Factions & Powers
- Inner Sphere
- The vast, settled core of human space surrounding Terra, divided among the Great Houses and contested for over a thousand years.
- Great Houses
- The five ruling dynasties of the Inner Sphere — Davion, Steiner, Marik, Liao, and Kurita — each commanding a Successor State.
- House Davion
- Rulers of the Federated Suns, known for elite armored cavalry and the New Avalon Institute of Science.
- House Steiner
- Rulers of the Lyran Commonwealth, a mercantile power famed for heavy and assault 'Mech formations.
- House Marik
- Rulers of the Free Worlds League, a fractious confederation of provinces in the spinward Inner Sphere.
- House Liao
- Rulers of the Capellan Confederation, masters of espionage, propaganda, and the Maskirovka intelligence service.
- House Kurita
- Rulers of the Draconis Combine, a militaristic society blending feudal honor with absolute loyalty to the Coordinator.
- ComStar
- The quasi-religious order that controls interstellar communication via the hyperpulse generator (HPG) network.
- The Clans
- Descendants of the Star League Defense Force who returned from exile with superior technology and a warrior caste society.
- Periphery
- The lawless, resource-rich frontier states beyond the borders of the Inner Sphere.
- Mercenaries
- Independent military units that hire out their services, the freelancers of the BattleTech universe.
- Word of Blake
- A fanatical ComStar splinter faction whose Jihad plunged the Inner Sphere into devastating war.
Units & Technology
- BattleMech
- A towering humanoid war machine, 20–100 tons, the dominant weapon system of the 31st century.
- MechWarrior
- The elite pilot who commands a BattleMech in battle.
- OmniMech
- An advanced Clan 'Mech with modular pod space, allowing rapid reconfiguration of weapons in the field.
- Lance
- An Inner Sphere tactical formation of four BattleMechs.
- Star
- A Clan tactical formation of five 'Mechs or other units.
- Battle Value (BV)
- A points system used to balance forces of differing capability for fair play.
- Heat
- Waste energy generated by movement and weapons fire; manage it with heat sinks or risk shutdown and ammo explosions.
- PPC
- Particle Projection Cannon — a powerful energy weapon firing a stream of charged particles.
- Autocannon
- A rapid-fire ballistic weapon (AC/2 through AC/20) trading range for raw damage.
- Gauss Rifle
- An electromagnetic mass driver delivering massive damage with almost no heat.
- LRM / SRM
- Long- and Short-Range Missiles — indirect and close-in missile systems fired in racks.
- DropShip
- A spacecraft that ferries 'Mechs and troops between planetary surface and orbit.
- JumpShip
- An interstellar vessel that travels between star systems via a Kearny-Fuchida (K-F) jump drive.
- Aerospace Fighter
- A dual-environment fighter operating in both atmosphere and space.
Eras of History
- Age of War
- The era of conflict among the emerging Great Houses prior to the formation of the Star League.
- Star League
- The golden age of a unified humanity (2571–2781) before its collapse into the Succession Wars.
- Succession Wars
- Centuries of total war among the Successor States that shattered technology and depopulated worlds.
- Clan Invasion
- The 3050s campaign in which the Clans surged toward Terra, upending Inner Sphere warfare.
- FedCom Civil War
- The early-3060s conflict that tore apart the Federated Commonwealth alliance.
- The Jihad
- The Word of Blake holy war (3067–3081) that engulfed the entire Inner Sphere.
- Dark Age
- The post-Jihad era following the collapse of the HPG network and the rise of new powers.
- ilClan
- The latest era, in which a single Clan claims the mantle of the Star League and the road to Terra.
Game Terms
- Total Warfare
- The core rulebook governing the Classic BattleTech tabletop game.
- Alpha Strike
- The fast-play ruleset for large-scale battles using simplified unit cards.
- Record Sheet
- The data sheet tracking a unit's armor, structure, weapons, and damage during play.
- Tonnage
- A unit's mass class, determining its speed, armor, and weapon capacity.
- Technical Readout (TRO)
- A sourcebook cataloging the 'Mechs, vehicles, and equipment of a given era.
- Initiative
- The roll determining which side moves and fires first each turn.
- Critical Hit
- Damage penetrating armor and internal structure to strike a component directly.
- Salvage
- Battlefield wreckage recovered and repaired — the lifeblood of mercenary commands.