Continuing alternate timeline stuff I developed during my stint with a particular company. Here are timeline notes for BattleTech’s story year 3151, developed as background for a now-abandoned project.

The complete timeline, which was developed prior to the book in order to set up the backstories included therein, was provided to writers during the solicitation. This way, context was provided for their writing prompts. This working timeline was a collaborative effort as I relied on the support knowledge of three other prominent writers of the line at the time.

Suffice to say, this isn’t official any more as it became obsolete the moment I resigned from the company.

This is the last year I sketched out for the project’s timeline. Enjoy a glimpse into BattleTech’s 32nd century, as I envisioned it.

3151

[Jan] Unable to stop the Wolf juggernaut, Stone appeals to Alaric to make the battle for Terra more of a Tukayyid-style series of engagements, with five battles on five continents. Former Exarch Jonah Levin commands the five battles, but the Republic only wins one. During the Wolves’ celebration, Devlin Stone challenges Alaric for the right to be the Exarch, and wins in a battle of wits that places him as the “Cameron” to Alaric’s “Kerensky.” Alaric declares himself ilKhan by right of conquest.

[Feb] Malvina arrives at Terra and challenge the Wolves. Many of her Falcons do not share her attitude and are clearly uneasy at challenging the ilClan, not to mention their growing dissatisfaction with Malvina’s leadership. Battle is joined on Terra [with Stone and the RAF as part of Clan Wolf’s touman, fighting alongside the Wolves because they recognize how bad a Malvina victory would be and because the Wolves are, frankly, weakened by the events of the past two years] and Alaric ekes out a narrow victory over the Chinggis Khan. In her madness, Malvina threatens something really violent and destructive [mass civilian sterilization? Elimination of unnecessary population centers? Mass murder, simply because she’s clearly insane at this point?]. Later that evening, she is confronted by Cynthy, who threatens Malvina with a pistol. (The girl overheard the insane threat and something in her mind snapped back to reality. She decides to take Malvina’s life.) Malvina scoffs at the girl, who pulls the trigger. The shot is poorly aimed and shatters Malvina’s femur. The Chinggis Khan kills Cynthy with a backhanded strike that breaks the girl’s neck.

Realizing the imminent danger facing the Clan if Malvina carries out her threat, a Galaxy Commander goes to confront the khan and instead finds Malvina bleeding out on the floor of her stateroom. There is no confrontation, no exchange of words. The GaxCom simply blocks the door and watches Malvina die from blood loss. An immediate Clan Council confirms the saKhan as the new Khan, who quickly opens dialogue with Alaric, surrendering the Falcons to the ilClan’s control.

[Feb] Alaric and Stone hammer out a temporary agreement of control and process. The ilKhan then takes Alpha Galaxy and the Falcon’s leadership, and heads to Tukkayid to confront the Council of Six.

[Mar] The new RAF/Wolf (hereafter “League”) forces reassemble and slam into a handful of BÀO​YÌNG worlds, handily ejecting the defending CCAF even as Daoshen prepares to invade Terra.

[Apr] Though the Wolves and Falcons support Alaric’s claim to the ilKhanship, the rest of the Council of Six Clans objects, citing Alaric’s parentage and questionable Bloodname. [Which isn’t questionable after all: Katherine provided proof to Alaric that Vlad actually used Ward genes as the matrilineal parentage, combined with the Katherine/Victor mix. He did it knowing that if his experiments with such mixes actually succeeded, he would need genetic legitimacy.] But Alaric also has a trump card. Digging around in the Jihad-era archives on Terra, Stone and his people have uncovered evidence of a great scam. During the war, documents purporting to show that the Word of Blake derived from descendants of Clan Wolverine who had found shelter within ComStar centuries earlier were instrumental in getting the Ghost Bears (and eventually the other Clans) deeply involved in the fight against the Word… and it was all a lie. The documents were a long-term fabricated plot by ComStar.

[Dev note: This is information that the Sharks eventually ferret out as their Watch infiltrated the Republic’s intel services over the last several decades, of which the Co6 covered up rather than admit being duped.]

But that’s not the part that Alaric is concerned about. Stone’s evidence proves that the Council of Six Clans has known all about the falsity of the Word/Wolverine connection since shortly after the end of the war and covered it up lest they be embarrassed at having been manipulated by a bunch of Spheroids. Using this as leverage, Alaric pressures the Council into accepting him as ilKhan.

[Dev note: Look at it this way: the whole Wolverine debacle is just a thorn in the Warrior Caste side. It not only shows how fallible they are, it also proves that rebellion against them can be successful. Being played look boobs will definitely have a lower caste effect that’ll be noticeable. Dark Caste/pirate activity in the various Clan zones would go up, especially the Bears. It’s a historical embarrassment for a ‘nation’ that’s literally built on the Clan flavor of patriotism. The biggest aspect is that the Bears just want the whole thing to go away. This then creates a situation where the Wolves, Horses and Bears vote in favor, leading both the Foxes and Ravens to vote the prevailing way, even if they’re less concerned about the Wolverine revelation.]

Alaric will force the issue with the thinly veiled threat that he will start destroying Clans that don’t see things his way. (i.e. “Next year, I will return to the Council of Five and request your decision.”) By this stage, he might have the Falcons willing to play along, and the Horses might even sing his tune, but the Bears, Ravens, and Foxes might pay heed to the fact that they’ve never really stood up well to Wolves on a tear.