Thanks to Pilot Uplink's fantastic videos, I was able to learn a lot of things about Titanfall's setting that are not very obvious from the campaign or gameplay. It is apparent that there was SOME interest in real, tangible world-building, but for whatever reason there was not sufficient time or resources to showcase the greater whole of what they'd worked on.
I don't know about a lot of you but the little teasers for the world that was being built really made me crave more story. I was disappointed with the campaign, but what I've learned has given me hope for the future of the franchise. Here is some things I've learned about the Titanfall Universe!
First, some basics I've picked up. The stuff I found most interesting is bolded for you.
There was a long (20 years or so?) war fought prior to the events of the campaign called the "Titan Wars". MacAllen was a pilot, and also a friend to Vice Admiral Graves. Barker was also a pilot, but rather than leaving of his own accord as MacAllen did, he was fired for being a drunkard.
The Militia's old "leader figure" was a mysterious individual called "General Anderson". He was killed prior to the events of the Refueling Raid.
The IMC's Titans are produced by Hammond Robotics - the Militia's, however, are presumably produced by an organization called "Kodi Industries". This organization is never directly referenced in game, and is only indirectly referenced in one of the Titan promotional clips as "competing technologies" - even then this reference is not by name. Despite their virtual nonexistence in game and lore, there is actual Titanfall merchandise produced that references Kodi Industries.
The IMC forcibly evicts citizens when valuable resources are discovered in a region. Those that resist are often killed. This is presumably a major reason why the Militia even exists in the first place.
Technology exists that can augment a person's strength enough to "rip a man's head off". One grunt claims he could do it "with the right gear" after being asked if he's seen a Spectre do it. Not only that, but some squads, (specifically one referred to by grunts as "Viper Squad") possess "fancy portable turrets", though for whatever reason they are not seen in game.
Spectres are still highly experimental technology, referred to by some grunts as "prototypes". They simultaneously serve to protect forces on the ground and learn from them, but they occasionally "glitch out". The "old MK IIs" had "old software" that at least once resulted in a Spectre attempting to strangle a friendly to death, likely resulting from these glitches. It apparently took about 4 men to pry it off.
Learning to wall run takes "years of training" and is "hell on your knees".
The "Stim" that is issued to pilots is so powerful that one grunt claims he "put two drops in his coffee", only to be unable to sleep for a week afterward.
The tech that allows pilots to cloak in game is two-parts. One part is more or less external, while the rest of the tech is "embedded in the skin"!
For all their augmentation, some individuals don't admire the Pilots at all, thinking of them as "freaks".
Pilots that "don't wear masks" are "covert-ops". They gear in such a way to attempt to blend in better with less significant personnel such as the Grunts.
There's an "IMC GI Bill" that promises free land on the Frontier and "cash to start" in return for service. Some Militia forces say they were "screwed over by it", so perhaps it is not as honest as they say.
Gold isn't worth much anymore. Oil, however, still is.
People have been expanding the Frontier long enough where soldiers are born and raised on the Frontier without ever having seen the Core Worlds. One guy comments that the pictures of Earth his buddy saw "must have been some old pictures".
Water is hard to get a hold of for the Militia. What they use to hydrate in place of it isn't entirely clear, but one grunt refers to it as "recycled piss". Whatever it is, it can sustain a person for months.
Some of the "rich folks" that are evicted from IMC-controlled regions secretly finance the Militia - one specific example mentioned is upgrades to Titan-repair facilities.
IMC Grunts make reference to buddies being lost to "plainclothes insurgents". It would seem that the Militia isn't above fighting dirty (not that I can blame them).
"Borium" is a bulletproof metal used for plating on carriers. It is apparently also used in the construction of Titans, or at least Titan upgrades. It seems to have no relation to real-life Borium. It also seems that the crude looking titan-like statue in "Corporate" is made of the stuff, and the Militia intends to use it to upgrade their Titans.
The massacre on the Colony is not the first case of the IMC committing atrocities on civilians.
Spectres seem to be designed to eventually take the place of pilots, according to Grunt speculation.
The grave that MacAllen is brooding over at the start of the Odyssey mission on Relic is the grave of his wife, according to popular rumor.
Simply badmouthing the IMC can get you branded a traitor or a terrorist. The IMC is very ruthless in that respect.
"Hammond's Gate" is a conflict, attack, or massacre that ended apparently very badly for the IMC, and is spoken of as a significant low point in their battle against the Militia. Apparently some IMC grunts lost family there.
It seems to be fairly common knowledge that the IMC doesn't actually pay any of the bounties they post.
There are ancient temples and ruins throughout the Frontier, not only in obvious places like the map "Swampland", but also a place mentioned in the "Freeport system". Though it -is- possible that these places are one and the same.
Radiation seems to be a major cause for concern in various levels. Outpost 207 is implied to be unmanned by anything other than Marvins due to radiation from the cannon's reactor core. On Demeter this is also a voiced concern, though readings seem to indicate that the reactors are, for the most part, not emitting harmful levels of radiation prior to the Militia's mission destabilizing the core. Pilots apparently tend to get the worst of it due to the nuclear cores that power Titans. There are inoculations supplied to Grunts to help with radiation, and it's likely that Pilots receive treatments both preventative and remedial for radiation exposure, but this isn't explicitly confirmed.
There is a different calendar used in the frontier called the "Freeport Calendar", though some still prefer the months/years used in the Core Worlds.
The IMC have apparently never lost a carrier in actual battle. At least not until the events in the campaign.
The Fliers that appear in the Airbase mission and Boneyard apparently have been encountered before in a "classified operation near Demeter".
Some Grunts reportedly have used Kraber AP Snipers to shoot parasites off of Leviathans as "target practice".
Sarah apparently trained "one of the most dangerous terrorist cells on the Most Wanted List".
Leviathans are implied to be on the same planet as the Airbase because of "experiments". This could also be why Fliers are present despite the place being "ten jumps away" from the Boneyard.
Spyglass is able to be reached by various Grunts - he is not just there to consult with Blisk and Graves alone, at least not before he is promoted to Vice Admiral.
The events of the Campaign, from the Refueling Raid to Demeter, take place over the course of about a month.
The fate of Mr. Hammond, the CEO of Hammond Robotics, is not presently clear - information suggests that if he is alive, he must be around 200 years old. Some say he's dead, some say he's more or less frozen, or his brain is attached to a computer. Whatever his fate is, he's clearly able to speak given his speech in the IMC intro to Demeter.
Dataknives are incredibly expensive, and take advantage of data ports in Spectres used for "reboots and software upgrades". It was claimed that these ports could not be bypassed, but the dataknives do so anyway.
Hammond's son is rumored to be working on some sort of projects related to "synthetic biology", rather than robotics. It is possible that this technology is related to the regeneration system in game, or just pilots in general.