Dark Age

The Dark Age began with the blackout (as opposed to the Jihad's whiteout) of 80% the HPG network on August 7th of 3132. Humanity was suddenly thrust back into the early days of space travel where FTL communication was not possible and messages had to be couriered by JumpShips. This made command and control of armed forces and the governing of the Inner Sphere empires very difficult, if not impossible. Just two years earlier, Devlin Stone, founder of the Republic of the Sphere, retired and vanished, promising that he will return when the Republic needs him the most.

The blackout allowed the Houses, Clans, and other powers both within and outside the Republic to begin reclaiming or conquering worlds they had ceded to or that had been taken by the Republic. Before long, military factions whose loyalty lay with one of the Great Houses or Clans began to organize and take action against the Republic government. Several Republic officials, planetary leaders and nobles, and industrial giants who pledged their allegiance to the greater powers of the Inner Sphere supported or, in some cases, headed these factions. House Liao was the first of the Great Houses to invade the Republic, claiming worlds like Liao, which the Confederation had grudgingly surrendered after the Republic used military force to claim the world. The other Houses quickly followed suit, using the gains of their factions to make footholds deep in the Republic.

Even at the highest levels of the Republic government, rival factions began to appear, most notably the Senate Alliance, which attempted to wrest control from the Exarch.

Besieged from within and without, Exarch Jonah Levin, on October 1, 3135 enacted Fortress Republic. This plan reduced the borders of the Republic to roughly the size of Prefecture X, leaving the loyal supporters of the Republic outside the Fortress to fend for themselves. As part of this action, no one can leave or enter the Fortress.

Also during these events, Jessica Marik (Halas), daughter of the false Thomas Marik, engineered the reformation of the Free Worlds League. She also legitimized her claim to the House Marik legacy by marrying Thaddeus Marik, scion of the line of Alys Rousset-Marik. She largely succeeded in her reformation plan and was pronounced Captain-General of the reformed Free Worlds League on July 3, 3139.

However the identity of the mastermind behind the blackout is still a mystery, the network is still not fully functional and the Republic remained closed with no sight of the promised return of Devlin Stone.