Alien
From BattleTechWiki
Alien lifeforms are largely absent in the BattleTech universe, despite its nature as a science fiction universe. Game designer Jordan K. Weisman, who created the original BattleTech game and setting, noted in 1988:
- "What I wanted was a universe that had a taste of the alien, but did not contain aliens."[1]
However, this obviously did not mean that absolutely no alien lifeforms whatsoever were to be included in the BattleTech universe. The novel The Sword and the Dagger (published in 1987 already) even featured primitive spear-toting aliens in one chapter, and the content of all novels had to be approved by the franchise's line developer. Throughout the many novels, sourcebooks and other BattleTech publications there are numerous references to alien flora and fauna on various worlds, including various types of alien cattle, pets, fruits, produce or even diseases; however, they typically only provide background flair and do not play any significant role. BattleTech remains dominated by humans. Even the Clans, introduced as mysterious invaders, soon turned out to be humans whose culture had evolved differently over the past centuries.
There are only two known instances where sentient alien lifeforms are mentioned:
- In the novel The Sword and the Dagger, Ardan Sortek wakes up after having ejected from his destroyed BattleMech in the swamps of Stein's Folly and finds himself tied to a tree by primitive humanoid aliens;
- In the novel Far Country, the intelligent bird-like Tetatae species features prominently but their homeworld (Kaetetôã) is in an unknown location and the human protagonists who are stranded there cannot return to known space.
