Dark Age Catch Up
With the release of ilKhan’s Eyes Only, Trial of Birthright, and VoidBreaker in the past few months, BattleTech’s setting is now firmly into its ilClan era. If you haven’t been following the advancing timeline, then the start of a new era is a great time to get up-to-speed.
While the ilClan era officially kicks off with the ilClan sourcebook and Hour of the Wolf, I think it’s worthwhile to read some of the Dark Age books in order to get more of the context on how the setting got there. The Dark Age has a ton of novels and a decent number of sourcebooks for it though, and I don’t think there’s a need to read everything if your main goal is jumping to the current spot on the timeline. Instead, here are my suggestions on what to read to get caught up.
Sourcebooks
For sourcebooks, the whole Dark Age era can be covered in just two books. These two will give you a complete high-level timeline of the events that happen from the blackout in 3132 through to the invasion of Terra at the beginning of 3151.
Era Report: 3145 This Era Report really represents the point at which Catalyst Game Labs picked up the task of moving the plot forward from where it was left off by WizKids when MechWarrior: Dark Age was abandoned. Luckily, it also covers the blackout in 3132 and the high level events of the setting through its in-universe date at the end of 3145.
Shattered Fortress Picking up where Era Report: 3145 ends, Shattered Fortress covers the events of 3146-3150. Its final piece of information is a fleet of Clan vessels arriving in Terra’s system on 1 January 3151, so it literally brings readers right up to the events that kick off the ilClan era.
Novels
BattleTech’s novels will fill in more details for particular events and characters than the sourcebooks. Where a sourcebook is often written as if it was an in-universe intelligence briefing, a novel is the events as they were observed by its point-of-view characters. Personally, I think this set of six books will do a fairly good job of getting someone up-to-date and ready to read Hour of the Wolf or other ilClan era fiction.
Ghost War This book was the kick off for MechWarrior: Dark Age’s fiction line. It introduces readers to the Republic of the Sphere and the immediate aftermath of the Blackout as various factions try to capitalize on the chaos of the communications breakdown.
The Scorpion Jar Skipping forward over several Dark Age novels, The Scorpion Jar is the next one that I think is a must read. It covers a series of big events for the Republic of the Sphere: the murder of Victor Steiner-Davion, the election of Jonah Levin to the position of Exarch, and the political maneuvering of the Republic Senate.
Sword of Sedition During his life, Victor Steiner-Davion impacted every major nation of the Inner Sphere, so his funeral was bound to be a major affair. Leaders from all over the Inner Sphere are invited to Terra to celebrate his life, and this book does a good job introducing readers to a lot of characters who remain important figures into the ilClan era. It also brings the issues with the Republic Senate to their climax as civil war threatens to break out on Terra during the diplomatic events.
Fortress Republic This novel immediately follows Sword of Sedition. Rather than bringing the leaders of the Inner Sphere together in the pursuit of peace, the events surrounding Victor’s funeral instead showcase the Republic’s weaknesses. The civil war between the Exarch and the Senate culminates in the raising of the Fortress Wall that cuts the core of the Republic off from the rest of the Inner Sphere. This novel also covers the aftermath of First Prince Harrison Davion’s death with Julian Davion, Caleb Davion, and Erik Sandoval-Groell all figuring out what their role will be in the aftermath.
A Bonfire of Worlds This novel marks where Catalyst Game Labs picked up the fiction line again. It is also a sprawling book that covers events spanning several years and multiple plot threads. The two big story lines in it are Tucker Harwell’s imprisonment by ComStar and the fighting between the Lyran Commonwealth and Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon.
Rock of the Republic The final Dark Age story that I think is an important read, Rock of the Republic covers the return of Devlin Stone. It opens with Tucker Harwell finding and waking him up, and then progresses through his return to power and bringing the Republic forces remaining outside of the wall back under his control. I didn’t like the degree to which the Republic portion of the story relied on characters being stupidly stubborn or the seemingly instant forgiveness for open rebellion, but it does lay out the fault lines between major republic characters that end up feeding into their actions during the battle for Terra.
#BattleTech #DarkAge
