2108
The Terran Alliance Ship (TAS) Pathfinder uses the Kearny-Fuchida drive
system to make the first hyper-spatial jump. For the first time, humans are
able to travel almost instantaneously from the Sol System to the Tau Ceti
System, 3.46-parsecs away. Massive interstellar space colonization begins.
2271
The Treaty of Marik is signed, signaling the formation of the Free Worlds
League and declaring its independence from Terra. The League is the first of
the Great Houses, each of which will ultimately control hundreds of worlds.
Within a century, four other powerful planetary alliances will also declare
independence from Terra and the Terran Hegemony government. These
states will become the star empires known as the Draconis Combine,
Federated Suns, Capellan Confederation and Lyran Commonwealth.
2398
The Age of War begins when a territorial dispute between the Capellan
Confederation and the Free Worlds League erupts into a shooting war,
touching off bloody conflicts across the Inner Sphere. Attempting to contain
the escalating violence, the House leaders create the Ares Conventions,
which legislate the conduct of warfare and turn it from mass destruction into a
strategic and controlled exchange of stylized feints and counter feints.
Ironically, this controlled and surgical approach to conflict allows war to
become a means of resolving even minor disputes.
2439
The Terran Hegemony unveils the BattleMech, irrevocably changing the face
of war. Derived from mining IndustrialMechs, BattleMechs demonstrate
exceptional mobility and adaptability to diverse environments as compared to
conventional armored vehicles. Their ability to mount a full array of
conventional and energy weapons along with the latest defensive armaments
further enhances their battlefield capabilities. Within thirty years, the rest of
the Houses have stolen Hegemony schematics to build their own. The
BattleMech becomes the undisputed king of the Battlefield.
2571 - 2751
Ian Cameron, ruler of the Terran Hegemony, culminates decades of tireless
efforts ”including brilliant diplomacy and carrot-and-stick tactics ”with the
creation of the Star League, a political and military alliance between all of the
Great Houses and the Hegemony. Star League armed forces immediately
begin the twenty-two-year era of hostilities known as the Reunification War,
bringing the recalcitrant Periphery realms into the Star League fold by force.
For the next two centuries, humanity experiences a golden age, an era of
unprecedented peace and prosperity, where technology—both civilian and
military—flourish. It also saw the creation of the greatest military army that
humanity had ever seen. The League eventually falls to internal strife, with
nearly every subsequent war being fought in an effort to re-establish the Star
League.
2766 - 2785
In 2766, Stefan Amaris of the Rim Worlds Republic launches a coup, declaring
himself First Lord of the Star League after murdering the entire Cameron
family. General Aleksandr Kerensky, commander of the Star League Defense
Forces, starts a thirteen-year war to unseat the usurper. Kerensky succeeds,
but the rulers of the Great Houses cannot agree on a new leader. The Star
League High Council is dissolved in 2781.
Rather than watch the Star League for which he fought so hard crumble,
Kerensky departs known space with eighty percent of the SLDF in 2784. The
event is later known as the Exodus—an apparent attempt to salvage the
heart and spirit of the Star League. Within the year, the Great Houses
savagely attack one another in the first of the Succession Wars. These
conflicts will last for over 200 years.
3028
The marriage of First Prince Hanse Davion of the Federated Suns to Archon-
Designate Melissa Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth unifies the two largest
states in the Inner Sphere. The newborn Federated Commonwealth
immediately launches the Fourth Succession War, conquering more worlds in
two years than in all the wars of the previous two centuries.
3050
A mysterious invading force strikes the coreward region of the Inner Sphere,
attacking the Federated Commonwealth, Free Rasalhague Republic and
Draconis Combine. The invaders, called the Clans, are the descendants of
Kerensky’s SLDF troops, forged into a warrior society dedicated to
becoming the greatest fighting force in history; their goal is to capture Terra
and re-establish the Star League. With vastly superior technology and
warriors, the Clans conquer world after world until troops belonging to
ComStar—the quasi-religious organization that controls all communication
within the Inner Sphere—halts their advance in the pivotal Battle of Tukayyid.
The truce signed after that conflict stops the Clan advance for fifteen years.
3059
To better fight the Clans, the leaders of the Inner Sphere create a new Star
League. Apparently united once again after centuries of warfare, the members
of this fragile union attempt to end the Clan threat once and for all. The new
Star League Defense Force targets the most aggressive Clan—Smoke
Jaguar—for destruction, pushing them out of their Inner Sphere occupation
zone and following them to their Clan homeworld, where they are utterly
destroyed. Having proven their martial prowess to the Clans, the SLDF troops
meet the Clans on their own capitol world of Strana Mechty and challenge
them to a Trial of Refusal (a Clan ritual that uses a military engagement to
repeal and/or abrogate a previous decision or action) against their very
invasion of the Inner Sphere. The Clans lose.
3063
With the threat of the Clans diminished, the Houses of the Inner Sphere once
again look to one another as ancient enmities flare anew. The Capellan
Confederation conquers its errant Commonality, the St. Ives Compact, while
allying with the two largest Periphery realms—the Magistracy of Canopus and
Taurian Concordat, a turn of events that lead to the Confederation becoming
notably strong for the first time in centuries. An errant Combine unit attacks
Clan Ghost Bear, igniting a war between the Bears and the Draconis
Combine. At the same time, the fabulously powerful Federated Commonwealth
(FedCom) shatters under the weight of greed and aggression; a full-fledged
civil war begins between the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns across more
then eight hundred worlds and a thousand light years.
3067
At the end of the FedCom Civil War, the various leaders of the Inner Sphere
realize and admit that their new Star League was simply a political maneuver
to be used against the Clans. They dissolve the League. Almost immediately
the Word of Blake zealots—a reactionary splinter group from ComStar—
unleash a jihad against the entire Inner Sphere.
3071 - 3081
Devlin Stone escapes from a Word of Blake Re-education Camp and slowly
builds an army to push back against the Word of Blake. The battles are fierce,
and Stone’s forces win victory after victory. With each new success more
warriors flock to his banner, speeding victory and final triumph. The honor and
respect accorded Stone among the general populace across the Inner Sphere
is unprecedented.
With a new vision of how the Inner Sphere can rebuild itself—and a huge
following of military and civilian personnel from every faction in the universe—
Devlin Stone asks for and receives control over all worlds within a 120 light-
year radius of Terra, whether by treaty or by force. Splinter groups within the
Capellan Confederation reject the ceding of worlds to the Republic, and for
several years engage in skirmishes aimed at retrieving ancestral planets.
Peace otherwise begins its reign.
3081 - 3129
Under the guidance of Devlin Stone, the Republic of The Sphere is born. The
hatreds and contentions of centuries are subsumed into the greater good, as
key elements of populations on a number of worlds are resettled in an attempt
to end the factionalism of the past. Decades pass, and a new generation is
indoctrinated into this new philosophy—a whole generation that knows only
peace and is insulated from the rest of the Inner Sphere.
One of the prime tenets of the new society is the decommissioning of the
majority of BattleMechs and a retooling of the wartime economy. People are
motivated to turn in their BattleMechs and other machines of war through
programs including financial and federal incentives including the receipt of
Republic citizenship. As the Republic’s prosperity booms, the rest of the
Great Houses follow suit until BattleMechs have become exceptionally rare
except among the military or the propertied nobility. Given the limited demand,
the ability to build their specialized fusion engines becomes limited as well.
3130
Devlin Stone announces his withdrawal from public life. He swears that he will
return if ever the Republic, or the rest of the Inner Sphere, needs him—then
he vanishes.
3132
Hyperpulse Generator Alpha Stations around the Republic and throughout the
Inner Sphere suffer attack from without and sabotage from within, effectively
ending interstellar communications for 80% of all populated worlds. No group
takes responsibility; no clues point to a single perpetrator. Tensions heighten
between political and social factions, each suspecting the others of
responsibility for the communications breakdown. Fighting breaks out where
social pressures reach critical mass. To compensate for the rarity of military-
grade BattleMechs, many groups and governments mount IndustrialMechs
with weaponry and use these machines in combat. A new battle for control
begins, threatening the very existence of the Republic of the Sphere.
3134
On November 26, Paladin Victor Steiner-Davion is murdered. This event sets
in motion an investigation that leads to the discovery of a plan by nearly half
of all Republic senators to identify and groom young warriors in an effort to
improve their chances of being chosen as knights of the Sphere, thus setting
them on the path toward paladinship and eligibility to be elected as exarch.
The ultimate goal of this far-sighted plan: for the Senate to control the
Republic of the Sphere by controlling the exarch.
3135
In April, Exarch Jonah Levin addresses The Republic, officially dissolving the
Senate in the face of that body's refusal to submit to an external review of its
members' actions.
Former knight and newly elected Senator Conner Rhys-Monroe leads Senate-
backed forces against Republic troops on Terra. In the most critical battle, the
Senate coalition forces are defeated by Republic troops working with units
pledged by the Federated Suns, prompting a majority of senators to flee Terra
and regroup elsewhere. Many knights are forced to choose between their duty
to The Republic and their loyalty to their home worlds.
1 October: Exarch Jonah Levin addresses the Inner Sphere to announce
Fortress Republic, a drastic plan to preserve what can be saved of The
Republic of the Sphere in the face of the chaos created by the Senate
rebellion and the recent incursions of Houses Liao and Kurita into Republic
space. Jonah Levin, the Republic Exarch, offers a final address to the people
of the Republic [Listen to speach]. The borders of Prefecture X are redrawn to
include additional planets, and a warning is issued: no communication,
transport or travel will be possible past that line-into or out of Prefecture X.
Levin promises that The Republic of the Sphere will continue to survive, and
will return to restore peace to the Inner Sphere.The Republic releases
Prefectures I - IX from the Republic control, and expands the borders of
Prefecture X, creating the New Republic. The military forces of the Republic
are recalled to Terra. An edict is issued stating that none shall enter Republic
space or face the most extreme military prejudice and that no contact of any
kind shall take place between the Republic and the rest of known space.
The Terran Alliance Ship (TAS) Pathfinder uses the Kearny-Fuchida drive
system to make the first hyper-spatial jump. For the first time, humans are
able to travel almost instantaneously from the Sol System to the Tau Ceti
System, 3.46-parsecs away. Massive interstellar space colonization begins.
2271
The Treaty of Marik is signed, signaling the formation of the Free Worlds
League and declaring its independence from Terra. The League is the first of
the Great Houses, each of which will ultimately control hundreds of worlds.
Within a century, four other powerful planetary alliances will also declare
independence from Terra and the Terran Hegemony government. These
states will become the star empires known as the Draconis Combine,
Federated Suns, Capellan Confederation and Lyran Commonwealth.
2398
The Age of War begins when a territorial dispute between the Capellan
Confederation and the Free Worlds League erupts into a shooting war,
touching off bloody conflicts across the Inner Sphere. Attempting to contain
the escalating violence, the House leaders create the Ares Conventions,
which legislate the conduct of warfare and turn it from mass destruction into a
strategic and controlled exchange of stylized feints and counter feints.
Ironically, this controlled and surgical approach to conflict allows war to
become a means of resolving even minor disputes.
2439
The Terran Hegemony unveils the BattleMech, irrevocably changing the face
of war. Derived from mining IndustrialMechs, BattleMechs demonstrate
exceptional mobility and adaptability to diverse environments as compared to
conventional armored vehicles. Their ability to mount a full array of
conventional and energy weapons along with the latest defensive armaments
further enhances their battlefield capabilities. Within thirty years, the rest of
the Houses have stolen Hegemony schematics to build their own. The
BattleMech becomes the undisputed king of the Battlefield.
2571 - 2751
Ian Cameron, ruler of the Terran Hegemony, culminates decades of tireless
efforts ”including brilliant diplomacy and carrot-and-stick tactics ”with the
creation of the Star League, a political and military alliance between all of the
Great Houses and the Hegemony. Star League armed forces immediately
begin the twenty-two-year era of hostilities known as the Reunification War,
bringing the recalcitrant Periphery realms into the Star League fold by force.
For the next two centuries, humanity experiences a golden age, an era of
unprecedented peace and prosperity, where technology—both civilian and
military—flourish. It also saw the creation of the greatest military army that
humanity had ever seen. The League eventually falls to internal strife, with
nearly every subsequent war being fought in an effort to re-establish the Star
League.
2766 - 2785
In 2766, Stefan Amaris of the Rim Worlds Republic launches a coup, declaring
himself First Lord of the Star League after murdering the entire Cameron
family. General Aleksandr Kerensky, commander of the Star League Defense
Forces, starts a thirteen-year war to unseat the usurper. Kerensky succeeds,
but the rulers of the Great Houses cannot agree on a new leader. The Star
League High Council is dissolved in 2781.
Rather than watch the Star League for which he fought so hard crumble,
Kerensky departs known space with eighty percent of the SLDF in 2784. The
event is later known as the Exodus—an apparent attempt to salvage the
heart and spirit of the Star League. Within the year, the Great Houses
savagely attack one another in the first of the Succession Wars. These
conflicts will last for over 200 years.
3028
The marriage of First Prince Hanse Davion of the Federated Suns to Archon-
Designate Melissa Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth unifies the two largest
states in the Inner Sphere. The newborn Federated Commonwealth
immediately launches the Fourth Succession War, conquering more worlds in
two years than in all the wars of the previous two centuries.
3050
A mysterious invading force strikes the coreward region of the Inner Sphere,
attacking the Federated Commonwealth, Free Rasalhague Republic and
Draconis Combine. The invaders, called the Clans, are the descendants of
Kerensky’s SLDF troops, forged into a warrior society dedicated to
becoming the greatest fighting force in history; their goal is to capture Terra
and re-establish the Star League. With vastly superior technology and
warriors, the Clans conquer world after world until troops belonging to
ComStar—the quasi-religious organization that controls all communication
within the Inner Sphere—halts their advance in the pivotal Battle of Tukayyid.
The truce signed after that conflict stops the Clan advance for fifteen years.
3059
To better fight the Clans, the leaders of the Inner Sphere create a new Star
League. Apparently united once again after centuries of warfare, the members
of this fragile union attempt to end the Clan threat once and for all. The new
Star League Defense Force targets the most aggressive Clan—Smoke
Jaguar—for destruction, pushing them out of their Inner Sphere occupation
zone and following them to their Clan homeworld, where they are utterly
destroyed. Having proven their martial prowess to the Clans, the SLDF troops
meet the Clans on their own capitol world of Strana Mechty and challenge
them to a Trial of Refusal (a Clan ritual that uses a military engagement to
repeal and/or abrogate a previous decision or action) against their very
invasion of the Inner Sphere. The Clans lose.
3063
With the threat of the Clans diminished, the Houses of the Inner Sphere once
again look to one another as ancient enmities flare anew. The Capellan
Confederation conquers its errant Commonality, the St. Ives Compact, while
allying with the two largest Periphery realms—the Magistracy of Canopus and
Taurian Concordat, a turn of events that lead to the Confederation becoming
notably strong for the first time in centuries. An errant Combine unit attacks
Clan Ghost Bear, igniting a war between the Bears and the Draconis
Combine. At the same time, the fabulously powerful Federated Commonwealth
(FedCom) shatters under the weight of greed and aggression; a full-fledged
civil war begins between the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns across more
then eight hundred worlds and a thousand light years.
3067
At the end of the FedCom Civil War, the various leaders of the Inner Sphere
realize and admit that their new Star League was simply a political maneuver
to be used against the Clans. They dissolve the League. Almost immediately
the Word of Blake zealots—a reactionary splinter group from ComStar—
unleash a jihad against the entire Inner Sphere.
3071 - 3081
Devlin Stone escapes from a Word of Blake Re-education Camp and slowly
builds an army to push back against the Word of Blake. The battles are fierce,
and Stone’s forces win victory after victory. With each new success more
warriors flock to his banner, speeding victory and final triumph. The honor and
respect accorded Stone among the general populace across the Inner Sphere
is unprecedented.
With a new vision of how the Inner Sphere can rebuild itself—and a huge
following of military and civilian personnel from every faction in the universe—
Devlin Stone asks for and receives control over all worlds within a 120 light-
year radius of Terra, whether by treaty or by force. Splinter groups within the
Capellan Confederation reject the ceding of worlds to the Republic, and for
several years engage in skirmishes aimed at retrieving ancestral planets.
Peace otherwise begins its reign.
3081 - 3129
Under the guidance of Devlin Stone, the Republic of The Sphere is born. The
hatreds and contentions of centuries are subsumed into the greater good, as
key elements of populations on a number of worlds are resettled in an attempt
to end the factionalism of the past. Decades pass, and a new generation is
indoctrinated into this new philosophy—a whole generation that knows only
peace and is insulated from the rest of the Inner Sphere.
One of the prime tenets of the new society is the decommissioning of the
majority of BattleMechs and a retooling of the wartime economy. People are
motivated to turn in their BattleMechs and other machines of war through
programs including financial and federal incentives including the receipt of
Republic citizenship. As the Republic’s prosperity booms, the rest of the
Great Houses follow suit until BattleMechs have become exceptionally rare
except among the military or the propertied nobility. Given the limited demand,
the ability to build their specialized fusion engines becomes limited as well.
3130
Devlin Stone announces his withdrawal from public life. He swears that he will
return if ever the Republic, or the rest of the Inner Sphere, needs him—then
he vanishes.
3132
Hyperpulse Generator Alpha Stations around the Republic and throughout the
Inner Sphere suffer attack from without and sabotage from within, effectively
ending interstellar communications for 80% of all populated worlds. No group
takes responsibility; no clues point to a single perpetrator. Tensions heighten
between political and social factions, each suspecting the others of
responsibility for the communications breakdown. Fighting breaks out where
social pressures reach critical mass. To compensate for the rarity of military-
grade BattleMechs, many groups and governments mount IndustrialMechs
with weaponry and use these machines in combat. A new battle for control
begins, threatening the very existence of the Republic of the Sphere.
3134
On November 26, Paladin Victor Steiner-Davion is murdered. This event sets
in motion an investigation that leads to the discovery of a plan by nearly half
of all Republic senators to identify and groom young warriors in an effort to
improve their chances of being chosen as knights of the Sphere, thus setting
them on the path toward paladinship and eligibility to be elected as exarch.
The ultimate goal of this far-sighted plan: for the Senate to control the
Republic of the Sphere by controlling the exarch.
3135
In April, Exarch Jonah Levin addresses The Republic, officially dissolving the
Senate in the face of that body's refusal to submit to an external review of its
members' actions.
Former knight and newly elected Senator Conner Rhys-Monroe leads Senate-
backed forces against Republic troops on Terra. In the most critical battle, the
Senate coalition forces are defeated by Republic troops working with units
pledged by the Federated Suns, prompting a majority of senators to flee Terra
and regroup elsewhere. Many knights are forced to choose between their duty
to The Republic and their loyalty to their home worlds.
1 October: Exarch Jonah Levin addresses the Inner Sphere to announce
Fortress Republic, a drastic plan to preserve what can be saved of The
Republic of the Sphere in the face of the chaos created by the Senate
rebellion and the recent incursions of Houses Liao and Kurita into Republic
space. Jonah Levin, the Republic Exarch, offers a final address to the people
of the Republic [Listen to speach]. The borders of Prefecture X are redrawn to
include additional planets, and a warning is issued: no communication,
transport or travel will be possible past that line-into or out of Prefecture X.
Levin promises that The Republic of the Sphere will continue to survive, and
will return to restore peace to the Inner Sphere.The Republic releases
Prefectures I - IX from the Republic control, and expands the borders of
Prefecture X, creating the New Republic. The military forces of the Republic
are recalled to Terra. An edict is issued stating that none shall enter Republic
space or face the most extreme military prejudice and that no contact of any
kind shall take place between the Republic and the rest of known space.
A Time Line of the Inner Sphere and the Republic
| March 9, 3134 |