Inner Sphere

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The Inner Sphere is an region in the BattleTech universe comprised of the space within about 500 Light Years from Terra. It is home to some 2000 inhabited star systems and is the core of human inhabited space. This is on contract to The Periphery and is home to the Five Great Houses, known as the Successor States after the Amaris Civil War, and mankind’s homeworld of Terra that was/is the capital of the Star League and the Terran Hegemony before the latter two collapsed.

The Great Houses

Between the time of the Terran Alliance’s collapse and the formation of the Star League, the majority of political and industrial entities switched from democratic and meritocratic governance to hereditary and technocratic decision making. The fact many planets were also cut off from their capitals in terms of speedy communication until the advent of the HPG (which replaced the more limited KF JumpShip Pony Express) made autonomous feudalism a defining feature in societal hierarchy. You definitely had national rulers who can dismiss or executed treasonous planetary governors at will but they couldn’t be everywhere at once and had to delegate. Additionally abusing their powers too much ran the risk of degrading their country’s functioning or inciting unrest in the form of coups. Out of the multiple Noble Houses that emerged, a handful stuck out in terms of how long they have lasted and how much power they possess.

Successor States

By far, the most powerful and influential Noble Houses are the rulers of the five Successor Stares after the Fall of the Star League:

• House Davion
• House Kurita
• House Liao
• House Marik
• House Steiner

Historical Houses

However, it should be noted that there are other examples of Great Houses who were just as, if not more powerful, but were then driven extinct. More often than not, the involve either a systematic purge, a lack of cadet branches, or having no more heirs to pick up their possessions without indirect marriage.

• House Cameron
• House Marsden
• House Von Rohr

Life in the Inner Sphere

Compared to conventional scifi and other series like Warhammer 40k, the average civilian and soldier’s experience is ironically not too dissimilar to real life. what makes life in the Inner Sphere different is the highest levels of political, industrial, and commercial power (barring a scant few exceptions) are all cemented in the hands of established noble families. Ranging from influential and rich “Old Bloods” to history LARP’ing monarchs, social mobility is much harder. This started with the populace and colonies’s disillusionment with the corrupt elections of the Terran Alliance and was pegged in place after House McKenna (and later House Cameron) made the election of officials a ceremonial activity instead of an actually meaningful contest between multiple parties and candidates.

Powers in the Inner Sphere

Since the collapse of the Star League, the biggest players in the Inner Sphere are the Five Successor States.

• Capellan Confederation
• Draconis Combine
• Federated Suns
• Free Worlds League
• Lyran Commonwealth

But besides them, there's also a few smaller but noteworthy set of nations:

• Free Rasalhague Republic - formed as a buffer state between the Fed Com and the Combine after the Fourth Succession War. Was later merged with Clan Ghost Bear.
• ComStar - sole remaining remnant of the Star League in the Succession Wars. Ran the HPG until the Jihad and Dark Age neuter their powerbase to the benefit of Clan Sea Fox’s hostile takeover.
• Solaris VII - a “neutral” game world with gladiator matches between sponsors MechWarriors, vehicle pilots, and Battle Armor. Any powers to take it tend to just take a cut of the revenue and leave the Stable Masters alone.
• The Clans - After 3050 when the Clan Invasion occurred.
• Word of Blake - reactionary split of fanatics from Comstar. Erupted into omnicidal violence when the Second Star League collapsed; much to everyone else's Regret.