BattleTech Lore & History - Star League Civil War: Operation CHIEFTAIN (MechWarrior Lore)

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

This is the big one. 70 minute runtime so bring snacks. Spread the word. Hope to see you all there.

[@fredlandry6170]

Hell yes! Thank you I’m ready for Operation Cheiftian.

[@chronosschiron]

good job im quite impressed by the work you and your team have done here 10/10

[@thekaiser3815]

Your work and the work of those who have helped you has inspired me in my own writing. I can't wait for the clan invasion.

[@SulliMike23]

Looking forward to it.

[@ricardomachado6718]

Hi Sven. May I ask when the next chapter is coming? Love your hard work. My compliments and thanks for your videos!!

[@yourseatatthetable]

Looking forward to it. And congrats on breaking 10k subs, it's quite an achievement, though considering the work you've put into these presentations, it should be much higher.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you Your Seat, I appreciate you saying so.

[@AcidiFy574]

​@@SvenVanDerPlank Sven if you want to get the whole HomeWorld franchise of RTS games, it's currently on sale in GOG

[@theshi3152]

Came here for command and conquer Videos end up watching Battletech.. i see this as an absolute win!

[@cm3291]

I’d be all for you making these twice as long.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Nice in theory maybe, but in practice it means you get half as many videos. We'd never get to the more recent events otherwise.

[@cm3291]

@@SvenVanDerPlank or we'd get the same amount but they'd take longer ;). In all honesty stick to whatever schedule you're comfortable with, your content is great and worth whatever wait is necessary

[@deejaykindred7029]

This episode makes me long for a RTS Space battle game centered around the Amaris Civil war. Think a Homeworld type game with all this rich lore or a Total War type with naval and ground battles with a sub game of grand strategic overarching the entire inner sphere and periphery. An old 80’s kid can dream…

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I would love that. I think there is a rich potential in the BT universe for all sorts of games, not just MechWarrior. Hope we'll see some in the future.

[@deejaykindred7029]

@@SvenVanDerPlank thank you by the way for all these. They’ve been getting me through a rough stretch this winter..

[@jamesperkins191]

There might be a mod for Stellaris?

[@fedesur7261]

Yes

[@fedesur7261]

@@jamesperkins191 no a 3d space battle rts like homeworld

[@Hasteaguy]

My absolute favorite campaign of the setting, and y'all put in the quote from the Marines at Carver V! Very fuckin cool. Love this series. Thank you all for all the love you put into this.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It was too good a quote not to feature in some capacity. And you're welcome.

[@driftpirate7234]

Nice you got Fritz to help out!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It was great to have him onboard for the project. He's been very supportive. I've been watching his vids on and off for years now (never played a TT game but I've learned so many tactics from him and an understanding of how all the different pieces come together) so it was nice to get to work with him on this.

[@driftpirate7234]

@@SvenVanDerPlank Because his channel is so much tactica and is more of a podcast I feel it is very underrated. If you play the tabletop and you havent watched his videos, you need to do your self a favor and look him up.

[@herobrineharry7698]

28:06 you can tell the writer said “make this guy abysmal. Make him punchable. I want people to reflexively rip out this picture from the book.”

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

He's going to go on to become one of the best wartime leaders of any nation during the 1st Succession War. Still a complete bastard.

[@Inignot12]

Fantastic work Sven and and all the guest voices. I'm so ready for the liberation video.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Cheers. The Battle for Terra is proving to be very difficult to put together in editing so it might take a few more weeks yet. Hopefully I can get the last two chapters out (or at least finished) in March.

[@lexington476]

Maybe because I haven't read so much about the liberation of tara, I didn't know there was this much detail in all of the books anyways regarding the Civil War.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

There's a crazy amount of detail written on this specific conflict. There's a full list of sources in the description and probably others besides.

[@pacmanpolarbear]

This series is amazing! Can't tell you how impressed I am. Bar none the best series on Battletech history to be found anywhere. If these were audiobooks I'd buy them all! Congrats!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Really glad you're enjoying it. A couple folks have asked for audiobook versions of just the talking to download. I'm gonna to post them once I finish this current series.

[@lexington476]

Oh you just gave me an idea for the next long drive I have, start at the beginning of the playlist and let it run 😎.

[@lexington476]

​@@SvenVanDerPlank yeah that would be easy you join together the audio portions into one giant MP3 file.

[@gryphon3241]

my guy, i feckin LOVE the way you format this stuff. normally i youtube while gaming, but with this series i just settle down with a hot drink and watch, because i find i cant focus on anything else at the same time lol

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. I'm pleased to hear I'm able to keep your attention, especially when it's such a long video. Glad you're enjoying them.

[@Gregnier]

This is am AMAZING series. I'm still in awe. I wish i had an established channel so i could help with VO. :)

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Well give it some thought. YT can be a fun creative outlet. You might find you enjoy it.

[@Steven-dt5nu]

Great presentation. Old School Battltech fan! RPG, table top and read most of the novels. Not too many in the Dark Age time period. I also like how you got other Yourubers of Battltech to help. Nice touch. I hope you can take this up to the present timeline.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

That's the long term goal, though it's definitely a multi-year project. I would love to bridge the gap through the Jihad and Dark Ages (that most folks aren't interested in) so that people can jump into the ilKhan era without the requisite reading. Glad you enjoyed the video. You may have already seen them, but there dozens more BT Lore videos on my channel that you might enjoy.

[@Steven-dt5nu]

I have watched all of your historical Battltech videos. Very good.

[@jefferynelson]

everyone involved in this series has a right to be proud of their work

[@oldmandeath]

As always, loving it! This has been an amazing time going through this history, I know all your hard working is showing.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. Glad you're enjoying the videos.

[@MrTony1995]

I've just recently found the Battletech universe, and its quite intriguing to me, and you are a big part of my understanding of the universe, due to your outstanding work, and I thank you for it. To be honest, I quite like the concept of the Star League in this universe, a loose political union that basically uses overwhelming force to maintain a sense of stability, granting an unprecendented development of mankind. To be honest, despite all its flaws, it meets a tragic end. For all the sins it commited, the Star League brought more good than bad to the Inner Sphere and the Periphery.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad I could introduce you to some of the history. It's a question of "do the ends justify the means?" For most folk the Star League was a great time of technological progress and relative piece. It came at the cost of rampant imperialism and over a hundred million dead civilians. Then corruption at the heart of the League allowed for the continued exploitation of the periphery people just so the Inner Sphere could get rich.

[@fredlandry6170]

I have always loved the Battletech Universe.

[@thegunslinger8806]

Golf claps to all the collaborative forces in this docu series, excellent work as a whole and I can't wait for that landing on Terra moment and the eventual ending of it all with Amaris being, drawn, quartered and executed by firing squad for his crimes against everything.

[@dilanbrinkley3587]

I honestly can't wait for the long play extended director's edition of the complete history playlist!! LOL

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Well, we're past the 5:30hrs mark now. At some point along the way I seemed to say to myself, "just how ridiculous can we make this thing?"

[@dilanbrinkley3587]

@@SvenVanDerPlank considering the sheer amount of history involved, I'm sure Battletech could give Peter Jackson a run for his money

[@Ikuconodule]

I binged all of these videos in a bit over a week my man. What an incredible series. Waiting warmly for what you've got to come.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the series. Next long video is taking some effort to get right but hopefully it'll be out by the end of the month.

[@fzyturtle]

this is excellent work, and really deserves much better distribution!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you thought so. It can be tricky to get spotted on YT sometimes. If you know anyone else who you think might enjoy it be sure to share it with them.

[@1987MartinT]

While I like to see the unit insignias on the map, to keep track of where they are, I understand why you didn't do that as much in this video. With the sheer number of units involved in the Star League Civil War, the map would become extremely cluttered. I just hope I'll be seeing the unit insignia more when you start covering later conflicts. Also, bravo on managing to make the video this concise. Because, this video could easily have ended up 16 hours long while still leaving stuff out. Getting it to a bit over 1 hour, while still making it this comprehensive is amazing.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It would have been overload to try and show every unit, especially with how dense all the systems in the Hegemony are. The sources aren't as comprehensive on who was where as the Reunification War series I did or the upcoming First Succession War. I know at least the Army responsible for each world, and in many instances the specific Corps, but I could never show the whereabouts of everyone at once even if I wanted to.

[@1987MartinT]

@@SvenVanDerPlank Yeah. It would have been insane. You wouldn't even be able to see the map under all the unit insignias. At least that won't be a problem with the following wars.

[@lexington476]

Thanks for doing this, you shine a light on an area of the history that I thought I knew well, apparently I don't. Your production and audio quality is excellent, and it's really cool you getting in other battle take KZbinrs.

[@ebla83]

Thank you very much for this! Excellent work by all!

[@adammorey9882]

This was great 👍

[@poprune]

Very nice video on an interesting Battletech lore period, can't wait for a conclusion to this saga

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Two more chapters in this series; the Battle for Terra and the final years before the Exodus.

[@harbingerx7793]

Great work as always Sven! I realy, truely appreciate these great history lessons. Now I just need to remember to pass on my thanks to the guest speakers.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you as always.

[@LmC_Gh0STjt]

that was great!! congrats for rhe 10k!

[@MortalCoil64]

Mate, thank you so much for taking the time to make these videos! I honestly like your style (treating it like a ken burns documentary) than others. The visuals are also spot on too!

[@yourseatatthetable]

Turned out great.

[@robertwainwright3425]

❤❤❤❤ love this history thanks to you and the contributions of the other creators

[@merlannin2108]

Congrats on 10k! I'm excited to continue watching awesome battletech content!

[@Donnergraf]

This video deserves so much more than 22k views. Hope it gets there

[@verysilentmouse]

Love your work

[@nemamiah7832]

Just starting to discover your channel and your videos. Absolutely stellar work, mate!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series.

[@blackspade1]

Absolutely amazing.

[@Fenris77]

Thanks for yet another truly awesome lore video. Love the detail as well as to cooperation from other KZbinrs with the same fire for Battletech.

[@lorefox201]

congratulations incredible video!

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Another great video as always!

[@Alex-ip1dn]

Thank you everyone who contributed to the video! Awesome job Sven

[@omidm.935]

At 38:49, the audio says "OPD" but the on-screen text reads "Office of Doctrine & Policy"

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. For a moment there I worried I might have been wrong all dozen times I've said OPD. The Office of Policy and Doctrine is correct so I'll change the text.

[@omidm.935]

@@SvenVanDerPlank No problem! Completely unrelated, but how did the Taurians feel about this?

[@connorflaherty175]

Kerensky’s counterattack is about to begin.

[@fredlandry6170]

It’s time to bring the pain to Amaris!

[@derekburge5294]

Wonderful work! Particularly love the indepth coverage of the drone ships and STS.

[@Dracobyte]

What a great video you have made!

[@coreystockdale6287]

Ah more crimes of the no no word. I love battle tech lore

[@captainteutonica5474]

Longform content is my Favorite form of content.

[@helmutschindler3363]

Really great!

[@nameless9573]

Love your series keep it up

[@doorcf]

And people think kerensky might've been able to fight off the successsor lords after this

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Post Civil War, I have a hard time believing the SLDF could defeat more than one Successor State, and the other four would immediately pile on to whatever was left. Would have been mutually assured destruction for anyone he went after. They had numbers on their side but that would have dropped off fast. The industrial base within the Hegemony is wrecked and the populace of whatever realm he attacked would have quickly turned against him.

[@mathewkelly9968]

Yeh not a chance , but he wasn't wrong in thinking leaving would save alot of bloodshed

[@watchm4ker]

@@SvenVanDerPlank In that, you also have the reason why it would have been pointless to try - indeed, why there wasn't a chance of ANY Star League being reformed for long: The Terran Hegemony was the keystone that held everything together. The Camerons were never going to conquer the galaxy by force, and putting them in charge meant that the First Lord wasn't going to use the SLDF to settle scores and beat the other states into oblivion. They could be trusted to hold things together. The same couldn't be said for ANY other of the houses, and without a common ally to unite behind, no stable Star League government was possible.

[@Dirt1061]

Amazing work!!!

[@AGS363]

Good to see the portraits of the noteworthy SLDF fighters. But those patches on their uniforms are...unsettling.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I did think about editing them out but folks either know already or they don't so thought it best just to leave it. I'm trying to include either the founding Khan or saKhan from every clan, though in a few instances it's their parents who get name dropped.

[@wiaf8937]

having big red introducer us to the video made me so confused. i had to doubletake i am infact watching the Sven van der Plank video i clicked upon :D

[@MOrab46019]

What is your next big thing to cover in Battletech?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I'm just continuing on through the timeline so the First Succession War is next. Don't think anything else will ever be as long as the Fall of the Star League series though.

[@aethelfrithofbernica]

WAIT NO I THOUGHT THIS SERIES WAS ALREADY FINISHED FUUUUUUUUU

[@omidm.935]

I noticed the subtitles don't always line up with what is said (though they capture the same idea). I am curious as to why this is. Do your guest narrators reword the script? For that matter, do you send them the script, or do you ask them to write something about a certain subject?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

A few folks like to do their own stuff but around 3/4 of the guest segments are written by me and then tweaked by whoever is talking to fit their own style. I go into such specific fine detail in this series that it can be tricky for people to find something to talk about that I haven't already got in my own script. If you point out any errors in the subtitles I can correct them.

[@ImperatorScientia]

It's been great having a centralized source of detailed Battletech lore--thank you! How far do you plan to go with the timeline?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Long-term I plan to go through the entire thing right up to the ilKhan. Goal for this year is to finish all the early history and reach the 31st century.

[@GUMMRUCHK]

Being in the infantry in the world of BT just seems like absolute shit I mean it is kinda shit now but the enemy now doesn't have Mechs swiss cheesing whole platoons with machineguns.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

There's a reason they call them Poor-Bloody-Infantry.

[@Tom_Cruise_Missile]

Goddamn why wasn't this recommended

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It can be tricky to get noticed on YT in this day and age. Hope you enjoyed the video. If so you can always help promote it by sharing it with any of your friends who might also find it interesting.

[@Tom_Cruise_Missile]

@@SvenVanDerPlank hell yeah I did, I've watched all the others as they came put

[@Archangelm127]

Just FYI, "nike" is pronounced "nye-kee." It's a goddess from ancient Greece, I think. Superlative work as always! ❤

[@lexington476]

Depends on where you're at, they pronounce it like that in Europe 🙂. If you really want to go mad look up how they pronounce Adidas in Europe 😀. 'merica 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 😎.

[@richmcgee434]

Pronunciation varies, as noted - but no matter how you say her name, she's the goddess of victory.

[@inuboy867]

Any chance of a link to get these awesome images, especially the warship art?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

They're scattered across a great many sourcebooks. Was there any specific one?

[@inuboy867]

@@SvenVanDerPlank Any, I love the Ship art the most.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

@@inuboy867 Well you can find most within either TRO 2750 or 3057 Revised. There are a few more scattered throughout other books but those two cover around 90% of the WarShips.

[@ArchangelGregory]

The Penetrator Legend is Christofer Archer if Archers Avengers.... rresistance fighters in Lyran space against Kathrrine (i forget the names if the books but Archers Avengers might be one)

[@ricardomachado6718]

YYYYYYYAAAAAHHHHH

[@thecode0]

Every single BT KZbinr it seems has covered star league, age of war, the clans peacing out it would be nice to get something for the other eras I never hear about Jihad, dark ages, republic of the sphere, il Kahn, ect

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I would like to see more content for later eras too but I'm committed to working through the timeline linearly. I'll get there eventually.

[@thecode0]

@@SvenVanDerPlank I look forward to when you get there, thanks.

[@omidm.935]

The subtitles at the 21:00 mark aren't working

[@anthonyvogel9328]

I had a question about clan ghosts bear? Has ghost bear crest change from invasion to Ilclan?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Yes and no. They still use the same classic sigil to identify the Warrior caste of Clan Ghost Bear, but they had a different variation for the Occupation Zone and later Rasalhague Dominion. That's beyond my area of familiarity with the lore though so not sure.

[@mathewkelly9968]

Never liked the Mariks/FWL now I know why

[@fredlandry6170]

I’m not a big fan of House Marik I love House Davion and House Kurita.

[@watchm4ker]

To be clear, Kenyon Marik wasn't a terrible leader - he ended up being one of the better rulers during the 1st succession war, low though that bar might be. The problem was that the Star League was coming apart at the seams, and while Kerensky was a strategic genius, he was just a passable politician. Keyon hated Kerensky personally, but the FWL had no intention of leaving the Star League, until it was clear the League had been dead for years.

[@Fanatic808]

@@watchm4ker to be clear the star league would not have happened without house Mariks involvement.

[@watchm4ker]

@@Fanatic808 Nor would it have happened without Ian Cameron. It's a pity that Ewan and Richard had proved to be catastrophically awful leaders.

[@lucassmith4524]

Hey, how come you havnn't put GrimDark Narrator on one of these videos? He does a lot of Battletech Content

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

No reason. I felt I had enough folks involved already to see the project through to its end. I just reached out to the channels I knew. I'm sure there are many good BT creators out there I've not heard of. Open to working with others in the future.

[@nicholasrecord6502]

I wonder if Hollywood doesn't want to make a quality Battletech movie because it shows feudalism working positively and they want to control the political model in movies at this current time in America. This series gives me chills.

[@Fanatic808]

Amaris did nothing wrong and Alexander leaving the inner sphere only made things worse.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Nothing controversial about either of those statements, lol.

[@Fanatic808]

@@SvenVanDerPlank oh you want controversial okay. Kerenskys sons were better men than Alexander himself. Especially Nicholas I mean he made the clans.

[@lorefox201]

you want CONTROVERSIAL? the star league did nothing wrong with the reunification wars. That war unified the inner sphere against a common "enemy" and destroyed several well known pirate dens.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

100,000,000 dead Pirate dens destroyed Mission Accomplished

[@Fanatic808]

@@SvenVanDerPlank 100 million? Those are rookie numbers big guy