capital of the Star League. But out on the Periphery, these smaller governments, who had moved out and tried to not be part of the warring states and their politics to begin with, now find themselves faced with this colonial empire. It becomes a long series of battles along the Periphery, the front. 

Eventually those Periphery battles start to seed the elements that will eventually tear the Star League apart. After several hundred years. The Star League lasts for several hundred years, and then it falls apart with a combination of insurrection and battles and betrayal. So the Star League—House Cameron is basically wiped out. As part of the insurrection, these operators from the Periphery start to inspire the Houses to become more suspicious of each other, to start to build up their own arms again, as opposed to only trusting the Star League army itself. 

This reminds me a lot of Game of Thrones and The Expanse—politics, division between insiders and outsiders. Do these factions have their own militaries?

The Star League army is, to a large extent, based in a feudal system where you would have a knight who would then provide forces to a liege lord, who then owes them to the king. The Star League army is built on that principle. There’s a standing army that’s the Star League’s only, but the majority are House units that are then tributed to the Star League.

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