Mech Commander 2

Mankind spread quickly, soon populating a region of space more than 1,000 light-years wide: the Inner Sphere. As the human race spread, it brought with it the seeds of war. The conquest of the Inner Sphere led to centuries of petty brushfire wars.

In 2571, humanity earned a respite from the tide of conflict. United under a single governing body, the Star League, the people of the Inner Sphere enjoyed a golden age of prosperity and peace...a peace shattered by a bloody coup in 2766.

As the Star League fractured, each member of the ruling Star League Council declared himself the rightful ruler of known space, each laying sole claim to the Inner Sphere.

The Dawn of the Successor States

At the time of the Star League's collapse, five interstellar empires dominated human-occupied space, with each ruled by a Great House. These powerful dynasties wielded vast military and economic power. To this day, the Great Houses and their schemes and plots dominate the Inner Sphere.

The Rise of the Clans

When the Star League collapsed, the commander of its armies led millions of his soldiers on an exodus from the Inner Sphere, hoping to keep the ideals of the League alive. The descendants of those original wanderers were tempered by harsh conditions, forged by a visionary leader into an unparalleled warrior society: the Clans.

In 3050, the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere, wielding advanced weaponry and superior military skill. The Clans attacked without mercy, seizing hundreds of worlds and striking terror in the hearts of the citizenry.

In 3058, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere joined forces to create the Star League Constitution, a new version of the old and revered Inner Sphere government. The new Star League was created for a purpose, however: to end the threat posed by the Clans.

The New Star League Defense Force targeted the most aggressive Clan for destruction—The Smoke Jaguars—pushing them out of their Inner Sphere occupation zone and following them to their Clan homeworld where they destroyed them utterly. Having proven their martial prowess to the Clans, the SLDF troops challenged the Clans on their own capitol world of Strana Mechty to a Trial of Refusal against their very invasion of the Inner Sphere; the Clans lost.

The Role of the MechCommander

As the most technologically advanced of the Great Houses, the Federated Commonwealth has always attempted, and usually succeeded, to provide its military officers with the best training and equipment. This has led to the finest officer corps in known space and has made the FedCom juggernaut a fearsome opponent. Their latest endeavor to 'push this envelope' has resulted in a new generation of field officers called MechCommanders.

By combining intensive new training techniques that include new top of the line Command/Control/Communications and logistical software coming out of the prestigious New Avalon Institute of Science, the AFFC has created an integrated whole-picture suite of software that removes the logistical burdens of command, allowing the MechCommanders to do what they do best: win in battle.

The first known deployment of MechCommanders was during Operation Bird Dog, which preceded Operation Bulldog—the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Though still rare—the new software and training takes considerable time and resources—these new officers proved their mettle at every turn, confounding the Jaguars, which led to their defeat.

From the Ashes

No one expected the invasion of the Clans to work. Most believed that the Clans would return to the Inner Sphere with Victor's head on a pike. History would prove them wrong.

But while Victor was intent on smashing the Clan threat, his sister—Katrina Steiner, ruler of the Lyran Alliance—usurped Victor's rulership and took control of the Federated Commonwealth.

Katrina used the thinnest of legal precedents to seize Victor's domain, angering planetary nobles and fueling long-suppressed rivalries.

Now, as the kindling flames of civil war spread across the Inner Sphere, friends, families and soldiers of the Federated Commonwealth must choose with whom their loyalties lie.

In the highly contested center of space known as the Chaos March, the inhabitants are used to shifting alliances caused by sedition, invasion, and war.

On Carver V, two comrades-in-arms are drawn into a showdown that will threaten the balance of power and again plunge the planet into war. Desperate for peace, they turn to a mercenary MechCommander...