BATTLETECH
08611
SHRAPNEL,
Fragments From The Inner Sphere
CREDITS
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
L. Ross Babcock III
Senior Editor
Donna Ippotito
Editor
C.R. Green
PRODUCTION STAFF
Production Manager
Jordan K. Weisman
Art Director
Jeff Laubenstein
Book Design
Jeff Laubenstein
Cover Art
Jeff Laubenstein
Layout
Dana Knutson
Todd Marsh
Jim Nelson
Typesetting
Patrice A. Jones
Assistants
Tara Gallagher
Jonathan Marcus
BATTLETECH, Battlemech, Mech are Registered Trademarks of FASA Corporation. Copyright © 1988, All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. SHRAPNEL is a Trademark of FASA Corporation. SHRAPNEL was published by FASA Corporation, 1025 W. Van Buren, Chicago, IL, 60505
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Jordan K. Weisman
OLD MECHWARRIORS NEVER Ken St. Andre
BLACK CATS CROSS YOUR PATH Tara Gallagher & James Lanigan
THINK LIKE A LIAO Susan Putney
DANCE OF VENGEANCE William H. Keith, Jr.
AND THEN THERE WAS THE TIME… Mark O'Green
DISPATCH Elizabeth T. Danforth & Michael A. Stackpole
LEGION TEAM William H. Keith, Jr.
WHERE LIES THE HONOR William H. Keith, Jr.
NATASHA KERENSKY: A BIOMEDICAL REPORT Tara Gallagher & James Lanigan
PAINTING THE TOWN Mark O'Green
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT Bear Peters
FINAL EXAM Bear Peters
JUDAS BLIND Michael A. Stackpole
CONTRIBUTECH George O'Dahjungle
INTRODUCTION
-Jordan K. Weisman
The BattleTech game, supplements, scenarios, and other related fictional products are all offshoots of an idea that came to me in 1984, when my own imagination was captured by the strong images that the Japanese had created for their animated television series featuring huge, walking battle machines. Though the graphics for these man-like and insect-like monoliths were fantastic, the Japanese storylines still left my Western mind unsatisfied. And so I set off to create my own fictional universe where men used fearsome. 10- or 12-meter tall monsters of destruction called BattleMechs to carry their endless struggles for domination across the stars.
What I wanted was a universe that had a taste of the alien, but that did not contain aliens. As in other science fiction, we produced this effect of strangeness combined with familiarity by changing only one of the basic premises we take for granted in the ‘real world.’ In contemporary society, new technology is automatically superior to what came before. That means a computer that is only five years old soon becomes completely obsolete. It was that premise that we turned on its head for BattleTech.
In the 31st century where our game is set. anything built 200 years ago is dramatically superior to anything that can be produced today. Indeed, many machines and equipment can never be replaced, for the technology to construct or even repair them has been lost as a result of hundreds of years of interstellar war. This single change creates huge societal repercussions in the BattleTech universe, from a natural tendency toward a scavenger society to more subtle effects such as the huge importance of hereditary rights.
In my view of history, a given political situation usually grows out of several hundred years of decisions and actions by numerous individuals rather than as a result of a single person's influence or power. Thus, I rely on historical events to inspire the backdrops of my fictional universes. For BattleTech, I felt that the struggle among the five Great Houses of the Inner Sphere and the ideal of restoring the glory of the Star League era were analogous to the fighting among the Roman city-states after the fall of Rome. This analogy helped us flesh out our history because I wanted all the sides in the fight to be shades of gray, as opposed to a conflict between good and evil.
House Kurita is a good example of what I had in mind. Though the enemies of the Draconis Combine may consider them to be bloodthirsty, war-hungry maniacs, the Kuritans have their own history, background, and motivations as well as their own perception of who they are. The same goes for House Davion, whose rulers may show up as knights in shining armor or conniving double-crossers, depending on who you talk to. We try to see that each book is written from the fictional point of view of someone in the 31st century. That means players must always pay attention to who is providing the information and then add the appropriate grain of salt.