Bruh. I stopped watching the movies when 7 came out and shit all over the fandom, making the prequels look okay. Battletech has become my favorite universe thanks to BPL. I'm going through the books, first 6 finished.
@@gwem1979 Probably more research and consideration for the lore as well. At least Midi-Chlorians only stuck around for 1 episode. Nowadays, we get the fine privilege of watching Mary Sue and Mr. Racial Inclusivity prance about and destroy everything George Lucas built. At least they had the decency to kill Han Solo so he didn't have to watch this shit. I only feel bad about Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin who are all watching this as force ghosts and dying a second time of cringe.
I find it beautifully ironic that Kerensky furnished Blake with an army whose descendants would, centuries later, defend the inner sphere successfully from Kerensky's own progeny
There exists an extra layer of irony in the fact that the legacy of Blake himself also led to...shenanigans, as well. Star League is a crown that _does things_ to the heads that wear it. Not always bad things - there are Camerons that prove that - but Great Father, do we like to talk about the bad things.
Did you ever hear the tragedy of General Kerensky the Just? I'm not surprised; it's not a story the Capellans would tell you... because they don't have schools.
Huh, it just hit me. Tukayyid was the Clans vs Com Star, which was basically two facets of the Star League fighting themselves. Star League vs Star League.
In this corner Christians, and in the opposing corner Muslims! Guest appearing as "the we wish we had an actual referee" their daddy neither one cares to openly admit - Jews! Same thing. Deadly enemies from the same spawning point.
@@willdavis3802 That's not even close. This is more communism vs fascism. Both are forms of socialism and both fighting for which is the true vision of it.
Don't forget Nicholas kerensky grew up on occupied Terra. Growing he would have been fed Amaris propaganda . Stephen Amaris might be one of the silent fathers of the Clans
@@samuelblackthorne9122 Hmm... Diamond Shark merchant could be a sweet gig, but probably as competitive as the warrior caste. I'd go with Ghost Bear scientist or merchant, because most of my skills are academic, and the Bears actually give a shit about their civilians.
Yknow... there's an old anime - Area 88. And it is singularly unique in my personal experience for expanding on a particular curse of soldiers - whether uniformed or mercenary. Other shows - both anime and live action - have shown that war is hell and shown the immediate cost. But Area 88 is one of only a handful that address a particular problem: *That soldiers are often cursed to dream of peace when at war. And to dream of war when they are at peace.* I think that's a BIG part of what happened to the SLDF when they tried to settle down after the Exodus. Thank you for highlighting this - even if indirectly.
I knew of Area 88 from the video game on the Super Nintendo back in the 90's (Released here in the UK as UN Squadron), but I never got to see the anime. Is there anywhere its available online?
As veterans, we dream of peace, because most of us are young, & naive about a great many things. Also, it's our asses out on the two-way rifle range. Then, for those of us who do get back, we are thrown away, & forgotten, because we have secured peace for the citizenry, objectives for our perspective governments, & have outlived our usefulness, & purpose to them. Not quite a hero's welcome, we were promised. We were disposable then, & we are even moreso, disposable, now. At least war make sense. You know someone is out to kill you, & likewise, you are out to kill them. There's a sense of structure, duty, & purpose to this, even under the most bat-shit, chaotic, moments when everything is absolutely FUBAR. The civilian life, of peace, is an undisciplined structural mess at best. At its worst, a passive aggressive shit-show of hurt fee-fees, that lead to mission failure everytime, & with the added stress of not being allowed to zero out the people that desperately need to be dealt with, because laws of civility, protect such useless, & worthless dumbasses lives. I'd prefer Hell, (war) over purgatory (peace) any day. At least there's a chance of having some good clean fun, while getting my hands dirty in Hell.
Eulogy for General De Chevalier (and a warning to all Capellans): The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love.They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide. They are literally killing off who they used to be. Which is why, when forced to take up violence, these Men who wanted to be left alone, fight with unholy vengeance against those who murdered their former lives. They fight with raw hate, and a drive that cannot be fathomed by those who are merely play-acting at politics and terror. TRUE TERROR will arrive at these people's door, and they will cry, scream, and beg for mercy... but it will fall upon the deaf ears of the Men who just wanted to be left alone. General De Chevalier was such man, finally believing the killing fields was behind him, 3500 light years away, those Capellan frackers dragged him back to it against his will. Let he be an example to all those who disturb the peace, let the Black Watch who marched beside him channel this man's fury. Woe to the imbeciles who antagonize the Vetran heroes of the SLDF, the men and woman whom just wanted to be left alone...
Kerensky didn't die of a heart attack, but a broken heart. Everything he'd fought for turned to ash before his very eyes. Battletech, come for the mechs, stay for the tragedies.
I could have sworn I read somewhere that he died from a stroke, probably due to the elevated blood pressure from the stress of dealing with Nickolas's shenanigans.
Resistance fighter minding their own business while blowing away the establishment - [hears bagpipes playing off in the distance] - "I surrender" drops weapon and throws hands up...
Love that battletech is just humans being humans, mankind stuff, pushed to the extreme, but still everything plausible and familiar yet horrific and glorious.
I actually got my grandma hooked to your battletech series. When i told her this was coming out, she cancelled her plans for tomorrow and is waiting...This is gonna be fun!!
BlackPantsLegion I am listening to the whole series again while working to prepare myself for the newest Tex talks battletech. Don’t want to miss anything
@@alericantonelli4656 I heard a longer version somewhere, possibly a battletech/mechwarrior card or book. "Violence is never the the answer, it is the question and the answer is invariably yes"
Clan history 101 Some dudes left, got super nostalgic in deep space, had a war, then went super native, then decided being nice wasn't cool, made a number of fraternity's, and then decided to go back home to show those posers who kicked them out who the cool kids were.
Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht called collect from Space AT&T, He wanted to remind you of the battle of Tukayyid. Hippity hoppity, get of my property.
@@dubuyajay9964 Did you watch Tex Talks Battletech: Battle of Tukayyid? Because perhaps you missed the joke. And I could give two shits about the most recent TROs.
It's not the quantity but the quality and you give the heroes and villains their due respect. Makes me hope you get some more blood on that keyboard of yours.
A quote to start with, when you do the Succession Wars: "But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine. Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge." Kinda fitting.
This is a very good quote to kind of explain the ridiculousness of the inner sphere since the star league's fall. You know how patterns get set by people and history. I think like how from the fall of Rome to 20th century so many were trying to be a Caesar, in the Inner Sphere everyone was trying to be Amaris.
@@PandorasFolly And in both cases, as well as many others, people had learned the wrong lessons from history. People wanted to become Caesar, forgetting that Caesar was ultimately betrayed by his friends and rivals and was stabbed to death. People want to be Oda Nobunaga, but he was betrayed and killed by one of his vassals shortly before he could succeed in uniting all of Japan. The Great Houses want to be Amaris, but forget that Amaris was ultimately defeated and overthrown within his own lifetime, and had little time to enjoy his conquest since he had to spend years struggling, and failing, to keep what he had taken, and in the process of doing so destroyed Star League and everything that was good in the Inner Sphere.
@@FirstLast-cg2nk At least in Nobunaga's case there wasn't a super-obvious concrete reason (AFAIK with my research) for why Mitsuhide Akechi offed him. Oh sure there's plenty of guesses, and some of them even have reasonable logic behind them, but we don't KNOW. Also Nobunaga's (and Caeser's for that matter, him being more akin to if Kerensky had taken the offer to use the SLDF to grab martial law) situation is quite a bit different in general, as while he gained his power through war, he did actually build up support base and validity, as opposed to Amaris, who smoothtalked his way into power and then assassinated someone. Both of them also had greater ambitions and planned reforms than what Amaris did. Amaris wanted power for the sake of power, Caesar and Nobunaga both had a vision of a better nation, albeit perhaps an overwillingness to use violence to get there (which is honestly something typical in people who spend most their lives fighting wars. Cynicism tends to crush Idealism, the only real question is how long it takes to do so).
Tex, you know the sad thing about Kerensky? He was trying to fight the tide and couldn't stop it. Once the power vacuum had formed, war was going to happen no matter what he could do. But to give him all credit he still tried and that was the best raging against the dying of the light. (Salutes to the Old Russian.)
It's why the Clans revere the name of Kerensky the way the Welsh and North Britons revered the name of Arthur. Not all struggles of the Light against the Dark have to be successful to be celebrated.
From this history, we start to see where the Clan's sense of warfare came from, and why it seemed Sane to them. After fighting three apocalyptic conflicts and enduring two exoduses, the remnants of the SLDF were probably willing to accept anything that seemed to be half way stable, even if it was the stability of a mad man playing god to remake Humanity... Cause at least it was not Amaris, or the House Lords, or any of the rest of it... Just, people, driven insane by an insane series of events, over and over and over and over and over again, broken, repaired, broken again, repaired, so damaged that the Clans seemed like a good fucking idea.
@@theblackpantslegion It's been said Mankind has long experienced this chaos and that we're a civilization with amnesia, doomed to repeat our failures. It's alleged we've nearly wiped ourselves out many times, which isn't hard to believe given our propensity for self-destruction. You asked how we might fix that? We can't. It's what drives us to explore and facilitates our continued existence. Our willingness to fight and survive is how we've managed to move beyond the primordial goo and conquer the galaxy. It's doubtful that'll ever change... and would we want it to? I think not! I enjoy my view from the cockpit and without conflict, there would be no opportunity for Honor and Glory!
@@theblackpantslegion The Periphery War, the Amaris Civil War, the Exodus Civil War, and the Clan Invasion were all waged by people who really, really wanted every other human they could reach to live in their benevolent state, for their own benefit of course. Same could be said of the Alexander's empire, Roman Empire, the Third Reich, USSR, Yugoslavia, and many other real-world examples. Maybe we should, as a species, agree not to do that. Border skirmishes and territorial wars seem to be the result of basic human nature, but total wars are always waged in the name of higher ideals and could be avoided if we stopped believing that war can create a better world.
That is true but at the same time the Clans forgot what war really is: a brutal and dirty business. I mean just look how the Clans (except the Hells Horses) treat conventional forces like tanks and infantry: they are just supporters of the real knights (Mechwarriors). They also forgot that war needs more then just the supplies you carry with you. Their bidding system ritualizes warfare and also "heals" wounds before they appear. They only use what they bid (except in the most desperate situation). The Inner Sphere on the other hand fights with everything they have. Deception, tricks and so on. This also leads to a change within in the Clans which would later lead to the Reaving Wars: a believe that contact with the Inner Sphere poisoned the Clans and that they needed to reave themselves of such "Impurities".
@@theblackpantslegion If the Blackwatch were the USCM in Aliens, that movie would've been thirty to forty minutes tops of mad scottish space marines burning everything.
@@WTFisTingispingis And now I can only imagine Elizabeth Hazen, just straight up beating the Alien Queen to death with her bare fists, straddling its neck and just wailing on it over and over, while it struggles and screeches for help, but the rest of the hive are just cowering in the darkest holes they can find, just desperately hoping she doesn't find them next
"I'M HUUUGE! YOU'RE GONNA DIE 'CAUSE I'M HUUUGE!" "Okay, wait. Can we settle this with a football game? Even if we lose, that'll let you win without everyone on my planet...exploding." "HEY, THAT'S THE ONE THING I ACTUALLY LIKE! 'CAUSE I'M HUUUGE!" "I figured as much. What are you, 500 pounds?" "TOUCHDOOOWN, HUUUGE!"
@@THEGRUMPTRUCK they hate you because everyone else in their Clan thinks they must be stupid just because they're big and strong and don't pilot 'Mechs, and treat them as such. Still, could be worse; could be a Clan Aerotech warrior
I just gotta say, after a few re-watches, that Nicolas didn't necessarily have the wrong idea: Clearly, after everything that had happened since the Exodus, and everything that would happen in the Inner Sphere during this time, there's clearly something fundamentally wrong with the culture and society of the Inner Sphere that is ultimately self-destructive. While his changes were ultimately the wrong idea, they came from the recognition of a problem and the intent to solve it.
The issue I find is the utopian ideal - trying to think you can reach dreams that are inherently impossibly by trying super hard. The human condition is inherently impossible to correct.The pursuit is noble.
@@theblackpantslegion precisely why you train your children for the pursuit, rather than attempt to force them on or down the path. This is, inevitably, why freedom always wins--it's chosen.
@Evilmike42 If it were merely "being human", mankind would never have progressed past stone weaponry before beating each other to death until no one was left. In human history, whenever we've come to the brink of a mutually destructive war, we've seen that it was a sucker's game and turned back. Meanwhile, in Battletech/Mechwarrior, the men in high places fail to see the suckers game, and always went all in.
I think the problem may be the nural helmet. I don't think anyone ever did any research on the long-term psychological side effects of piloting a battlemech. The neurofeedback might make the MechWarrior see themselves as above humanity and unbound by human laws if they want something, they feel like they can just take it
"Tex doesn't watch anime and had to have the word 'senpai' explained to him." I bet that made clanner lingo like batchall sound mild in comparison. Then again, House Kurita exists in Battletech, and this is the same setting where Victor Steiner-Davion decapitates the Khan of Clan Smoked Jaguar with a drawcut of a katana and then tearfully says that the last Smoked Jaguar died. Btw, newcomer here. I'm glad I stumbled across your content. Gave me a newfound appreciation for Battletech and thanks to your vids, I now measure the cost of mechs in Urbanmechs. Seriously, why buy a Mad Cat when you can have 4 full lances of well-equipped Urbies?
I think that's more on the line of logic of why buy the Ferrari Testarossa... instead of eight Prius... Damn it! What is the plural of Prius is it like deer or moose? Because Priuses sounds wrong...
'Senpai' has the excuse of a naturally evolved cultural heritage (when, you know, used in an appropriate cultural context) whereas Clanner Lingo emerged from the delusional minds of the damage Kerensky siblings . . . Although to his credit Andery seems to have possessed at least a little of his father's general okayness, unfortunately lacking the spine to call his brother on his bullshit.
And so, he picked some of the most violent and aggressive governments in history, sorted through their weirdest and worst philosophies and principles, and decided to form a society based on those.
It almost paid off. The irony being, the one seemingly good facet of the entire ideology, that of honor, led to the inevitable decay of its vessel. In both its inability to fight the enemies who refused this code of conduct for sake of the clans' downfall, and eagerness to fight its allies who broke it for their own good.
Tex. Thanks bro. Ignore the bullshit and keep on trucking. I love the respect and passion you bring to this. You and the BPL are often the high points during low times. So thank you.
@@remickunderwood515 Ha haha...Trying to get me to reveal my sources on an open channel. I see you, Word of Blake. I see you....{accidentally pokes eyes trying to make a gesture)
Tex, you're a feckin' genius, and your voice is great. That being said: Creating the Clans was totally worth it, as without them, Battletech would have 200% less Genetically Engineered Amazon Snu-Snu.
So... My wife’s a member of the Campbell clan, so we wear Blackwatch tartan. Get this: the bagpipe music that plays, its the Campbell clan’s own theme.
- Elizabeth Hazen, a noted falconer(her falcon's name was Turkina), snapping and subsequently carving through rebels with a Katana-like blade, surviving because Royal Black Watch I present to you the founder of Clan Jade Falcon, and how their Clan Iconography started I might be a Ghost Bear and value the comraderie of Tseng and Jorgensson more, but Elizabeth Hazen is worthy of the moniker "badass".
I was always into the videogames, but watching these made me start painting the models. I can't identify what half the mechs are because I swear to god that they're original 1980s manufacture and they look nothing like what's on Sarna, but I have them now. Which is cool. Even started prepping to DM a Battletech campaign where each player is one of the officers in a merc company. And all that lost productivity is your fault. I hope you're happy.
Honestly, full credit to everyone working on this, the amount of effort is remarkable. This TTBT content converts my friends to AT LEAST the games, though I would love for them to try tabletop. (also request Crowind to keep on the Daggerfall content or more straight up give him an Elder Scrolls vertical)... yup I am drunk and look forward to this in ~20 hours
@@theblackpantslegion you guys are beautiful madmen for the amount of effort and quality you bring to these videos. Every long-haul TTBT vid released is like a little holiday for me and probably lots of others.
@@theblackpantslegion hey tex, Just double checking; have there been any videos post2d aince the marauder? Nothing from BPL is showing up ony front page for about a week now. ALSO: this series is my favorite work white noise, and my immediate recommendation for others coming in from 40k (im an immigrant myself)
I aint had a good Christmas in forever, but I remember that feeling. The warmth of a well stoked fire. Everyone happy. Maybe a little hung over. Food in the oven.
What Aleksander Kerensky failed to accomplish in the end, the one piece he missed to fulfill his goal, is give the SLDF-in-Exile a new identity, a new, unifying ideal to prevent the Exodus Civil War. Maybe call them "Exodites" or "Exilants" or something, and provide them with an idea of unity and solidarity in a "Whoever you were before, you are an Exilant now, leave your past behind, your new life begins now." kind of way. Had he done that, there'd probably be some conflict down the line, but it wouldn't have been as destructive due to the Exilants' shared identity. Really, Nationalism can, on occasion, be a good thing to prevent internal strife. Also, the new "Steiner Scout Lance" sketch had me chuckling again. The Draconians deserve it. After what they did on Kentares IV, murdering more people than Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong in their whole careers *combined* in an expressively deliberate action really makes anything the Lyrans could do to them look like Peanuts by comparison. Really, I'd rather go drinking with a Capellan and risk getting my Lyran ass poisoned, or end up roofied (because you never know with Capellans), than ever, *ever* supporting a Draconian Noble or Military Member.
Totally agree with your assessment on the one thing Kerensky missed. It was something he took utterly for granted, because he viewed himself and his troops as utterly loyal to the Leauge. If 4 Atlases are a "scout lance" what do you Lyrans call an "Assault Squad"? My Davion ass ended up married to a disgraced Draconian Noble. We both had a lot of fun curb stomping Capellans in the 4th succession war.
imho, even then, Aleksander Kerensky was taking troops that for the last 20ish years have seen one of the most brutal wars up to that point out of known space. And add to the fact that it's very possible that they might've brute forced a sizable population of people that wanted nothing to do with it into doing so (it's hinted that the exodus fleet may have brute forced civilian ships to join along the way out of the inner sphere), thus turning it into a powder keg waiting to be set off, and the great General completely failing to see what was right in front of him. Pretty much the SLDF-in-exile was going to end up fighting a brutal civil war no matter how you cut it. After Aleksander died, Nick ended up being just as blind as Aleksander was (though a lot more insane), and the troops that went went Nick became just as blind as well. Until Wolverine committed the sin of hurting Nick's ego. Like seriously, Wolverine's annihilation was done purely because they hurt Nick's ego, and wanted him to know that they did it. Which in turn got Wolverine stereotyped as the goto explanation whenever some spooky secret shit happens when the writer doesn't feel like actually writing an explanation. See: Bull Shark from HBS BT's Heavy Metal dlc, the Word of Blake's actions, hell it wouldn't surprise me one bit that Wolverine was somehow responsible for the HPG blackout in the dark age era.
@@KhanCipher I'm not saying it's Clan Wolverine but it's Clan Wolverine. Though to be fair the clan did get out of the Kenersky cluster and disappeared in Kurtan space. They had to Rob and sell whatever they could to survive. Makes me wonder how some rediscoveries happen. The blakeist were always nuts and just like the Capellains, never trust a Marik who was always trying to infiltrate the first circuit.
Actually, for how the story was told, in all its apparent madness the creation of this new society had its logic: maybe the only way to make sure a militarized society isolated and competing over scarce resources (compared to the inner sphere) would survive without annihilating itself was to not only eo away with old allegiances but to institutionalize warfare and set strong rules and limits to it, enforced by cultural norms and collective actions.
Where the problem comes in is when you set the rules and go invade someone who doesn't use them, it all falls apart. BPL's Tukayyid video describes this succinctly.
Alternatively: Boys: Aw man DeChavilier's death sucked :( Girls: *Dismembering hordes of Capellan rebels with a katana while bagpipes shriek in the background*
@@DJB3lfry and considering the possibility DeChaviler and her were closer than friends....Yeah, I honestly would have done the same, probably subjected their leaders to torture too.
Some damp tart thief and her bit of rough? I yawn. The besmirching of a mans legacy turning a hard journey into a gaggle of tantrum riddled idiots with zero mental acumen and no good sense to take on only what you can take without consequence while using the inner sphere infighting against itself. I wish it wasn’t raining today, inside, mid summer.
@@boxtank5288 well, to be fair, not much you can do to any of the survivors with a katana before you end up killing them... A tanto, on the other hand... now _that_ comes with some options...
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical
@@theblackpantslegion I'm very good at integral and differential calculus I know the scientific names of beans and humonculus About binomial theorem I am teaming with a lot of news with many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. I thought only Gilbert and Sullivan could write something this nerdy and hilarious, then I discovered Tex Talks Battletech . . .
12:59 - De Chevalier's plan was nuts, it just means the Succession Wars start earlier and end up even more bloody because there's the SLDF fighting too.
Oh it was a nutso batshit crazy plan but it's also glorious. The folks that have the game's license made a April Fool's release called Empires Aflame that tackles this very subject. Kerensky dies due to a bullet, De Chevalier just grabs the reigns and established a sixth house with Blake running the Communications and Intelligence agency. If anyone is curious about it, give it a look. I think it's a free purchase. It feels really weird calling Nicholas Kerensky a general of the Terran Supremacy Defense Force, but here we are.
Well, if we set aside the April fools release tackling the subject, and write the Campaign like Alexander Kerensky would have actually planned it according to his character, I feel he would have literally been able to out Ameris Ameris on just about all the Noble Houses. Just Imagine, out of the 100 or so companies of troops/Mechwarriors he had, sends 20 full companies to each of the homeworlds of the Noble Houses. Then simultaneously, each of 20 companies takes the Noble Houses captive, and forced them to reach a consensus on who gets to be 1st Lord (probably Gerome Blake). At worst it might end with Alexander's execution if he fails, or his governmental pardon by the new 1st lord if he succeeds.
Yes and no? The SLDF with actual war fighting experience would win. Bloody? Yes. Starts sooner? Yes. But they'd also be ended centuries sooner as well.
@@MadnessHEROReverend The full might of the SLDF could hardly wage a three prong war against periphery powers. How in the hell could Kerensky win the Succession Wars?
@@trevbee2316 lol I think everyone's misunderstanding the whole idea behind what I call Operation Starfall. The idea behind it is not a military coup, but a hit and run kidnapping of the Heads of the great houses, using half the companies sent to each house as information and Infiltration, and the other half act as an invading force to distract from the real goal, taking the house leaders alive.
Founding of the Clans= Playing Rimworld only with more guns and more crazy. Hats off to you for this near god level fan production with more depth than many RU-vid accounts of the American Civil War. I would have been happy with more Tex talk Battlemech and Duncan Fisher lighting the occasional hobo on fire but you once again have gone above and beyond.
Tex my man...i listen to this series...star league 1 and 2 plugs this nearly every day on my route. I deliver mail and listening to this series makes my day fly. Thanks for entertaining an old battledroid player.
What I want to know is, are the Kuritans so blitheringly incompetent that they failed to notice an Atlas sneaking up on them, or are Steiner Scout Lance just *THAT* good? Or is the the truth somewhere in between?
@@weldonwin Did the Atlases charge at them shouting challenges in Japanese while brandishing katanas? No? Then, as far as the average DCMS officer is concerned, that is a stealthy advance. I'm sure there was some Gunsho trying to convince them the Atlases were there but when has a DCMS officer ever listened to an enlisted man??
Speaking as a guy who tabletopped Kurita habitually, SOP was walk up to opposing lance, kick lead mech in the shin, THEN mad dash to my mauler cockpit for the anime intro, complete with J-Metal blaring from a tape player. Sneaking 4 Atlases (Atli?) into a Kuritan province is as easy as landing.
A reminder to those of us who like the Clans: We failed Alexander Kerensky, we failed his dream of reuniting the Inner Sphere as better people. This kinda feels like failing Fred Rodgers, you suck and know you are better than that.
Well, if it helps, Kerensky himself failed first. He was charged with overseeing the Cameron heir, and he did poorly. Amaris took _advantage_ of the mistakes the Kerensky had _already_ made. So, in this case, Fred Rogers failed before you did.
Jared Maddox Honestly dude, Kerensky did everything he could with Cameron: Cameron still chose Amaris over him. Not even Kerensky can fix stupid and inexperience when it chooses not to fix itself. Fred Rogers didn’t fail. People chose not to listen.
Sirede Coucy As someone who quite likes the Warden Clans, I do have this to offer: The lesson to take ultimately is that we are the scars we bear, the battles we've survived and the tragedies we've had to bear. We go into life knowing we might lose, but as long as we keep showing up we're bound to pick up at least a few wins. That we keep contesting matters more than anything, and that we keep improving all is the most important thing at all. You have to believe you'll get there somehow. We're standing on Fred Rogers' shoulders and someday someone will stand on ours, standing on his. The search for our better selves means we haven't failed - we're just not finished yet.
Regarding Aaron DeChavilier and his death 'Then up spoke bold Horatius, the Captain of the Gate, Saying, "Death comes to every man, no matter soon nor late, And how can a man die better, than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods". Very well done Tex and team. Very well done indeed.
Watching this kinda reminds me of something I read in the March Upcountry series: A group of very devoutly religious people set out to establish a new colony, intent of getting away from the "corrupting" influences of the rest of the universe, believing that if everyone was of the same religion and with no outside influences, they could create a utopia. Instead, within a few decades, they had schisms, inquisitions, and global warfare. Simply put, you can't create a Utopia if you plan on having people in it. *We Are Our Own Worst Enemy.*
Fun fact, the word Utopia comes from a Greek word meaning 'No-Where'. It came from a novel by Sir Thomas More, written in 1516 and was kind of a cynical injoke, that there was no such thing as a perfect peaceful society
@@weldonwin Ultimately, this is probably not exactly what More was getting at by naming it Utopia seeing as other countries named in the text include "Nolandia" and "Happiland" when translated from Greek. Mainly, it was probably an in joke for people who spoke Greek. In fact Mores motives are one of the most debated aspects of the book. Any-who, Nicholaus society was unfortunately ahead of the game as it managed to achieve some sort of meta-stability rather than instantly imploding.
@@Bustermachine I would actually say that, the Clan system of highly focused warfare and trials is actually a big part of how they remained as stable as they did, that Nicholaus Kerensky, kinda recognized that conflict was just a part of human nature, so he actually planned for and incorporated it into the Clans. He didn't plan for a completely peaceful society, he planned for violence as a go-to and just sought to focus and control it.
@@weldonwin On the other hand, there are so many ways for that to go wrong it beggers belief. I think one of the conceits that allows it to be an acceptable break from reality, as opposed to most real world martial cultures (and this doesn't mean it would actually work, just that it offers a reasonable excuse). Is the SibKo system. Most warriors have no attachment to their progeny beyond the compusion to compete for the honor of having them, so they have no particular reason to engage in one of the most common forms of corruption. Nepitism. Likewise, most warriors have no attachement to their biological progenitors. Other than, perhaps, desiring to defeat them in honorable combat if they're not too long in the tooth or too dead in combat, and take their place. It also means there's no messy intergenerational ties to prevent one Clan leader from calling another out if they or their clan is caught cheating. Idealy. There's no messy family politics to get between the individual and the larger society. I don't think it would work out that way. But I think it's acceptable fictional conceit for the clans.
JFC: how does this channel 'only' have 80k subs? i gave up on Battletech in my teens, but i can listen to Tex talk about it for hours: one of the best gaming lore channels on RU-vid. Lol, my husband is getting jealous of me using Tex as ASMR. Thanks guys.
Tex and Co, never stop these masterpieces. This was simply beautiful. The sheer quality you guys put into these (and the intermissions, and those goddamn amazing commercials) are what make paying for your coffee and taxes on your patreon more than worthwhile (those U-boat paintings are classy). Oh man that RogueTech line at the end, I can't wait for your VO pack.
@@theblackpantslegion the lines are good, though, if you feel like it and can find the time and energy for it, a few alternate lines on missing the target would make the early contracts in the Osmium pre-beta a bit less repetative ;) It takes time to salvage proper FCS, sensors and ECM hardware XD
Just so you know Tex, I am currently reading through my old beat up copy of the Battletech technical readout 3058, and started to randomly read the overview capabilities and deployment of random mechs (in this case the FS9-0 Firestarter) and inside my head I read the whole damn thing in your voice complete with jabs at Clanner scum and Kuritas assholes. Thats all. Have a nice day.
How I missed that soothing, whisky voice telling me of times of future past, war crimes and general tragedy. Well worth the wait, sir, well worth the wait.
Great episode you madman. Also, the correct answer to "who does Nicholas Kerensky look like?" is "Pete Postlethwaite". I'll take "Sci-Fi Lookalikes" for $400, Alex.
I'd like to thank you Tex. I only knew of Battletech through one of the MechWarrior games that my uncle had when I was a kid of 3 or 4. It was only through seeing your video on the Mad Cat, one of two Mechs I would of recognized all these years later, that I got to learn what an awesome setting it was. I am now proud to call myself a citizen of the Federated Suns. Maybe someday the Inner Sphere will realize that the Davions are the obvious choice for ruling the Inner Sphere. Anyway, I thank you for your great videos, and for properly introducing me to Battletech. Keep up the good work.
@@JSRLPadre We don't need more planetary purges because our new ruler's dad was dumb enough to step out of his mech in a warzone. Remember Kentares! P.S. Correct me if I got that wrong. I'm still new to Battletech
An excellent thing to see, having just started Falcon Guard! Love the work you guys all put in this episode (and others, past and to come!). I'll raise a glass of Talisker Skye to all of you mad bastards.
@@dubuyajay9964 Hazen was *never* ilKhan - she was a regular Khan. The first Jade Falcon ilKhan (that we know about) was Elias Crichell in 3058 Also. You are actively forgetting Colleen Schmitt, granddaughter of Hanni Schmitt (Tex got it wrong, not mother-daughter) was the first Khan of Blood Spirit and how they are actively related to the Black Watch in multiple sources.
@@dubuyajay9964 irrelevant. Jade Falcon has a Black Watch member as their first Khan, but they do not view themselves as the descendants/inheritors of the Black Watch. Lets put it this way: Jade Falcon does not name its units after ancient Gaelic + Celtic Folklore in reverence to their Black Watch roots.
I was actually waiting for Tex's next video so I could request the story of "How the Descendants Of Kerensky Took A Massive Flaming Crap All Over His Legacy And Became The Antithesis Of Everything He Stood For", but Tex went and beat me to it.
Poor Aleksandr. He's kicked out of office after spending the last years of his career fighting Space Hitler, only for his son to become a eugenics-obsessed nut with an 18 Charisma and a dream of restoring a lost empire. In other words, ANOTHER Space Hitler.
This would get a "Like" just for the duel-wielded revolvers. I can never manage center-mass, even with a 9mm Sig. I always end up hitting either the head or the crotch. Consistently. The other guys think I do it to make them uncomfortable, but my optic nerve is damaged, and it affects my hand-eye coordination in weird ways when it comes to firearms. (Strangely, the effect carries over the video games... or did, when I was still playing them.) I'm going to post this comment without anything else on it except for this: awesome video.
Out of all the BPL vids these are the ones Tex seems most impassioned about as in when he narrates these videos it seems to deeper emotional narration, it does the story justice. Most BPL vids are lighthearted and funny so this is an extra special treat.
I was there when you teased this New Years eve, watching you shove battlemechs around in a god damn plane. So when I say I have earned my hype, I mean it.
@@theblackpantslegion You have no idea! TTBT has now officially been added to the "podcast playlist" of my Electricial crew as we wire up our cabinets. You have somehow found yourself with a dozen new fans, clamoring for more great content!! Please keep up the fanstastic work!!
Trying my best to sort of watch these in a ‘lore order’ including the original construction dates of the few individual mechs you’ve covered. Really love the content, and it’s great to see Battletech get some love. I was casually into it for years but during this quarantine I’ve found myself with ample free time on my hands to get back into MWO, researching, and diving back into the story. Glad to have found your stuff, it helps immensely and it’s thoroughly entertaining.
I keep rewatching your lore videos from time to time. And the passion the lore is delivered with, both audibly and visually, moves me every time. Tex and his team have done a fabulous job with these lectures. Battletech is truly a setting worth learning about.
The Succession Wars were more brutal than any prior, and it probably had to do with the Star League's creation inadvertently putting the idea in everyone's head that there can be one individual person as leader of all the galaxy that humanity had claimed. Humanity will always have people who want more and more and more for themselves, but I don't think the idea of 'controlling' all humanity was really seen as possible because the galaxy was just so big, so war for that level of control wasn't aimed for until after Star League's collapse.
All because the Camerons (I doubt Ian did this but his descendants definitely started in on that) decided to turn the whole thing into a Pyramid Scheme.
You know, I'm not familiar with Battletech/Mechwarrior Lore, so when Tex started discussing the fall of Star League in exile, I was expecting the "two words" to be f---ing Kurita, not Coppellan f---ery.
House Kurita are jerks. Most citizens of their nation are okayish as long as there are no Kuritans around to order them to be jerks. Being raised to be undyingly loyal to 'guy with boss hat' at least means fewer problems while guy with boss hat isn't a jerk. My guess is there weren't any Kuritans left in the SLDF at this point so the Combine soldiers mostly saw Kerensky as 'guy with boss hat'. Cappellans, though... Cappellans are basically raised from childhood on a steady diet of "Uncle Liao's Hour of Hate". They're not so much loyal to a house as an idea, said idea being "all non-Capellans hate you and want to kill you in your sleep". Old habits die hard.
@@Runningfromtheredqueen Never Trust a Liao. Always shoot a Lyran- House Marik saying I like the Capellans. Once treated as the chaff of the Great Houses, turned into the weaker of the 2 "Yellow Peril" threats in the BattleTech universe. Yet despite that, they've overcome threats both internal and external and pretty much made it out best during the Clan Invasion thanks to geography and a leader who pretty much played the political game to perfection. Besides, we all know that the Kuritans and Liaos are just there for Davions to play white saviors/conquerors against Asians and liberate the womenfolk (right Victor?)
@@Runningfromtheredqueen There definitely were people from the Combine in the SLDF. A great deal of Draconis-style Bushido went I to the Clan's way of life, particularly their ideas of honour and ritualised combat.
@@disgraced101 Even as the Kuritans who AREN'T of Theodore's sort are the arguement of 'Slap a Jap' needing to be reinstated for the good of the Inner Sphere (Their insistence on copying WW2 Japan really doesn't help at all). Even if the slap is a 'Dope Slap'
Great job! As a old veteran of clan wolf(sorry Tex) it is awesome how you lay out this "history" lesson. Generally already knew it all, but it's way better this way rather than a bunch of resource books that you gotta refer to. That there is still this level of intrest in this story line like 30+ years after the tabletop game is freakin nuts!
All right now the real waiting can begin! Why does this remind me of that Extra History episode about the first Crusade where the army sits outside the walls of Antioch and begins to starve.
![Battletech/Mechwarrior Lore Tex Talks Battletech : - A Primer on the Clans [Part 1]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
