Piranha Games revealed MechWarrior 5: Clans today, a new stand alone MechWarrior game coming to PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles next year. MechWarrior 5: Clans, while retaining the MechWarrior 5 designation, represents a transformative step forward in the MechWarrior 5 franchise. MechWarrior 5: Cl...
Piranha Games revealed MechWarrior 5: Clans today, a new stand alone MechWarrior game coming to PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles next year. MechWarrior 5: Clans, while retaining the MechWarrior 5 designation, represents a transformative step forward in the MechWarrior 5 franchise. MechWarrior 5: Clans linear campaign will be an evolution of gameplay and storytelling in the MechWarrior series, experienced from the perspective of Clan Smoke Jaguar in the pivotal conflict known as the Clan Invasion starting in the year 3050.
It was bound to happen, given how the timeline advancement worked in MW5:Mercs. The story covered the Third and Fourth Succession Wars (2866-3025 and 3028-3030), the typical starting point for Battletech before the lore, politics, and tech get too complicated. The Clan Invasion (3049-3052) is the most iconic part of the timeline, I think.
I live to talk about Battletech, so hmu if you've got questions!
Sarna.net is the very good wiki for the BT universe.
They are indeed, to a degree, though it basically never comes up. There is an illustration of a Pleasure Circus in the A Time of War RPG companion book with a catgirl. I screenshotted my copy of the PDF here.
The mods are described on page 53, "functional tail and mobile ears".
3132 Devlin Stone retires, and then still-unknown forces break the HPG network across the Sphere, and things fall apart. This is where the old Dark Age books and Clickey-tech minis come in when WizKids took over the license from FASA and did a time jump. Since then, Catalyst took over and is still filling in the gaps.
War starts again. The Draconis Combine invades FedSuns. Wolves and Jade Falcons attack Tharkad. Alaric Ward becomes Khan of Wolf. And somehow, Devlin Stone Returned.
The Republic of the Sphere has a still-unexplained bullshit technology called The Wall that blocks jump ships from entering their space.
3151 Wolves under Alaric Ward and Falcons under Malvina Hazen figure out how to get last The Wall and race towards Terra to defeat the remnants of Republic of the Sphere. An ilClan is declared, fulfilling the goal of the original Clan Invasion.
That's where we are.
Your main sourcebooks are Era Report:3145, then Shattered Fortress, and lastly IlClan.