When the Free Worlds League shattered in the fires of the Jihad, hundreds of worlds found themselves loyal to no one — provincial guards and planetary militias defending their homes as the great banners fell around them. The Non-Aligned Worlds are the League in its fractured hour, every planet its own frontier.
The Free Worlds League was always a confederation more than a nation — a mosaic of proud provinces held together by the Captain-General and Parliament. When that center collapsed during the Jihad and the League fragmented into rival successor states — Oriente, Regulus, Tamarind-Abbey, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, and the rest — a great many worlds fell into the gaps between them, aligning with none. These non-aligned worlds stood on their own: governed by local leaders and defended by planetary militias, provincial guard formations, and whatever BattleMech assets a world could keep running once the central military ceased to exist. Their forces reflect the League’s deep and varied industrial heritage — Irian and Earthwerks machines like the Hermes, the Falconer, and the venerable Orion, maintained and fielded by defenders fighting for their own soil rather than any distant flag. This is the League at its most granular and human: no grand strategy, just communities determined to hold their homes through the most chaotic years in the realm’s history — until the reunification of the Dark Age era gathered many of them back under the eagle. To field the Non-Aligned Worlds is to command the fog of a shattered great power: resilient local defenders with a rich design pool and everything to protect.
Why command the Non-Aligned
Because you field the League’s independent heart — planetary militias and provincial guards defending their own worlds with the deep, flexible Free Worlds design pool but none of the central command. For players who love defensive, home-soil scenarios, local color, and a force with real underdog grit, the non-aligned worlds are a characterful command.
Continue reading & collecting
Field Manual: 3085 and the Jihad-era sourcebooks (including the Jihad Hot Spots series) chronicle the League’s fragmentation and its scattered defenders, while classic House Marik material grounds their heritage and machines. The Master Unit List builds a legal Free Worlds force for the fragmentation years, with Force Packs fielding League designs.