The year is 3015. Humanity has expanded to the stars, colonizing a vast region of space known as the Inner Sphere. Where the Star League once ruled in relative stability, generations of countless wars, alliances, and betrayals have divided the Inner Sphere into five distinct Successor States. These states, also known as the Great Houses, have fought and quarreled for centuries over the remnants of the Star League and control of the Inner Sphere. They are now in the midst of a Third Succession War, one which has been raging for almost 150 years. While the battlefields of the Inner Sphere burn with an array of devastating weaponry, none is more formidable than the BattleMech. These immense fighting machines, piloted by elite fighters known as MechWarriors, dominate the wars of the future with enough firepower to annihilate entire cities.