Editing BattleTech – Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts

{{InfoBoxProduct
| image               = BTDWd31J.JPG
| name                = BattleTech<br />Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts
| type                = Franchise treatise<br />Sourcebook
| author              = 
| development         = [[Joern Rauser]] (Editor)
| primarywriting      = [[Reinhold H. Mai]]<br />[[Christoph Nick (Person)|Christoph Nick]]
| pages               = 512
| cover               = ("provided by [[WizKids]] LLC")
| interiorart         = ("provided by WizKids LLC")
| illustrations       = 
| publisher           = [[Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co KG]]
| productioncode      = 06/6298
| year                = 2002
| ISBN10              = 3453213661
| ISBN13              = 978-3453213661
| MSRP                = 13.00 [[w:DM|DM]]
| content             = (see article)
| era                 = 
| timeline            = 
| series              = 
| precededby          = 
| followedby          = 
}}
{{ApocryphalProduct}}
'''BattleTech – Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts''' ("The world of the 31st century") is an original German softcover publication by [[Heyne]], the publisher of the German line of [[BattleTech]] novels. Published alongside, but not as a part of, their line of German BattleTech novels, it serves as a broad nonfiction introduction to the BattleTech universe and games.

==Content==
Written by [[Reinhold H. Mai]] and [[Christoph Nick (Person)|Christoph Nick]], two of the premier German BattleTech authors, the book provides an introduction to the BattleTech universe and an overview over the franchise from a real-world perspective. Its content includes:
*a list of BT media and sources (comics, magazines and fanzines, computer and console games, gaming centers, trading cards, TV series, some internet sites), all with brief descriptions;
*a rundown of all episodes from [[BattleTech: The Animated Series]] with brief plot summaries;
*excerpts from a longer interview with [[Jordan Weisman]] and [[L. Ross Babcock III]] (taken at the [[FASA]] office in Chicago just before the 1988 [[w:GenCon|GenCon]]);
*email interview with [[Michael A. Stackpole]] from early 2002;
*a 29-page introduction to the history of the BT universe up until the absorption of the [[St. Ives Compact]] back into the [[Capellan Confederation]] in [[3063]];
*a description of the [[Inner Sphere]] and the [[Successor States]];
*a dictionary of BT terms complete with (sometimes page-long) articles on the subjects, covering states (complete with maps) and [[ComStar]], military units and ranks, technologies, and other BT concepts such as the [[Ares Conventions]] or [[LosTech]];
*a description of the [[Periphery]] with emphasis on the [[Outworlds Alliance]], [[Magistracy of Canopus]] and [[Taurian Concordat]] (again with maps); [[Bandit King]]s are treated in one summary chapter;
*a description of the [[Clans]], complete with a [[Deep Periphery]] map showing the position of the [[Kerensky Cluster]] and [[Pentagon Worlds]] relative to the Inner Sphere, and a detailed map of the Kerensky Cluster and the Pentagon worlds showing the names and relative positions of the systems therein;
*a dictionary of specific Clan terms;
*a description and history of [[Solaris VII]] and the [[Solaris Games]];
*a long and detailed Who-is-Who list of BT characters;
*a BT timeline by year, beginning with the launch of [[Crippen Station]] in [[2005]] and ending with the second [[Whitting Conference]] in [[3061]];
*dictionaries/list chapters about
**BT military vehicles and starships (the entry for [[LAM]]s is notable for the picture of a [[Wasp LAM]], the only [[Unseen]] picture in the entire book);
**technology in BT including [[BattleMech]] components and gadgets like [[cooling vest]]s and [[neurohelmet]]s;
**offensive and defensive systems (weapons, defensive weapons, ammunition subtypes and armor);
*a timeline of 'Mech evolution;
*an analysis of the success of the BT franchise from a real-world point of view;
*a list of published BT novels both German and English, up to [[Endgame]] for the [[Classic BattleTech]] line and up to [[Imminent Crisis]] in the [[MechWarrior series|MechWarrior]] line;
*a product list for BT (from [[FASA]], [[FanPro LLC]] and [[Fantasy Productions]]) and a list of computer games;
*a synopsis showing the original (English) name/designation and the German names of all BT vehicles and starships;
*''Könige des Schlachtfeldes'' ("Kings of the Battlefield"): Technical Readout fluff-style descriptions of various 'Mechs (complete with picture for some, but not all) in sidebars throughout the book;
*various previously published artwork including full-color pictures from the covers of books or boxed sets. The book does not contain any original artwork.

===Errors===
*The book consistently claims that the [[Gray Death Legion]] discovered the [[Helm Memory Core]] in [[3024]] already, which is against established [[canon]]; the correct year is [[3028]].
*Contrary to what the book claims, the [[Fallout (Comic series)|Fallout comics]] do not depict the [[1st Somerset Strikers]] but another unit called [[Fallout]] (though the Comics admit to being inspired by the 1st Somerset Strikers' [[BattleTech: The Animated Series|Animated Series]]).

==Canonicity==
Although it is an official publication and was produced under a valid license, the book does not meet the criteria for [[canon]] because it was never published in English, being an original German publication. While most of the information in the book is a compilation of information taken from other, fully canonical sources (in the sense of a [[meta-source]]), some information is not. 

Such [[apocryphal]] information includes
*rumors mentioned about a modified ''[[Charger]]'' (implied to be the CGR-SB ''Challenger'') serving with the [[Hat-in-the-Ring Battalion|Hat-in-the-Ring company]] on [[Holt]] (while the ''Challenger'' as such is fully canon, its background and especially the Hat-in-the-Ring mercenary unit were never mentioned outside of [[BattleTechnology]], which is not considered a canonical source anymore);
*the assertion that the ''[[Alliance (BattleMech)|Alliance]]'' BattleMech was just a hoax and that this 'Mech never really existed;
*the assertion that the ''[[Mauler]]'' (more likely referring to its predecessor, the ''[[Daboku]]'') is based on an abortive [[Capellan Confederation|Capellan]] design project called ''[[Linesman]]'' ("''Linienrichter''" in German). This was based on an entry in ''[[Life Support (magazine)|Life Support]]'' #4, the magazine of the [[MechForce Germany]]. ([[Shrapnel (magazine)/Issue 15|''Shrapnel'' magazine, issue #15]], would canonize this hitherto obscure bit of apocrypha in 2021, some 27 years later.)

==External Links==
*[http://www.heyne.de Publisher's homepage]
*[http://www.buecher-nach-isbn.info/3-453/3453213661-Battletech-Die-Welt-des-31.-Jahrhunderts-3-453-21366-1.html ISBN listing/database entry]

[[Category:Sourcebooks]]
[[Category:Meta-Sources]]
[[Category:German-Language Products]]
[[Category:Works by Reinhold H. Mai]]
[[Category:Works by Christoph Nick]]