Universe



The Mech20 Universe is not the standard Battletech Universe.  There are no Houses, no Clans, no timeline of aggression or successor states that you would know.  The M20 Universe is a blank sleight waiting to be developed by new players of a new system.

As we started to envision our Universe, we decided on a few basic truths upon which to base the history of our setting:

  • Time (in a scale of years) is irrelevant in this Universe.  Many millennia ago, Humans spread across the stars, bring their walking war engines to conquer everything they saw.  Since those days, countless Human empires have risen and fallen, countless revolts and grand emperors and dark ages have plagued the Universe.  This campaign takes place at  a time where order is certainly lacking, and older technologies are widespread.
  • Common knowledge has been decided by Humans, as they are the dominant race in the Universe.  Humans breed faster, are more industrial and more adaptable than other races, leading to their gradual dominance of everything they encounter.  Coupled with a racial sense of manifest destiny and a healthy amount of xenophobia, no single race could stand a chance against Human aggression, and it was not noticed by most races until long after other races could organize against them.  Therefore, the stories people know as fact are based on the Human perspective, as all other perspectives belong to civilizations long subjugated.
  • Playable races are for the most part, Humanoid.  There are many species in the Universe – thousands of sentient races – but the only one that matter are those can pass for Human under armor.  Being xenophobic, Humans consider creatures that look different to be either “pets” or “threats”, depending on how easily they are controlled by Humans.  Some races, including the SSS’Dal, have genetically forced evolution of their people to be more Human-like in an effort to survive.
  • Widespread technology has not advanced in recent recorded history.  Mechs and their standard weapon systems were developed thousands of years ago by early Human empires and current Mechs are basically built on the same technology.  While there are many more advanced weapons that have been developed over the years, their technology has been either hoarded or lost to time, and is not available on the market readily.  SRM’s made 40 years ago may have used the same blueprints as SRM’s made 400 years ago.
  • Because Mechs have been basically unchanged for so long, spare parts and common components are easy to find and free to any that know how to use them.  While Mech training is time consuming and can be expensive, components – from Machine Guns to PPCs – can be acquired as an easy upgrade, if a Mech’s frame can support it.  This also gives civilizations without major resources, such as local warlords and cults, access to Mech technology.
  • There is no centralized government in the Universe, just a series of warlords.  While some warlords control enough systems and have been around long enough to claim a legitimate right of succession, most governments have been established in recent history.  Currently, the Mercantile Cooperative of Planets claims to be the governing body in the Universe, but they barely touch half of the civilized planets in the Universe, and control less than a quarter.  That still far outreaches any other warlord (most of which control barely a world or two).
  • There are many religions, but only one universal belief.  Despite numerous local deities and mystics, many of which are legitimate with divine powers and miracles to lure the non-believers,  only one religion permeates all levels of society, the Heavenly Kingdom of Stars.  There is no centralized church in the HKoS; it is a collection of devoted planets and cults with a similar belief: “Technology will fail, and only those who believe in the light will survive the darkness”.
  • Not all technology is Mechanical.  While most Mechs are 100% mechanical, some races have adapted other technologies – including biological, psychic and bionic.  Additionally, there are creatures out there that are large enough to damage a 100 ton walking battle platform.  In this Universe, Mechs are not limited to things drawn up in corporation think tanks; some things are more magical then mechanical, but all things must work with a very specific set of rules.

There are, of course, plenty more rules to be added to this – footnotes on the path of making a history – but these are some of the first.

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