BattleTech Lore & History - Second Succession War: Marathon Offensive (MechWarrior Lore)

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#battletech #lore #mechwarrior BattleTech Lore & History is a series by Sven van der Plank that covers the history of the #innersphere and Periphery within the #battletech universe. Presented as a #documentary from the year 3025, the videos cover in detail major events such as the Age of War, founding of the #starleague, #reunificationwar, the Golden Age, #starleague Civil War and the four #successionwar.
Support the Channel: / svenvanderplank
A very special thank you to Jason from the Gaming Ambience channel. His mixes have helped my productivity in uncountable ways over the years. Many a video has been scripted while listening to their work. They very kindly allowed me to use some of those tracks here. Please give them some love: / gamingambience
Galaxy Map created from the Sarna Unified Cartography Kit (SUCKit) provided by Volt, colour added by Sven van der Plank.
Blank map available from Sarna: www.sarna.net/wiki/BattleTech...
Maps used in videos available at: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Sourcebooks Referenced:
House Davion: Federated Suns (1623)
House Kurita: Draconis Combine (1620)
House Liao: Capellan Confederation (1624)
House Marik: Free Worlds League (1622)
House Steiner: Lyran Commonwealth (1621)
The Periphery (1629)
The Star League (1630)
ComStar (1655)
Handbook: House Davion (35024)
Handbook: House Kurita (35205)
Handbook: House Liao (35204)
Handbook: House Marik (35019)
Handbook: House Steiner (35001)
Handbook: Major Periphery (35203)
Era Report: 2750 (35222)
Historical: Reunification War (35231)
Historical: Liberation of Terra Vol.I (35232)
Historical: Liberation of Terra Vol.II (35233)
Historical: Operation Klondike (35230)
Historical: First Succession War (35235)
Historical: Second Succession War (35236)
Field Manual: SLDF (35251)
Field Report 2765: AFFS (35FR010)
Field Report 2765: CCAF (35FR008)
Field Report 2765: DCMS (35FR009)
Field Report 2765: FWLM (35FR011)
Field Report 2765: LCAF (35FR012)
Field Report 2765: Periphery (35FR013)
Jihad Hot Spots: Terra (35205)
Further references from www.sarna.net/ - Thank you to the Sarna.net discord for additional support: / discord
BattleTech belongs to #catalystgamelabs and Topps.
Art from HBS Battletech and MechWarrior 5 belong to Harebrained Schemes and Piranha Games respectively.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst soundtrack by Solar Fields: solarfields.com/
MechWarrior 5 soundtrack by Sean Kolton: www.seankolton.com/samples
Steiner font by Pixel Sagas: www.fontspace.com/steiner-fon...
Additional unit and faction insignias by:
Awesome Autocrat: www.deviantart.com/alchetbeac...
Flieger: bg.battletech.com/forums/inde...
Punakettu: www.deviantart.com/punakettu
Stacalkas: www.deviantart.com/stacalkas
Viereth: www.deviantart.com/viereth
Additional art/videos by the artists and photographers of www.pexels.com/
Barış Türköz
Cliford Mervil
Felix Mittermeier
Igor Mashkov
Jeff Nissen
Jol Acen
Pixabay
Putra Kusuma
Waldemar
0:00 ComStar Subterfuge
2:30 Death of a Legend
4:47 Marik Heirs
6:11 Marathan Offensive
9:56 Mixed Fortunes
10:56 Concordance Rebuilt
11:42 Stubborn Defence
12:21 Holding the Line
13:49 Spinward Advance
14:45 Redrawing the Borders
16:23 Ruins of Robinson
18:59 Outro

Пікірлер: 158

@Runningfromtheredqueen 2 ай бұрын

"Maxwell would not be the last Marik to be inducted into the ComStar order." Ah, sweet, sweet foreshadowing...

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I like to set up future events whenever I can. Next time there's a not-so-subtle nod to the Wolf Dragoons. Likewise, I think I described Amaris looking at the approaching SLDF as "Kerensky and his pack of wolves."

@mkang8782 2 ай бұрын

It's really a shame that you hardly ever hear about Charles; his standing up to Comstar does make him a legend.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

One of my favourite things to have come from making this series is discovering these characters from the early history and bringing some much needed attention to them.

@lorefox201 2 ай бұрын

"you did it, you defied comstar!" "i did..." "what did it cost?" "... everything." press F

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

But he won our hearts. And that's worth something

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

"Better to die on your feet than live on your knees." -Emiliano Zapata, Terra, early 20th Century

@Grotonomus 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlankGlory to Marik!

@spychain 2 ай бұрын

The great and terrible thing about the BT universe and lore is how accurate it would be to how humanity would be in the same situations. As much as we would think such horrific losses of life and whole planets/systems would shake them to their cores and they'd come together to put an end to all this, humanity would push on thinking that just a push further, just a month longer, and they'd win against their rivals and reign supreme. Thank you for putting together these wonderful videos all this time Sven.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I'm with you. Sometimes I wish the timeline wasn't just constant warfare, but I understand that the idea behind the series is that war is such an inherent trait of humanity that the more we expand, the odds of a war approaches a mathematical certainty.

@bull614 2 ай бұрын

I hate to say it, but war is one thing that humanity is very good at. I agree with both of you. I mean look at the losses of WW1 compared to previous wars. The death tolls just keep going up as we find new ways to kill ourselves. I fear what will be "acceptable losses" in future wars. Battletech hits pretty close to my worst fears in that regard.

@spychain 2 ай бұрын

@SvenVanDerPlank At least if you want to see something positive in the setting, it's that humanity is tenacious and willing to come back from anything thrown at it. The only faction I've felt is truly nihilistic in the setting is the Blakists, but that was from being driven to the absolute edge in regards to indoctrination and the actions of others.

@spychain 2 ай бұрын

@@bull614 That's understandable. When it seems like you have hundreds of worlds that can act as a buffer between you and your inner core, military doctrine can skew towards "acceptable losses" to grind down an enemy or straight asset denial, as the Houses have done.

@MM22966 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank One thing that occurs to me is that when humanity is spread over hundreds of worlds, using WMD or fighting a war until everything on a particular world is a blasted ruin doesn't have the same emotional or cultural significance as when the whole species is just on one planet.

@merkarion7883 2 ай бұрын

Moral of the Story...as a Mercenary never Trust the Draconis Combine...

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I'm sure their behaviour will never come back to bite them in the future.

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

Always have a plan for when your employer f*cks you over. (Not "if." When.)

@ebla83 2 ай бұрын

Agreed.

@Szoki86 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank can you imagine what would happen if Kuritans ever piss off an extremely influential veteran mercenary group with enough regiments of mechs to be considered an actual army on their own? Man, that'd be something.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

@@Szoki86 Obviously they would never be that foolish.

@jasonfarley9025 2 ай бұрын

I 100% agree with you on Charles Marik. He might not have won, but sometimes not losing is all you can hope for.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

He was going to make sure that Toyama knew what he thought of his plans to usurp control of the Free Worlds, and was prepared to go down with the ship when it came to it.

@Fanatic808 2 ай бұрын

Really loving the series and Godspeed to Charles “Toyama a lil bitch” Marik

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

RIP he's soaring like an Eagle up in heaven now

@SvenVanDerPlank 3 ай бұрын

Slightly shorter episode at only 19 minutes. Coming towards the end now. Ep.12 will bring us to the end of the Second Succession War, and Ep.13 will look at all the changes since the the fall of the Star League.

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

The episodes should be as long as they need to be. No more, no less. ❤

@Siegerzkranz 2 ай бұрын

I think that recognition of genuinely great leaders regardless of affiliation is always worthwhile

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Well I won't shy away from it in the future if I feel someone overlooked from the history is deserving of more praise.

@lexington476 3 ай бұрын

A pregame thumbs up 👍 for the chancellor!

@ceridangitp 2 ай бұрын

I'm just happy to hear the lore presented. Feel free to add in your own thoughts and feelings.

@nono2645 2 ай бұрын

These videos are the highlight of my Saturdays

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Pleased you've been enjoying them.

@BrianBors 2 ай бұрын

"... that the entire Kuritan family was evil beyond redemption." I mean... can you blame them? XD Another stellar episode.

@thomasrose4523 2 ай бұрын

Gotta give mad respect to Charles! Like you said, he had some mistakes and bad decisions... but totally redeemed himself by telling Comstar where they can shove their HPG station lol. Hope you're doing well today Sven!

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Cheers Thomas, all good thank you. Hoping to finish work on the finale in the next couple of days.

@zapdragon23 2 ай бұрын

It's crazy to think that Kenyon Marik is considered one of the FWL's best leaders. It's 100% true but his ambivalence towards the star league's collapse always seems to overshadow this. I think it goes to show that at the time the fall of the star league did not seem wholly negative, and only in hind sight do we now see it for the disaster that it was. That said, by the time he took office the star league was a sinking ship and prioritizing his realm over the Camerons' failing empire may well have been the right choice. p.s. Big Kev's Brigade is now my favorite mercenary unit name

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You're right on Kenyon. He was not a particularly likeable person. Plenty of atrocities carried out in his name. But that was par for the course for his point in history. The way in which he was able to secure his family's control and prevent panic in the FWL, along with his military campaigns which are repeatedly commended by the sourcebooks for their strategic planning and efficiency, means that you've got to respect him for his successes, even if he was a bastard. If you're interested, there's a writeup on Big Kev's Brigade in Shrapnel #9

@zapdragon23 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank This wholes series has given me a newfound respect for a lot of much maligned people and faction's in battletech, from the Capellans to Kenyon. Also hell yeah sources.

@devalk_ 2 ай бұрын

I like the way you present this as an "in universe" history, I like the occasional opinion, as even if mostly in the background, you are a character in your own telling.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I once envisioned the narrator playing a much larger role in this series with some sort of meta-narrative where I'm being hunted by ComStar for spreading info they're trying to repress.

@devalk_ 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank That's cool, will choose to believe this is true going forward

@Autofire-nw5ty 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for teaching me about a universe I’m fascinated with but had no knowledge of until last year.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

No problem. Always happy to introduce folks to some of the deeper lore behind the series.

@thecommuterzombie 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for persevering through the lean times of, "these five planets changed hands." Really looking forwards to you tackling more fleshed out eras in the future.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Well things get even more lean in a sense with the beginning of the 3rdSW, but there we don't have comprehensive lists to map out on screen so it'll fly by comparatively and I'll only be able to discuss the major political events in detail.

@Smeghead76 2 ай бұрын

To quote another noted BattleTech historian: "Kurita's an *asshole* and will *always* be an asshole."

@mcinnisboy 2 ай бұрын

I appreciate the added qualified commentary. This is a fantastic series and your personal input is also interesting (to me at least).

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the feedback. Glad you're enjoying the videos.

@rickusjamesus 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for including Cupric Byzantium even though there is not much info on them in the sourcebook. That was my suggestion that won in the contest back then to be included in the 2nd Succession War book.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Ah, no way. Well congrats on getting your merc unit into the history. Unfortunately, because the unit was destroyed before the war's end, I can't even deduce what battle they may have fought in based on their 2864 deployment, so that one mention of their name is all I've got.

@rickusjamesus 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank yeah, no worries, you really did well to include them despite the minimal info

@sebastiang.5032 2 ай бұрын

This is so brilliant to listen to while painting Battletech minis. ❤

@thomascraiker6449 2 ай бұрын

When you take the gate of Thomas Marik into account. It makes me respect Charles more.

@RouterChain 2 ай бұрын

I wasn't late for this time! Finally! Thanks for this episode,Sven,that is very appreciated.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You're welcome, thanks for being there.

@usauk3605 2 ай бұрын

“May God have mercy on you Kuritan, because I won’t.” Some FedSuns officer from the Draconis March. (Probably).

@michaelpfister1283 2 ай бұрын

Another awesome video. If only we could get US history packaged like this! LOL But in all seriousness, I came into Battletech via Mechwarrior 2, a video game set during the Wolf/Jade Falcon Refusal War. a conflict that was never explained in-game in any way. From that I moved to MW3 and MW4 / MW4:Mercs. THEN I started into Battletech. So my first introduction to the lore was Operation Bulldog and the reforming of the Star League. I never ever heard the beginning of that tale. Nor did I really understand the IS conflicts. But the lore is rich and broad and you do a great job of putting it into bite-sized pieces that are entertaining and digestible. As we move into the ilClan era in the "modern" timeline, understanding these root-level conflicts are important to see how the current state of the Inner Sphere shapes and why the Successor States continue to exist - and be belligerent. Thank you!

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Operation BULLDOG was my first introduction to the series (through MechCommander) so I'm looking forward to one day covering that period of the history.

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

"The entire Kurita family is evil beyond redemption." To be fair, drawing any other conclusion requires a lot of reach. Especially after Quintari. 😕

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Nonsense. They are honourable and righteous. Unlike our... I mean *their* cowardly neighbours.

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank In my humble experience as a (very minor) merc commander, Kuritan "honor" is extremely flexible, and the honorable thing to do in any situation is whatever is most to the personal advantage of the senior Kuritan asshole--er, personage--present. 😕

@byboriusvonbarthowen521 2 ай бұрын

Great work

@shanepecore8833 2 ай бұрын

I love you adding your own take in these characters. Keep it up Sven!

@jasonfarley9025 2 ай бұрын

These are always fantastic. Cheers, as always, for your work.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You're welcome, Jason. Appreciate the support.

@harbingerx7793 2 ай бұрын

Amazing map work sir. Thank you as always.❤

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You're welcome, HarbingerX.

@Vaderi300 2 ай бұрын

I like it, I prefer to see you not hide how you feel about the characters.

@azou5th 2 ай бұрын

Thank you as always for another great video. I do enjoy the post video breakdown, teasers for the next one, and the split screens with artwork. I don't recall ever seeing the longbow or awesome art you put in that were amazing. Can't say thank you enough.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I've recently been expanding my art gallery after a couple people quite rightly criticised me for over-relying on the HBS artwork. I added another 40 pieces to my collection.

@azou5th 2 ай бұрын

@SvenVanDerPlank well, keep it up good sir

@darylmolinejr.6166 2 ай бұрын

I did love your input on the characters. Though I would suggest keeping it clearly an opinion. Thanks so much.

@Eddthompson 2 ай бұрын

I like it when you through in your opinions. You seem to focus more in FWL. But I that is good to me since I was more a Davion or Steiner fan. With my first faction being DCMS until I read Decision at Thunder Rift. I hope you eventually go past the initial Clan invasion. But you have done a great amount of research.

@toxictoast6599 2 ай бұрын

I think after watching the series, Charles Marik has become of my favorite Marik's of the setting. It was very interesting watching his journey to, and then from paria to champion.

@entr0physt 2 ай бұрын

I thought the subjectivity added something. Also, poor Albert

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Albert is much maligned unfortunately. One of the chief architects of the Star League, victor in two Andurien wars but also an accomplished diplomat who wanted to make peace.

@jefferynelson 2 ай бұрын

leaving a comment to support this content creator

@christopherperrote7780 2 ай бұрын

I always think of him as "Canyon" Marik, since he led the Free Worlds League into ruin from such heights

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Haha, that's brilliant. Think of it this way. Charles was on a mountaintop, and he could see a taller mountain across the valley from him, but the only way to reach it was to go down first. But he persevered and struggled out the other side.

@thomasrose4523 2 ай бұрын

Quite late to the party, but pumped for more BattleTech Lore!

@Nerve_Check 2 ай бұрын

Thanks! I have been enjoying the series. It is nice when you add your personal observations, only caution would be to note it. Something like, "Personal observation....".

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Thank you Ray for the donation and for the suggestion. No-one has raised any issues with including an occasional personal comment on events or characters, so I'll probably do as you say. Glad to hear you're enjoying the videos.

@Nerve_Check 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank... Instead of "Personal Observation... " you could also say "Historians remarks..." depending upon how you want the video to be perceived as a 3025 historical record, etc.

@tillerzeit 2 ай бұрын

The political coups comstar had with house Marik during the time of the 2nd succession war kinda help paint the picture as to why the Word of Blake would have their start in their territory. Yes Charles did his best to defy this but it's kind of inevitability that he'd lose but hats off to him still

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Well the business with Jeanette and Charles was just the first instance of ComStar messing with the Free Worlds League. There are several more cases before Thomas and the Word of Blake that lay the groundwork for that later disaster.

@dutchduke8864 2 ай бұрын

I’ve always been curious how mech units get their equipment to start. It seems with the great houses scrambling for anything they can get their hands on, there wouldn’t be scraps laying around to start with.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Do you mean Merc units? Many of them start as ex-regulars who took their 'Mechs with them. A lot are salvaged from the battlefields and put back into service by ingenious techs among the mercenary groups. But you do hit upon an important point. Vast majority of mercenaries are running inferior tech because they don't have the connections the Great Houses do to their manufacturing base. Only the very large well established and proven units can negotiate for new materiel directly.

@punkypink83 2 ай бұрын

I think what I'd love when you've eventually covered all these notable events are character videos, i.e. a lore video roundup of Charles Marik's life. hell you don't even have to wait till you've done all the lore vids covering events and history. You could intersperse character vids between event episodes, putting character vids alongside their respective eras that you're covering the history of. and of course, part of the fun of being in a fandom is hearing what people think about certain characters. i found out just yesterday another BT YTer thinks phelan kell and tara campbell are traitors and it was a very interesting and fresh perspective to gain, so yes, i'd love to hear more of your opinions about characters in the BTverse

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

It's potentially an idea for later eras once we reach the start of the novels. Not really possible for this early stuff because pretty much everything we know about them comes second hand from the sourcebooks and almost every detail makes it into the videos already, at least for the most significant people of the era like heads of state.

@punkypink83 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank i can't wait for the 50 hour long video on victor ian steiner davion 🤣

@marsar1775 2 ай бұрын

I cant say i blame the draconis march for their opinions after what kurita repeatedly forces them to endure. If i were in their shoes, id probably have long lasting traumas myself. As for Marik, i agree with you. Up to the comstar war, he was a top notch leader. and only a top notch leader could keep the realm from falling apart under the disastrous conditions of said war. One can hope history is kind to him on a personal note, the Sappho system... :) I simply must pay a visit. With some friends!

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Because you're a big fan of poetry, of course?

@marsar1775 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank Of course :)

@bthsr7113 2 ай бұрын

Checking all three WMD boxes on one world, eh, Kurita? Nasty.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

The word you're looking for is "Efficient." Davion had ample opportunity to retreat offworld if they really cared about the civilians as they claimed.

@reecedignan8365 2 ай бұрын

If Big Ken’s Brigade isn’t a Scottish one IDWLITSA Also good episode mate and as with every draconis warcrime, the words “Remember Kentares” should always be reminded

@SootShade 2 ай бұрын

I'm with you, Charles Marik definitely became my favorite successor lord. Unlike the others, he actually put up a real fight against Comstar.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I don't think he was necessarily the only one to have the backbone to make a stand had it come to that, but fate put that decision in his hands and by god he was going to go through with it.

@SootShade 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank Perhaps. But when it actually happened, the only thing that the others, including ones not directly hostile, thought of was how to take advantage of the Free Worlds League. It didn't occur to them to take the chance to even test Comstar. And in every other instance, when push came to shove, the successor lords have quickly backed down from any confrontation with Comstar. If some of the others had as much backbone as Charles, or even the good sense to direct some effort into investigating Comstar's activities, I don't think the telecoms wizards would have gotten away with half their schemes.

@ebla83 2 ай бұрын

Sven, excellent work as always! I only got to this today as I was busy yesterday when it debuted. Do you accept paypal?

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I was sure you were at the last two premieres but twice now I've seen a comment from you saying otherwise. No need to apologise, ebla. I don't have a PayPal set up for donations so don't worry about that.

@ebla83 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank once spring and summer comes I am busy outside all day.😎

@michaelman957 Ай бұрын

Charles Marik has an amazing arc.

@SvenVanDerPlank Ай бұрын

His story was am unexpected highlight of making this series.

@Arnesio 2 ай бұрын

Gotta admit I'm a FWL fan, Purple Bird Strong!

@jasonfarley9025 2 ай бұрын

I like a little personal editorialisation. I would go with, "in the opinion of this historian".

@Archangelm127 2 ай бұрын

That is the accepted phrase, yes. And it works very well. :)

@stephenknizek2651 2 ай бұрын

So Charles Marik is the chad yes meme?

@GalmLead 2 ай бұрын

Honestly, hearing all of this is going to leave me highly eager and fascinated to see what happens to Thomas Marik. I know there's references to something happening to him, considering his ties to ComStar, but after getting into the BATTLETECH's deep lore through the books, I am morbidly curious to learn more, but I only learned about it through the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy. No, I never read any of the books from before the Clan Invasion, and the reasoning for that is I personally feel that the BATTLETECH universe starts getting REALLY interesting going into that era.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Thomas is one of the big mysteries of the setting. I'm interested to learn the whole story myself as only in the latest book I read are other people discovering that something isn't quite right. Unfortunately, I learned many years ago, before I started getting into the lore proper, where it all ends up. I'm trying my best in this series to foreshadow future events but without giving any spoilers for people who want to read the books themselves.

@GalmLead 2 ай бұрын

@SvenVanDerPlank That's fair. If I didn't know any better, I almost feel like the Word of Blake has something to do with it, given Thomas's ties to ComStar, but I've yet to find out. I'm still finishing up the Twilight of the Clans Saga right now and seeing how Katherine has basically already set the seeds in place for the start of the FedCom Civil War.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You're ahead of me in the books then. I've only just read the Refusal War novels. Did you read the Stackpole books between the Blood of Kerensky trilogy and Twilight of the Clans series? Bred for War ends with character discovering something about Thomas Marik.

@GalmLead 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank I tried to, but I couldn't get my hands on the e-book version of it since I'm getting all mine through Kindle. I understand the outcome of it, but I really am not 100% privy to the details of the Refusal War.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

@GalmLead I also am reading through Kindle, but you might not be aware that you can upload documents to Kindle through the Amazon website. There is currently a Humble Bundle available for the next couple weeks, the highest tier of which includes all 120 BattleTech novels, plus another dozen anthologies for just £24. It's an incredible deal. You can download those in ePUB format and upload them to your Kindle for reading later. Much cheaper than buying direct from Amazon, even if like me you had already picked up a dozen volumes. Only tiny negative is that uploaded documents don't support pageless scrolling, but that's a trivial sacrifice compared to the money saved.

@stefanreiterer6152 2 ай бұрын

There is nothing wrong about adding opinions if it is made clear that they are opinions. Opinions and biases only become a problem if the author tries to sneak them in and present them as truth. All historians have biases, they are human after all, but the good ones know their bias and will tell them to their audience, while trying to objective as possible. The bad ones are those who believe to be 100% objective.

@njreiswig 2 ай бұрын

I think a little subjective commentary is great here and there, and can add a lot to a series. (look at the history of Rome's gradual increase in his opinions on various roman leaders as a good example) If the person doing all the work to collate and organize all this history isn't fit to offer their opinion on what happened than who is?

@Balevolt 2 ай бұрын

Charles Marik is why I play FWL....based mercenaries.

@BruceEverett 3 ай бұрын

This thumbnail gave me a Rush earworm. "It's not how fast you can go...", Geddy sang to the little Urbie.

@blackspade1 2 ай бұрын

I'm totally fine with some minor editorializing. It's not like that's uncommon in any historical text ever written...

@AGS363 2 ай бұрын

Of course is House Kurita the big bad one! And every member of house Davion (and/or Steiner) that forgets this will soon have massive internal problems on his hands. Luckily, both houses have no scions who are that foolish.

@bthsr7113 2 ай бұрын

Are we really going to give Kenyon that much praise?

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

How could I not? He's pretty much the channel mascot at this point.

@MM22966 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank It's the portrait. That unbearably smug portrait. No other "headshot" in BT sourcebooks is quite like it.

@Femerenden 2 ай бұрын

As we are coming close to the end of the second Inner Sphere "First Lord of the Star League" sports outing I am kind of wondering what is the state of the Periphery states. How did they cope with the changes to their situations since the whole affair started and where are they now. I imagine that the Magistracy is not yet rolling in the kind of money that they want and the Taurians don't have yet reached a point that would satisfy their "get off my lawn" outlook and the Outworlds alliance is probably shatterred to pieces by now.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

We know very little about their time during the 2ndSW unfortunately. I very briefly touch on them in the finale but we only have a couple of numbers regarding planets abandoned and military losses without getting any real stories behind those figures. I'm not sure when the Magistracy started to recover, but if I remember correctly, the isolationist paranoia ramps up in 3017 with Protector Thomas Calderon, though obviously it's been a hallmark of the Taurian Concordat since the Age of War. I just finished writing the script for a video on the history of the Aurigan Reach, from 2870 to 3022. That's going to be the first video I do after this series concludes.

@azou5th 2 ай бұрын

They pretty much stay to themselves and are peripheral, pun intended, to the great houses. They were for the most part wiped out from reunification.

@MM22966 2 ай бұрын

Soaking up refugees, getting attacked by/adding ronin units (merc or regular), and slowly losing worlds as Jumpship traffic trickles off and contact is lost.

@narkokid 2 ай бұрын

I see tukkayid. May 20th intensifies. (Yes early I know)

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Tukayyid is just farmers and a religious commune at the moment. Maybe it'll have some other significance in the future... 🤔

@gavinsmith9871 2 ай бұрын

Ya know the more I hear about House Kurita the more I don't care for them.

@michaelthomas5433 2 ай бұрын

Mariks get it done.

@MM22966 2 ай бұрын

Draconis March taking it on the chin again....

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

They've been kind of hopeless throughout most of the history so far. Pretty much every confrontation with Kurita going back to the Second Hidden War they've come out worse. Something is obviously gonna change in the 3rdSW because their border is quite a bit further out by 3025.

@jameskallend4874 2 ай бұрын

why do most of the random portraits of characters from the battletech narrative look like the random people you see in photos in a dollar-store picture-frame?

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Which ones? There only recent pics that show up in this series are Blake and Toyama from the Liberation of Terra series. Whoever did the portraits in those used an uncanny valley approach of placing what to me look like real faces on drawn bodies. Nothing else in the series looks quite like that. The small circular portraits come from the 1986 boardgame, which explains the the fairly primitive look to them.

@loreman2803 2 ай бұрын

I see now why theres the joke about Kurita and war crime. Tbh it almost calls to the Kuritan idea of looking backward to move forwards and channeling First Succession war into this world

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

I think the idea behind that expression was to look back at what didn't work to avoid repeating it in the future. Miyogi obviously interpreted it differently.

@loreman2803 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank I think he got stuck in Moth logic and enjoyed the pretty lights 😂

@MM22966 2 ай бұрын

I always remember reading for the first time "Wolves on the Border" and the chapters on Quentin. How blasted and used up the world was after centuries of Kurita aggression, to the point there was a local merc unit, the Snake Stompers, formed specifically to fight the Kurita, and how OVERJOYED they were at the chance to fight the all-red mechs of the Sword of Light, even at the price of their lives.

@loreman2803 2 ай бұрын

@@MM22966 damn thats metal AF, I hope when I get to playing i can encounter someone painting their merc like that

@mathewkelly9968 2 ай бұрын

To be fair to the Sandovals are way better than the Haseks

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Honestly... you betray the Federated Suns to the Capellan Confederation *one time* and suddenly you're the bad guy.

@demonicjapsel 2 ай бұрын

another episode full of Cappie L's sad :(

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

You really are not going to enjoy the next one if that's what you're concerned about.

@thecommuterzombie 2 ай бұрын

That depends entirely on your point of view 😜

@seanbumstead1250 2 ай бұрын

Illithian lancers not rangers

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

No, the Illician Rangers are a regiment of the Illician Lancers mercenary brigade.

@Cyberfender1 2 ай бұрын

I wonder how many worlds are uninhabitable were created and how many non combatants have paid the price in comparison to warriors LOST? Seems like, even is fiction history, mankind is bent and total annihilation. 4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4 :1-3

@pieresteinbach 2 ай бұрын

i feel like your skimp;ing on the quality of delivery and detail in this series. Fatigue has certainly settled in for you. But it feels glossed over. these guys siezed this. they siezed that. theirs no details about who or where these people came from. Slow down. flesh it out.

@SvenVanDerPlank 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the feedback, but I would highlight a problem I've run into that maybe isn't obvious from a viewers perspective. The sourcebook loves to tell us these grand stories about individual battles (sometimes of little importance), but most of the time, especially in the latter half, it gives us a list of planetary names and the years they changed hands. That's frequently all I have to work with. The final 15 years of both the First and Second Succession War sourcebooks were guilty of this same issue. They give you an absolute ton of detail about early events and then it just regresses back to a list for the latter half of the war. Both times I have been aware of the fact that the series starts to drag towards the end and I lose a bit of excitement. It is precisely because I have slowed down and fleshed it out so much as you suggest, that I feel compelled to list every little thing we know, even when that's just a list of planetary names, which doesn't make for a particularly engaging video at times. The solution then is to make cuts across the board to maintain a faster pace throughout, or just accept that these terrible long conflicts ground us down as much as they did the people fighting in them. Or at least that's how I see it.

@BK2207 2 ай бұрын

@@SvenVanDerPlank I agree with you that unless stories, other sourcebooks and novels comes out to expand on it, some prime sourcebooks can be skimping on a lot of details for what actually happens. Like it or not, early Succession Wars era isn't as fleshed out as the Reunification War or Amaris Civil War ended up getting. Heck, even the Brush Wars sourcebook had more details in my opinion. This makes me wonder on how the Third Succession War will be as a potential project for you. After all, outside of some campaigns that escalated, it is mostly a long series of minor raids and skimishes with a rare few regimental level planetary assaults at best. Weird thing also, the end of Third Succession War may be more fleshed out - as the major leaders and heroes of the original setting do made their mark by then - with a lot of the original sourcebooks providing plenty of information for it. I know you are doing your best Sven, but I understand how much the lack of informations from official sources can impair when compared to previous works. At least, it won't be as bad as the Blackist Purge - no one have still a good idea on what the hell happened then - if you are crazy enough to take a dive on it.