Talk:ComStar

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Quick Question

we are going for a somewhat neutral point of view right? Only reason I ask is this article and the Word of Blake one read a little like faction propaganda to me. I dont think it needs a total rewrite, but a little editing might help it read a bit less like something that was written by a ComStar Adept.

Basara 00:16, 10 February 2007 (CST)

Basara, I completely agree with you. Bias will creep in, I believe, because of the bias an Editor may have for/against a subject and because of the source material's in-character bias. It'll be challenging, but, yes, if we can ease the bias out through judicious editing, then the article will improve. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 09:16, 10 February 2007 (CST)

C-Bill to HPG Time

This page mentions C-Bill is 1 second to time. Hyperpulse Generator mentions C-Bill as 1 milisecond of time.— The preceding unsigned comment was posted by 69.137.81.110 (talk • contribs) .

HPG uses older sources, ComStar page is using Touring the Stars. Guessing Republic Formation Treaty strikes again. Cyc 18:30, 28 July 2012 (PDT)

Republic Formation Treaty strikes again how? BrokenMnemonic 03:27, 2 October 2012 (PDT)

Economic Adjustments from the Post-Jihad Era - FM3085 p. 239 indicates agreements between ComStar and the Republic locked and even stagnated the C-Bill compared to the currencies of all other factions, which would certainly explain why C-Bill prior to Grey Monday will buy you a second compared to pre-Jihad's milisecond. Cyc 04:08, 2 October 2012 (PDT)

Ah, OK. I was worried I'd written the Republic Formation Treaty up incorrectly when I did the first draft of the article. BrokenMnemonic 04:48, 2 October 2012 (PDT)

Blakist Jihad Retconned?

I heard the Blakist Jihad was retconned out of Battletech lore entirely. I can't give a source for this, but I heard the reason was the War on Terror that was started back on September 11th, 2001 by terrorists crashing planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with a fourth plane attempting to hit the White House. Due to these attacks, the Blakist Jihad was declared too similar to the declaration of religious war (jihad) given by Al Qaeda leadership and especially Osama Bin Laden on all non-Islamic peoples, so the entire fictional jihad was stricken from lore to avoid real-world controversy and association with terrorism.

I have no clue if any of this is true, and again I cannot give a source. Can I please get some kind of confirmation? Or was I just dreaming when I heard this? Kerry, Son of Spyro (talk) 04:18, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

Absolutely not true. However what you likely heard is some people avoiding the word Jihad because its such a loaded word because of real world events. More than a few influencers on YouTube and social media have seen either effective reduction or shadow banning of their content using that word, so while they still refer to the conflict they use other terms like the Blakist war/conflict and CGL have not openly suggested they will officially rename it.Cyc (talk) 04:39, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

I would still like a source on this info as while I cannot give a source due to not remembering who exactly said this, I definitely heard that the jihad was retconned out entirely as opposed to merely being renamed. (Now that I think on it, it could possibly have been some hot-shot know-it-all in the Steam forums for either the Battletech video game or Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries.) At the time, I heard nothing about the word merely being avoided and in fact I distinctly remember the word actively being used a lot in the discussion. Thank you for at least confirming that it was because of real world events and that it is considered a loaded term because of them. (Also, please pardon my foggy memory, I remember bits and pieces of events really well, others not so much.) Either way I would like to hear some official word from CGL on this before proceeding.

--Kerry, Son of Spyro (talk) 04:51, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

Jihad still mentioned on official CGL site universe overview [1] and they even released brand new books like Record Sheets: Jihad in April 2023 [2] Cyc (talk) 05:24, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

That universe overview barely mentions the Jihads, and based on that description it seems like it was all retconned and described fresh, with a vastly different version from what is described on the site. So, these statements which you have pointed me to are official confirmation from CGL that the Jihad as this site describes it has been retconned, replaced with a vastly different war entirely instead of merely being a secular ComStar warring with a more religious version. This site's info is therefore severely out-of-date.--Kerry, Son of Spyro (talk) 07:14, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

To be clear, the alleged retcon here doesn't fit the real world timeline. Initial plans for the Jihad were laid in the FASA days, but the Jihad as we know it was published in the wake of 9/11. The period was introduced as the backstory of MWDA, published in the early-mid 2000s - entirely after 9/11. Later, starting from 2005, FanPro and then Catalyst backfilled the era with a series of sourcebooks detailing its events. Final Reckoning concluded that storyline in 2011, and later products have taken it as it was written. Tumult&Travail (talk) 07:35, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

That makes a lot of sense, and tracks well with what Cyc said, so it seems I was in fact in error. My apologies to this community, as I was led to believe that the Blakist Jihad either no longer existed in lore, or was altered to refer to a different war entirely, a far more secular war than a religious one, all due to the tumultuous real-world events of the time in which it was written into the lore: Smack in the middle of a fearful post-9/11 world where the word "jihad" was akin to the word "bomb" or the greeting "Hi, Jack" - essentially a word you only said in public if you wanted to get your house raided by law enforcement wearing tactical gear. --Kerry, Son of Spyro (talk) 08:58, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

Confusion happens - it's a messy era. Groundwork laid for some sort of big Word of Blake action under one company, outline written as backstory for a second, and the details backfilled under two more - and those details were written in an experimental, deliberately fragmented and difficult to follow style. Herb, the lead developer when the Jihad storyline was finished, still spends a lot of time explaining the plot on the official forums. Add the complicated relationship between Blakism and religion, and the gap in novel coverage... -- Tumult&Travail (talk) 08:38, 26 May 2023 (EDT)

Yeah, I get it. Honestly, while I don't want to make this about real-world religion or politics, my views are that religion - ANY religion - causes a LOT more harm than good in the world. Over the centuries, more wars have been started as religious wars, than any other cause. Whether that's the Islamic Jihads and Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages, the War on Terror of today, or the Will of Kali and the Blakist Jihad of the 31st Century, religion brings nothing but trouble. IMHO, it's time we got rid of it. But I won't push my views on others, and this isn't the place to discuss real world content, so I'll drop it. --Kerry, Son of Spyro (talk) 08:58, 26 May 2023 (EDT)