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.