1 INTRODUCTION

"Welcome to the Clarion Royal Marines..."

...ya buncha lard lumpers! Thanks for enlisting, your sorry butt belongs to us for the next twelve weeks. Maybe more! Your mamas ain't here to tuck you in or read your bedtime stories, nope...you're gonna learn how to walk, talk, eat, sleep, shoot, and $#!t like a Clarion Royal Marine!!!


You now hold in your hot little hands (or pseudopods) the (un)Official Clarion Royal Marines Source Book. This resource is to be utilized as a campaign backdrop for an ongoing Star Frontiers game. You all loved "Warriors of White Light". But then something terrible happened: it ended. No module begs for expansion like SF/KH:0 Warriors of White Light. The background information that was offered in that module worked for the game, but by golly didn't you just find yourself wanting more? More as in "Gee, if only I had some extra filler to continue this game a little longer..."

Hence this mighty manual. Within these pages you shall find untold resources to expand and continue where Warriors of White Light left off. Everything you need and more to keep your players serving the Crown for quite some time.

2 HISTORY

 (work in progress)

   A> time line

1 f.y. (Federation Year) The United Planetary Federation, a mutual defense organization, is established. All worlds of the Frontier, expecting another Sathar invasion, immediately join. Under UPF authority, Spacefleet becomes a permanent defensive force.
19 f.y. Prince Leotus Valentine XIX assumes the crown from his father, Leotus XVIII. Significant funding for the recently founded Medical Services Organization is donated by the Valentine family.

25 f.y. Princess Leotia Valentine XX is born, the ruling Valentines are unable to have any further children. Being the sole heir to Clarion's throne, Leotus initiates the Royal Secret Service comprised of loyal subjects dedicated to personally protecting the Royal Family.

31 f.y. The Demilitarization Act is passed by parliament. Strict firearm bans are enacted on the planet's surface, and similar policies are enforced on Clarion Station...although with minimal success considering government boundaries and space charter. The Council of Worlds overules the King and permits small arms such as pistols and melee weapons to be carried on the station.
40 f.y. Commander Stephen Delrooca receives a pair of brand new assault scouts, the Falcon and Wasp, thus bringing their militia up to date. He recruits his daughter Rogena from UPF Space Fleet to helm the Falcon.

44-48 f.y. Streel violates the Demilitarization Act numerous times by attempting to smuggle firearms to the surface of Clarion. By f.y.48 a resulting 20 year ban is enacted against Streel, prohibiting them from the surface. Due to UPF charter, the megacorp is still permitted to maintain an office on Clarion Station.

50 f.y. Commander Delrooca retires after 50 years of service to the Crown. Duke David Arconium of Hiatia (mH), a senior advisor to Delrooca, is promoted to the rank of Commander in the Clarion Royal Marines. His first act is convincing Leotus to acquire a frigate to supplement the CRM space militia, the CMS Leo arrives near the end of the year.
51 f.y. A band of space pirates inhabits the asteroid "Planora" and begins construction of a station within. They grow in strength within the following years, and by 56fy they have a small fleet of ships at their disposal. Royal Strategists believe these pirates received funding from Streel to disrupt shipping traffic to Clarion Station.

53 f.y. Lieutenant Rogena Delrooca is given the helm of the CMS Leo, and is promoted to the rank of Captain the following year. A brief period of civil unrest erupts from this promotion, citing political reasons for such rapid advancement. Meanwhile, Jr. Lt. Vincent Shirrah is awarded the vacated helm of the Falcon.
55 f.y. Maxxer Tabbe (mH) is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and granted the command position of the assault scout CMS Osprey. He recruits Rhanda Klast (fH), a hot shot rocket weaponry specialist discovered in the recent graduating class of CRM Basic Training.

56 f.y. The CMS Osprey, with a new batch of fresh recruits that replaced members lost during a manifest inspection gone wrong, earns something of a reputation with the Royal Marines. They manage to discover a cache of Streel furbished Clarion-bound weapons being smuggled in a small freighter, stop a cybernetically controlled ship on a collision course with Clarion Station, assist the fleet with routing the Planoran Pirates, thwart an attempted capture by the Sathar who turned out to have infiltrated the CRM ranks via agent Maxxer Tabbe, and further assist in thwarting an inbound group of Sathar destroyers...all in less than a year. Two more assault scouts are acquired from UPF Space Fleet, the Flitter and Swallow. King Leotus is outraged by the discovery of Streel backing the Planoran pirates, and he extends Streel's ban by another 20 years.
57 f.y. Answering a distress call forwarded from the Theseus system, Leotus orders Commander Arconium to dispatch the CMS Osprey to Mahg Mar in newly discovered system FS-24. Lt. Gregor Dentin, C.O. of the Osprey, helps lead a daring mission that exploits a secret Sathar supply base.
58 f.y. Rhanda Klast earns her wings and begins copiloting the Osprey. Leotus XIX is assassinated by a member of the Clarion Liberation Party. The crown is passed to his daughter, Princess Leotia Valentine XX. Citing theories and unproven evidence that links Streel to her father's assassination, her first act is making the ban against Streel on Clarion permanent.
59 f.y. the SS Dark Shadow, the freighter that was impounded when smuggled Streel weapons were found in her hold several years earlier, is recommissioned as a consular ship. 
61 f.y. Garlus Tylappar recruits a group of Clarion spacers to helm the Gullwind on a daring run to expose a criminal empire overseen by the Malthar. The resulting "Dramune Run" culminates with an all out civil war between Inner and Outer Reach, with UPF SpaceFleet vessels assisting the Inner Reach militia.

64 f.y. Rhanda Klast is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and begins her career as a senior tactician under Commander Arconium, while at the same time being awarded captainship of the Osprey.

65 f.y. Leotus XXI is born, the first of three children from Queen Leotia in line for the crown. Leotia commissions a six unit squadron of star fighters to assist the Royal Marines in their space efforts. "Raptor Squadron" becomes an immediately respected group.

68 f.y. Lt. Kriz'l Qill is recruited into Klast's tacticians.
70 f.y. Clarion's group of assault scouts earn a degree of noteriety as Klast is unofficially recognized as their "squadron leader". The UPF takes note of their tactical operations and forms "Avenger Squadron", a group of assault scouts in Strike Force NOVA manned by elite crews. Both squadrons seemingly compete for media coverage in the Frontier News Network.
73 f.y. Lieutenant Vincent Shirrah is promoted to Captain and is assigned to helm the frigate Leo.

75 f.y.  Queen Leotia XX can no longer count on the 70-80% support her father enjoyed from parliament. The Conservative Association and the Crown Royalist parties still support her but they only account for 44%. The Socialist and various independant parties have long opposed the crown’s policies while the New Beings party often sells its votes to the highest bidder. She’s been forced to build a coalition government out of theCrown Royalists, Conservative Association, a few independants (but not all or any entire party), and oddly enough...the Liberation Party. Though theLiberation Party is against the monarchy as its core belief the head of the party, Jonnus Slike (mH) often “releases members to vote their conscience” --- which is political speak for "go along with the Queen and Prime Minister". In return the Prime Minister was forced to give the Liberation Party one of his cabinet seats.
77 f.y. A militant group occupies the deserted asteroid Planora. A generous fleet of warships is assembled, threatening to blockade the planet Clarion. Leotia gears up by having the entire fleet of the Clarion Royal Marines on full alert at all times, while pleading with the Council of Worlds for assistance. For reasons unknown, the militant group quietly departs before the C.O.W. arrives at a decision to honor Clarion's call for help.
80 f.y. The second Sathar War begins.
81 f.y. The Royal Marines thwart a small detachment of Sathar warships as they pass through the system on their way to Madderly's Star. No losses are suffered, but all craft incur mild to serious amounts of damage with the frigate Leo limping home on but a single operational drive and few other functional systems. Aside from a few stragglers, there is little worm activity in the system but Clarion Station and Fortress Redoubt serve as a ready station for SpaceFleet vessels throughout most of the war. The UPF, realizing their vulnerability in land battles, works closely with Queen Leotia in analyzing the Royal Guard as a model for a potential UPF equivilent. UPF's LandFleet is born the following year.  

83 f.y. Rhanda Klast is offered the lead position in Avenger Squadron during Strike Force NOVA's stay in White Light. Feeling her service in protecting the system (and Frontier as well) from the worms supercedes any local issues, she accepts the position. She is given the helm of the assault scout UPFS Captain Federation, named after a patriotic holo-comic super hero. In her absence, Kriz'k Qill is promoted to Captain and helms the Osprey.

85 f.y. Queen Leotia XX commissions a squadron of heavy fighters to help defend Clarion during the Sathar War, as well as pushing considerations for the addition of a minelayer. With the war effort in full swing and available supplies & services being what they are, she opts for a lower budget converted cargo conatiner that can be affixed to the Dark Shadow.

90 f.y. The second Sathar War ends. Leotia XXII is born on the day the war ends, the first of five daughters to Prince Leotus XXI. No sons are born.

95 f.y. Queen Leotia XX accepts the first batch of applicants to the Royal Guard and Royal Marines from the Rim worlds.
98 f.y. Leotia XX steps down and passes the crown to Prince Leotus XXI.

100 f.y. Numerous spacers originating from Clarion join the Age of Adventure within the Rim. The Osprey is retired, demilitarized, and transported to the surface to serve as a museum attraction in Valentina.

3 CLARION

A> physical descriptions
     1 - topical make-up, climate, etc

Clarion is a large, flat, and wet world with very few features, measuring 11,679km in diameter. Most of the surface is covered by a large land mass that is broken by eight seas and a number of huge lakes. A few very low mountain ranges have risen above the surface, but most of Clarion is covered by broad plains and mudflats. A few of the largest mud flats are thousands of kilometers in diameter. It takes 50:05 hours GST for this large world to make one rotation.

Constant rain, lasting for weeks, is the usual weather condition on Clarion. Generally, these storms are punctuated by brief periods of fair weather before clouds collect and the showers begin again. At any one time, rain will be failing over 90% of the planet. As a result, the climate is quite humid with temperatures ranging from warm to very hot (with an average surface temperature of 30ºC).

The resources which have made Clarion a wealthy planet include uranium, which is found in all of the low mountain ranges; huge quantities of petroleum beneath the mud flats; and a few rich collections of bauxite (aluminum ore). The only industry of any size on the planet is petroleum refining. Although there is very little demand for the burnable by-products of petroleum in the Frontier, the wide variety of plastics created from the oil are in great demand.  

No native animal life has been discovered on Clarion beyond basic insects. Much of the planet is covered with vegetation, but all of the plants would be considered primitive by most standards. Lichens, mosses, algae and ferns are the most common types.

Humans were the primary settlers on Clarion in centuries past. As they expanded from the direction of Theseus, the White Light system became a major crossroads for human exploration of the Frontier. Because it sits astride a connection of four major interstellar routes, Clarion has collected significant populations of all of the Four Races. 

The swamp to marsh to permafrost setting of Clarion is something that early settlers found quite annoying. Future generations interacted with the other non-human races, who found equal dismay to this natural trend where high boots were a must for trekking anywhere. This eventually led to a dralasite pun "Gollywog" which, translated from their language, means "The world that did land as an afterthought". As such, residents do not take lightly to this insulting slang title that was given to their world.


     2 - major cities

Hiatia
Port Royal (RM headquarters)
Valentina (the Throne City & RG headquarters)

  B> cultural aspects
     1 - social structure & titles

The citizens of Clarion are categorized in four groups: Convict, Freeperson, Court Lord (or Lady), and Knight. Each step up in social class comes with higher status.

Convict - any citizen, noble or otherwise, reduced to this status for the purpose of serving a sentence for a crime or act of treason, often utlized in government supervised labor (chain gang type road construction, mining, etc). Convicts who demonstrate good behavior may be recruited into the Royal Guard as a condition of "parole", but this is rare and only seen during times of war.
Freeperson - the "common man" regardless of economic status.
Court Lord/Lady - lowest rank of nobility, granted to citizens who have acted in the interest of the crown, be it economically, politically, or any other act resulting in favorable results.
Knight - a title of nobility often bestowed upon (but not limited to) retired and active duty military persons, knights have proven themselves to be 100% loyal to the crown and continue to serve as such, even during retirement. It is not uncommon for knights to progress towards governing titles.


Governing Titles of Nobility - this is the ruling class, any Freeperson, Court Lord/Lady, or Knight is eligible for such title assuming favor is garnered by the crown. Members of Parliament who run for office are pooled from any of these ruling classes.

Baron/Baroness - lowest governing rank, often responsible for one to three regions or areas
Count/Countess - governs no more than four regions or areas
Marquis/Marquessa - governs five to ten regions or areas
Duke/Duchess - very limited, one per major city except for the Throne City, eligible for kingship via election assuming a king's family line ends.
King/Queen - The top ruling class

Clarion nobles serve under brief periods of active duty much like British royalty.  One to two years, officer position, in harms way only when politically necessary to bolster social opinions.  The closer to the crown, the more choice they get for their training and specialty.  In times of peace a noble may only serve from one training school to another, qualifying to get the badge then off to earn the next. It should be noted that nobles are not counted amongst the rank and file of the Clarion Royal Marines or Royal Guard, they are merely there to gain their place and learn the basics that can be used in politics, then off to prestigious universities.  They may return for yearly reserve training but it is purely voluntary.  Their commissions are often for life as well.

    
  C> politics & government
     1 - parliament
     2 - Liberation Party

4 ARTIFICIAL SATELITES

TBA

5 MILITARY FORCES

(work in progress)

1 - The Royal Guard

       a) structure, uniforms, job descriptions, etc
       b) rank & pay, insignia
       c) vehicles & equipment (transports, tanks, personal weaponry, etc)

    2 - The Royal Marines
       a) rank & pay, insignia
       b) uniforms

Camouflage Fatigues

       c) equipment

       d) fleet descriptions

          i - starships
          ii - system ships

CMS Leo (frigate)
CMS Falcon, Osprey, & Wasp (Razor class assault scouts - UPF specs)
CMS Flitter & Swallow (assault scouts, possibly a variant?)
6 F-40C fighters "Raptor Squadron"
heavy fighters (HS:2, long range patrol & jump capable)?
Insystem Carrier for fighter transport?
Minelayer?
various system ships w/radar & energy sensor arrays for deep space tracking
troop transport for shuttling crews to scanner ships

RCS Dark Shadow (HS:5 freighter, lightly militarized)
RCS Valiant  (Lightspeed Lady class yacht)




    3 - Special Forces (Leotine High Guard or other such catchy phrase)
       a) royal bodyguards or secret service type unit?

6 CAMPAIGN MATERIAL

TBA

Mercy Mission to K'tsa-Kar Intro

After the Free World Rebellion and the vrusk refugees were evacuated to K'tsa-Kar. A humanitarian crisis developed at K'tsa-Kar as there was not enough food or supplies. The fledgeling UPF was had been rapidly building up Space Fleet but that organization was still small and inexperienced. At this time in history, the Royal Marines still represented the elite naval force in the Frontier.

Player Character Baseline knowledge

I’ve advanced the timeline to the point that most printed modules are now history for the player characters. As I’ve never completed a revised timeline that I am happy with I cannot give exact dates and plan to just refer to those events as past.* In general it’s been about 60-80 years since the sathar incursion into Zebulon and 50-40 since the crew of the CMS Osprey distinguished themselves in battle with the Streel-backed pirates at the Battle of Planaron. The kick-off of the Dramune War, detailed in Dramune Run probably took place after the sathar incursion in White Light (last encounter in Warriors of White Light 1). It’s been a short period of time since the Beyond the Frontier campaign took place (Eleanor Moraes, Face of the Enemy, & War Machine), maybe 10-15 years.

We, the players and GM, did not play any of those modules together so they are a shared history for us yet in some ways the Volturnus modules are the shared experience if not history for all Star Frontiers fans. That said I’m going to assume all the modules mentioned played out with reasonably heroic and successful outcomes as those modules were originally written. This sort of forms a baseline of knowledge that we all share and can draw from (and saves me from spending tons of time fiddling with the timeline). It also allows you to write references to history when your PC is talking in character.

What PCs would know concerning Zebulon, Volturnus, and the Eorna:

In the aftermath of the battle, the Eorna signed a variety of agreements with the UPF, several planetary governments, and many mega corps. All of these agreements traded “rights” as in mineral rights, asteroid mining rights, broadcast band with rights, etc to help rebuilding their world and society. Originally, Volturnus was an allied planet with the UPF (not a formal member) and the planet saw radical changes as megacorps invested money to develop their interest in the planet and system.

The planet Ankor was colonized as way to ignore the Eorna by the megacorps. Corporate lawyers hit on the idea of colonizing and claiming independent status for Ankor to avoid making concessions to the eorna. Since the Eorna had no real military and were faced with a cultural and societal revolution they could do nothing about it. Soon different authorities on Ankor began granting mining rights for asteroids and planetary bodies that conflicted with agreements already signed by the Eorna. The Eorna though forced to bring in mercenaries never really tried to subjugate Ankor to their will. The situation in Zebulon quickly devolved to a wild free-for-all where the victor was the one with the most or biggest guns.

The Eorna have not prospered even with the discovery of the egg ship. Not all the eggs were viable and those that were had to be crèche raised. Further, their leaders instituted draconian breeding programs that treated all Eorna as cogs in an egg-laying machine. It was for the good of the species they reasoned but led to rebellion by the more numerous youth.

Their “children” races, the ul-mor, the Kurabanga, and Edestakai became so resentful of Eorna manipulation and control that the situation became dangerous. The Eorna had to staff their Native Protective Agency with mercenaries. The dying old guard of Eorna society was losing control of their star system, planet, and society.

The nail in their coffin came when the Mechanons revolted against the pressure they were putting on them to help rebuild the planets. As the Eorna saw it the mechanons owed them. The Mechanon Revolt was the spark that forced the UPF to step in and take over. Volturnus is now a territory of the UPF administered by a governor and the Mechanons have been relocated to a new planet of their own. The Native Protective Agency still operates under the UPF governor.

The Eorna today only number in the 60,000 with 98% of them being the progeny of the crèche raised eggs. By and large, these new Eorna have no sense of their prior history and culture and have fragmented in their pursuits of beauty and meaning.

A side note: a recent holo-vid of the Volturnus Expedition chopped and twisted the story of the team that saved the planet so badly that it merged the two Yazerian members of the team into one character as a dramatic license. This actually led to declaration of producer and director as Blood Enemy by an aging Yazerian from his wheelchair.

What PCs would know concerning the Pirates of Planaron:

The discovery that Streel had been funding the pirate band based at Planaron so outraged Leotus XIX and he banned Streel from doing business on Clarion “for life.” His assassination by members of the Liberation Front is often linked to Streel by conspiracy theorists though it was never proven. The king’s daughter, Leotia XX, made the ban against Streel permanent. She’s ruled for the past 40 years.

The Liberation Front was a political party opposed to the monarchy and held quite a bit of clout in Leotus’ time but after the assassination of the popular monarch, the populace turned on them. Today they go by the name the Liberal Party and only hold 5% of the seats in parliament. There are still ties to their old action arm the Liberation Front but the LF has become even more radical in its rhetoric and policies.

Leotia XX can no longer count on the 70-80% support her father enjoyed from parliament. The Conservative Association and the Crown Royalists still support her but they only account for 44%. The Socialist and Independent parties have long opposed the crown’s policies while the New Beings party often sells its votes to the highest bidder. She’s been forced to build a coalition government out of the Crown Royalist, the Conservative Association, a few independents (not the party), and the Liberals.
Though the Liberal party is against the monarchy as its core belief the head of the party, Jonnus Slike often “releases members to vote their conscience”; which is political speak for going along with the Queen and Prime Minister. In return, the Prime Minister was forced to give the Liberals one of his cabinet seats.

What PCs would know concerning the Dramune War

The average citizen of Clarion paid little attention to the events in the Dramue War. Almost no one had heard of Gullwind and its adventures till a holo-vid was made!
Inner Reach won the war but lost the battle: in the end, a new crime lord managed to move in and take over operations on Outer Reach, and the old crime lord is reputed to still be skulking somewhere.

What PCs would know concerning the Beyond the Frontier Campaign:

Much about that campaign is still classified but the broad outline of the story has gotten out. It's generally known that the Royal Marines played a crucial role in liberating another star-faring race from Sathar oppression.

* This statement no longer holds true as I now have an ongoing timeline project.

Background

Like many tragic events, the Free World Rebellion on Kdikit at Madderly's Star had its origin in simple twists of fate. The human colonist were unavoidably delayed from reaching their new home till they had been upstaged by the vrusk.

The Frontier Agricultural Resource Mission (FARM) had met with huge success in its mission to establish a agricultural colony on Lossend to supply the growing populations on Clarion and Minotaur. The next mission was planned for Kdikit and its colonist volunteers were sought from both Clarion and Minotaur. Saddly the mission was delayed repeatedly after first contact with the vrusk and dralasites. It was further delayed when the new joint colony of the three races was organized on Triad in the Cassidine system. The FARM board of directors organized an altogether new mission for Rupert's Hole in the Cassidine system to supply food to the new colony on Triad which further delayed the Kdikit mission. When the colonist for Kdikit did reach their new planet they discovered that a new vrusk conglomerate, Naar, had upstaged them by five months.

Eight months prior, the Naar organization had only been a small aerospace trade house. Its director, Hatzk, had bid aggressively for the contract to supply vrusk interest on Triad but lost out to a larger trade house with better connections in the Terledrom government. Fearing that his trade house was about to be frozen out of lucrative opportunities, Hatzk liquidated assets and converted the trade house into a new style of company called a conglomerate. His intent was to colonize and develop a whole planet or star system. Believing that Kdikit was free for the taking he moved his operation there. Within a few months Naar had built an active star port, several corporate style farms and the necessary infrastructure to support the aggricultural exploitation of the planet.

When the FARM mission finally arrived on Kdikit the Naar Conglomerate welcomed them hoping that the human farmers would add to the overall Gross Planetary Product and help drive prosperity and the success of Naar. The human colonist, for the most part, quickly became embittered against the vrusk. Resenting them as interlopers on what should have been their planet.

Differences in philosophy also led to friction between the humans and the vrusk. Due to ecological disasters in humanity's past the directors of FARM required that the colonist involved in its missions had to practice a self sustainable approach with a soft impact on the environment. The vrusk approach was diametrically different being an industrial approach with a harder impact on the environment. Hatzk's commitment to growing his conglomerate as fast as possible and the rapid expansion of the industrial farming system quickly marginallized the human farmers.

The governments of Clarion and Minotaur, despite their differences had agreed to underwrite FARM missions as long as the new colonies were not beholden to either planet but would be self determining. So while the colonist for the FARM missions were drawn from both Clarion and Minotaur neither planet had direct control of the new colony. Feeling abandoned, the human colonist of Kdikit organized Freedom Committees. Some even declared themselves the true government of Kdikit.

The spark that ignited open hostility came when the Naar Conglomerate cleared land for a new industrial farm within kilometers of the farm of a Freedom Committee leader. Members of the Freedom Committees stormed and vandalized the industrial farms. Hatzk tried to demand reparations but then the rebels attacked the star port, rounding up all the vrusk they could. A majority of the human colonist supported the eviction of the vrusk but reactionaries began killing them. The killings were quiet at first but not completely a secret. Hatzk witness the first masacre from orbit before dispatching ships to Clarion and Minotaur to demand intervention.

Realizing that the situation had the potential to create an interstellar incident, and unsure how the government of Terledrom might react, the Crown of Clarion ordered the Royal Marines to move in a restore order quickly. Saddly, in the time it took for the Royal Marines to Reach Zdikit the killings had spread.