 November 9, 2010 - 7:57pm | Out of curiosity, has anyone ever considered at what point does Star Frontiers stop being Star Frontiers. Is it when the rules are changed (as WOTC did when they added the core 4 races into D20 future) or is there something else, beside game mechanics, that makes Star Frontiers special? "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
 November 18, 2010 - 2:10pm | Let me put in my two cents as easily as I can. Not Star Frontiers: Star Wars, Fifth Element. Definitely Star Frontiers: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (new). Few worlds, real science, frontier feeling. No magic/fantasy elements, far-flung civilization, thousands of worlds. I hope this sheds some light on how I feel. :) I would want to add to gargoyle's list some elements of the game AT-43 if for no other reason than the figures for the human factions are cool plus possibly some elements of the movie Battle Beyond the STars minus some of the mentalist like abilities for the mentalist haters among us. and the medical science run as a stolen vehicle chop shop as well I guess- cutting off body parts from one alien to graft them onto another, while fine for the purposes of the story are not going to work from a science perspective. Still the movie being 7 Samuri/ Magnificent 7 meets Star Frontiers had a great Frontier feel even if it was a bit cheesy in parts, buy hey whats a movie from that time period without a little cheese? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 18, 2010 - 4:04pm | Let me put in my two cents as easily as I can. Not Star Frontiers: Star Wars... No magic/fantasy elements, far-flung civilization, thousands of worlds. Actually if you remove the jedi element (to which I would include senator ---> chancellor ---> emporer Palpatine), SW is what SF could "evolve" to. Meaning once the exploration end is done with anyways. The Galactic Senate is what a Council of Worlds could evolve to, the confederation which is the UPF could very well become a galactic-wide democracy centered in "the Hub of the Frontier: Prenglar" (the SF equivilent of Corsucant) --- all entrusted to protect the various independantly governed worlds (human, dral, yaz, vrusk, Rim, etc) from the Sathar. It could be said that SF is a pre-SW element. A more elegant game from a more civilized era, before the dark times... |
November 18, 2010 - 5:59pm | It could be said that SF is a pre-SW element. A more elegant game from a more civilized era, before the dark times... Bring in the Clones.... I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 18, 2010 - 8:23pm | It could be said that SF is a pre-SW element. A more elegant game from a more civilized era, before the dark times... Bring in the Clones.... Bring the droids!!!!  |
November 18, 2010 - 8:34pm | "This isn't the w00t were looking for"-Imperium trooper 1138 "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 18, 2010 - 9:12pm | "Several subspace transmissions were beamed to this ship. I want to know what happened to those Assault Scout deck plans!" "This is a consular ship. I am a member of the Counsel of Worlds and we're on a diplomatic mission to Clarion." "You are part of the Sathar alliance and a traitor. Take her away!!!" |
November 18, 2010 - 9:17pm | "I made the Dramune run in less then 4 parsecs. She's fast enough for you old man." "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 18, 2010 - 11:11pm | Nuga, "What a piece of junk!" Shat Rat, "She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself." |
November 19, 2010 - 8:26am | "That's because Dralasites don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Yazirians are known to do that." "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 19, 2010 - 8:34am | "kid I've flown from one side of the Frontier to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I ain't seen anything that would make me believe there's one all powerful force controls everything, there's no mystical force controls my destiny."- Derek Starkiller pilot/Captain of the Starfire "Then what does?'-Collin (Sabre) young Rimmer learning to become a Mystic knight "It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.'-Derek Starkiller "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 19, 2010 - 9:30am | "That's because Dralasites don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Yazirians are known to do that." Yazirian Ability Modifier Table STR/STA -10 The way we interrupt yazirians in Star Frontier is a lot different then their racial ability modifier.  |
 November 19, 2010 - 9:35am | Okay, I thought of a couple other things that would make it not Star Frontiers, at least for me. I know many of you will probably disagree with me on these ones but as others had said, the boundaries are different for different people. These were sparked by some of the comments in this thread and a few of the others: 1) Psionics/Mentalist abilities - They are a staple of many Sci-Fi settings and were introduced in Zeb's Guide, but I don't like them. I've always envisioned SF as a not so distant extension of our own technology with a few "super techs" thrown in (accidental discovery of FTL defying physics being the main one). I guess I just don't like "super powers" in my Sci Fi games. Maybe it's just play balance. We had a lenghtly discussion here on the site in some old threads on psionics and one thing that kept coming up was how to do keep everything balanced. 2) Related to that is super technologies and science fantasy elements such as Ringworlds, Dyson spheres, wormholes, etc. It's probably because I'm trained as a physicist (BS) and astronomer (MS, PhD) but I like my SF universe to be more in the "hard science" realm and those just don't belong there IMO. I have a hard time suspending disbelief when too much of that stuff gets introduced. 3) This one probably doesn't make it not SF but I'm going to mention it anyway. And I'm sure that I'm in the definite minority on this one (i.e. maybe the only person with this opinion) but there are way too many races. I'd be happy with just the Core Four and the Sathar. The modules introduced 14 more races (or 15. Were the Zethra in any of the modules or just in the Dragon Magazines?) and Zeb's guide added three to that. The Dragon magazine articles added 2 or 3 more. That gives us about 26 races in a very small region of space. And that doesn't even include the Gorlians which are mentioned in the rules but never spec'ed out until the article in the Star Fronteirsman. Much too crowded for my liking. I know most people like lots of aliens, I'm just not one of them  . It's hard enough running the Core Four races without adding in all the others. Of course I'm a much better player than Referee .Anyway, those were some other thoughts that came to mind. Let the flame war begin .Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
November 19, 2010 - 10:29am | The funny thing with me is that while I love reading novels that can be classified as hard sci-fi (Larry Niven, Jerry Pournell (sp),etc.), when it comes to SF or what passes for sci-fi movies or TV shows I have no problem suspending disbelief, and just enjoying the rollarcoaster ride. Psionics is not something I'm overly fond of, just like in fantasy games magic isn't something I'm fond of either, and I consider Psionics to be the "magic" of Sci-fi. In my Sf campaign Psionic characters, are rare, and really only appear in my pseudo-Star Wars campaign. Super tech is something I willingly accept just because it's fun. Anti gravity is a cheat I know, but makes for great cinematic combat situations where you don't have to worry about trajectories or characters spinning out of control in zero G because they missed an attack or were pushed by an opponent, or the affects of accelerating or making insane turns to both the space craft and crew in combat. Also having the fastest and coolest ship in the galaxy because you can cross multiple light years per day using your hyperdrive/warp engine/jump drive etc just feeds the my ego. As for the alien race issue, I know that realistically, the chance of finding a habitable planet, or even finding another alien race is very miniscule in real life, I have no problem accepting the number of Alien races in SF, or the idea that every star should have at least one habitable world. I guess when I play SF, watch a movie or tv series I can easily suspend my disbelief. Let let me now put it on the record that telObar's credentials make me green with envy (because I love science, but never had the discipline to stick with it and make a career out of it), and I have a great respect for anyone who has that kind of dedication, and intelligence. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 19, 2010 - 1:27pm | And that doesn't even include the Gorlians which are mentioned in the rules but never spec'ed out until the article in the Star Fronteirsman. Not having read the SFman article --- I always interpreted the Gorlians as a group rather than a race, sort of like a futuristic Crips, Hells Angels, Somali pirates, or whatever the implication may be for "Gorlian thug". Every adjective used in the game doesn't have to be a new race.  That said, a lot of the new races introduced in modules (and this is what I'll focus on here as I have little if any recollection of the Dragon etc articles) are races I would not consider as "PC races", rather simply indigent races on specific worlds. The Core Four have expanded across the Frontier, hence their use as "PC races" (ditto for the three Zeb's races expanding across the Rim) --- whereas the Eorna or Mhemne are world-specific NPC races. As such, if a party really wanted one in their ranks I'd make it a temporary NPC "retainer" at best (or in many cases just say no --- re: the Eorna are far more concerned with repopulating Volturnus than adventure). In short, if they live in caves they won't function well on a starship. In closing, the stars are a lot closer to each other in the Frontier. With so many life-supporting worlds, it stands to reason there will be numerous variant species discovered amongst them. But only a few will be capable of adapting/functioning/surviving on most of the other worlds - hence the core four. |
 November 19, 2010 - 3:02pm | 3) This one probably doesn't make it not SF but I'm going to mention it anyway. And I'm sure that I'm in the definite minority on this one (i.e. maybe the only person with this opinion) but there are way too many races. I'd be happy with just the Core Four and the Sathar. The modules introduced 14 more races (or 15. Were the Zethra in any of the modules or just in the Dragon Magazines?) and Zeb's guide added three to that. The Dragon magazine articles added 2 or 3 more. That gives us about 26 races in a very small region of space. And that doesn't even include the Gorlians which are mentioned in the rules but never spec'ed out until the article in the Star Fronteirsman. Much too crowded for my liking. I know most people like lots of aliens, I'm just not one of them . It's hard enough running the Core Four races without adding in all the others. Of course I'm a much better player than Referee .+1 The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi |
November 19, 2010 - 3:16pm | Not having read the SFman article --- I always interpreted the Gorlians as a group rather than a race, sort of like a futuristic Crips, Hells Angels, Somali pirates, or whatever the implication may be for "Gorlian thug". Every adjective used in the game doesn't have to be a new race. That said, a lot of the new races introduced in modules (and this is what I'll focus on here as I have little if any recollection of the Dragon etc articles) are races I would not consider as "PC races", rather simply indigent races on specific worlds. The Core Four have expanded across the Frontier, hence their use as "PC races" (ditto for the three Zeb's races expanding across the Rim) --- whereas the Eorna or Mhemne are world-specific NPC races. As such, if a party really wanted one in their ranks I'd make it a temporary NPC "retainer" at best (or in many cases just say no --- re: the Eorna are far more concerned with repopulating Volturnus than adventure). In short, if they live in caves they won't function well on a starship. I agree with both of these points. A always assumed it was just a description and not a race but others felt otherwise. And I agree not all those races are PC races but I still think there are too many. Of course, the adventures wouldn't be as exciting if they weren't there. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
November 19, 2010 - 3:59pm | Look at the bright side - if we had more modules, we'd have more races  |
November 19, 2010 - 4:03pm | Looking at our own little planet we have quite a pleathora of living things on it, some which have been classified as having an almost human level of intelligence. So to me the idea of life evolving on other worlds is not something I dismiss even in reality, considering it to be what some would call Human hubris to believe that we are the only intelligent life in the universe. Now even if realistically we say that there are very few planets in the universe which are habitable by our standards, that's still a lot of planets where sentient life could exist. Of course having so much life in such a small sector of space (like the Frontier) is highly improbable, It is not impossible, at least not to me anyway. What I find kind of hard to believe is that most planets only have one dominent race. I know for ease of play, that the one race one planet thing is common (Vulturnus being the exception rather then the rule) and I'm guilty of doing this as well, but I think it would be interesting to develop worlds with two or more sentient species. Another pet peeve of mine is the number of worlds with planetary governments. Where are all the worlds like ours where we have multiple governments, cultures, languages, and racial differences? I know the ease of play line will crop up here as well, but I think it would be interesting to have more diversity even with the core 4 like that great article about Yazirian clans. Ultimately however what I love about SF is that everyone can play the game and put their own spin to it, which is something that most modern RPG's lack. I love that even though each of us may have vastly differing ways that we play SF we still have a universal love for this game, and have enough common ground that we can cooperate to making the game better for everyone. So by all means pick apart my post and lets keep talking about this game of ours. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 19, 2010 - 4:09pm | Shadow Shack I'm sure that there is enough talent here to put together as many modules as you'd like, and as many Alien races as we can dream up too. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
 November 19, 2010 - 4:19pm | A case for psionics in SF: A lot of SF is based on the movies of the time, like Star Wars and Star Trek, but also on books, many of which are classics in the genre. Many of those sources include psionic abilities, although most such powers are various forms of telepathy and empathy. While full-fledged pyrokenesis, teleportation and the like is outside of my view of SF and would definitely be placed in the "non-SF" category, I could envision limited telepathic powers for SF characters. In any "official" version of SF (or similar games), I would put psionics as an option for GMs to use if they wish, as there are those who love it as much as there are those who hate it. Long live the Frontier! |
November 19, 2010 - 4:27pm | A case for numerous sentient aliens: In my studies of the possibility of extraterrestrial life (and I am an amateur, by far), I have found one axiom: life finds a way (to quote Ian Malcolm). Where the conditions are right for life to arise, chances are good of sentient life as well, even if not advanced. While the number of sentient races beyond the core four is rather ridiculous for the small area of space that comprises the Frontier, in a larger region there should be numerous intelligent, sentient races. Not all races should be at the same level of technological acheivement, however. Any thing from stone age to space age is possible; not all such beings need be hunter-gatherer primitives. Additionally, in fiction almost all planets that can sustain life have at least one intelligent race. My own version of the Frontier has many more stars, and thus more races, but that's my way. Long live the Frontier! |
 November 19, 2010 - 4:29pm | Hmmmm, I have considered Terl's thoughts on limited number of races and find myself in both agreement and disagreement over it. Maybe limiting the number of playable races would be the key. Discovering new alien races does seem to be part of the fun of playing SF and creating a new race to bring into SF is always an enjoyable challenge. Or maybe just limit the number of races living in the Frontier and any new races that players find or interact with come form outside the Frontier. |
 November 19, 2010 - 5:57pm | OK, I've spent too much time reading Alen Dean Foster Commonwealth novels. I lean more towards more aliens. Each world that supports life of it's own is on the road to intelligence in my mind. So I vary the worlds from primitive life to advanced intelligent life. I also feel that, "life finds a way". For colonizers like the core four I make it easy for them legally take over any world and have the natives end up pushed around like we did native peoples in the Victorian age. Some worlds are more ethical about this than others. I never present the other aliens a PCs. I allow the Zeb's races as PCs but in a more minority representation. I stick to my tech as close to what we can build today plus 100 years. I'm and electrical Engineer so its in the blood. If it gets any too super science like most TV/Movie SciFi then its not SF. I do not go for psionics. It's fun in B5, horrible in Star Trek, and went out of balance in Star Wars I-III. So I don't put psionics in SF. That doesn't mean that I might not use something perceived as mind powers, floating object, shared thoughts, etc. But not as player abilities or NPC powers to play with. More as plot devices. There are things that not even frontier scientists can explain. I don't bring in time travel. I don't let the frontier get too galactic/organized/civilized. I try to stick to a wild west / Victorian age Australia, India, Africa, Far East / early 19th century feel. The core four are busy expanding faster then they can fill the worlds they have. Everyone is after elbow room and over population is not a concern anymore. There is plenty of room and more just around the corner. This is a age of adventure where every thing/place is new. Once everything is discovered, conquered, and reined in it is not SF anymore. This is my problem when I try to imagine homeworlds. They are not frontier worlds and their governments are not frontier governments. Hence I have never settled how I will deal with homeworlds whether they are in the frontier or across the vast expanse. -iggy |
November 20, 2010 - 1:15am | What I find kind of hard to believe is that most planets only have one dominent race. Why not? We have a dominant species on our own planet. And once we finish killing each other off, the cockroaches will rise to power.  Another pet peeve of mine is the number of worlds with planetary governments. Where are all the worlds like ours where we have multiple governments, cultures, languages, and racial differences? Good one! I never really put much thought into that one, I specced out the various planetary governments in my game and never once considered the possibility of a world with un-united nations. I suppose for such a world, the issue would be who represents them at the Council of Worlds sessions? Do they end up having five or more seats for that one world compared to one seat for each of the others? Definitely worth exploring... Shadow Shack I'm sure that there is enough talent here to put together as many modules as you'd like, and as many Alien races as we can dream up too. That much, I have no doubt. Of all the adventures I penned for my game, including the two projects I have in the works here (Security Breach at Port Loren re-write for the Expanded game and a pre-UPF adventure in Truane's Star exploring power struggles between pre-megacorp start-ups Pan Galactic & Streel, Inc.), I've never felt the need to introduce a new species. I'm a firm believer that you can find plenty of trouble with what you already have. |
November 20, 2010 - 7:15am | I guess it depends on what you define as a sophant race. I mean if we only go by intelligence and social development as the measure of what makes a race a superior race, then dolphins, whales and several other animal species can be considered sophant races. If we add tool building to define a sophant race, then chimpanzees are a sophant race. But if we solely go by tech level then would 20th/21st century man be considered a sophant race since our technology does not yet equal that of the races of the Frontier? As for having more than one race on a planet, lets look at Tatooine, according to Alan Dean Foster's Star Wars novel (he wrote the novelization under the pseudo name of George Lucas) tatooine has two races native to the planet, the Jawas, and the Tuskin raiders. These two races evolved on the same planet, but are vastly different. So with the exception of Volturnus, why is the Frontier limited to one native sophant race/planet? I'm not for each world having an insane number of races native to it, but perhaps having several star systems, specially those with multiple garden/post garden worlds might feasably have several native races (which leads to some interesting ideas as to how these races deal with each other). As for having more than one government on a planet, and how many seats they have on the council of worlds, Perhaps all worlds have a set number of seats on the council (2 per world) and the planets with multiple governments might have to run an election with candidates from each government running for planetary ambassadorship. and maybe the council is run by a consortuim of 4 members (one from each of the core races). Going a step further maybe there is a lower house with each planet having a number of seats per government, and rulings have to be voted on by the lower council, and then the senate (or upper house), and finally ratified by the 4 supreme chancellors, which would lead to such a beurocratic boondoogle that most Frontier Worlds would rather take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for a decision from the council. This kind of weak government works well if your campaign ultimately deals with the evolution of a loose Frontier federation into some other form of government. And while I agree that the core 4 and the Sathar offer a lot of possibilities for adventures, Gamers tend to always be looking for a new thing that they can overcome (read kill), and many Administrators/Referees eventually start stereotyping the races if they limit themselves to a set number of races (I'm not saying everyone does it, but After 20+ years of gaming in the same campaign worlds I had to retcon the campaigns and start over because familiarity had started to become boredom). "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 20, 2010 - 8:37pm | Re: unified planetary governments According to Zebs the Time line of the UPF is only 111 year old at the end of the timeline which means that planets were colonized and to day only have 1 government because the colonizers were largely not divided except for Madderly's Star and Dramune. Lets face it the usual time frame for the average SF adventure is not the 111 mark but 30-60 time frame and since most colonies are not even 100 years old at this point its not surprising that they still have one planetary government. Plus with the established governments being already "in" the UPF the presence of the UPF will likely have a bit of a hindering influence for dividing up planetary governments. No one will want to be disadvantaged by not being represented in the UPF and there is no guarrentee that they will be represented because they declare themselves a soverign nation- the government they rebelled against is likely to do all that they can to prevent them from being recognized and claim that whats happening on its planet is an internal matter and that the Council of Worlds can but out as per established law. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 21, 2010 - 5:06am | Madderly's Star & Dramune have differing governments --- albeit one different gov per world. I see no reason why two (or more) habitable worlds in a single system should be mandated to "get along". Sure, it behooves them to do so, but there's nothing written in stone that says they must do so. The WoWW module details a frictional government base on a solitary world - a monarchy based upon three different parties, two being the vast majority and one who tows the line but is also known to throw wrenches in the engine. But it's still a solitary worldwide government, certainly capable (though unlikely, at least without any offworld assistance) of losing ground to said minority party. |
November 21, 2010 - 9:36am | "That's because Dralasites don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Yazirians are known to do that." Yazirian Ability Modifier Table STR/STA -10 The way we interrupt yazirians in Star Frontier is a lot different then their racial ability modifier. Hey maybe the modifier is because Yazirians come from a lower gravity world, than the common 1G worlds of the frontier, so at home that -10 becomes +0 and the Yaz' true strength is revealed...just a thought "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 21, 2010 - 10:20am | Just adding kindling to the fire here. Where does it say that each colony world has to have colonies from only one government, or special interest group (ie. corporation). If Habitable worlds are scarce and resources are at a premium, then why couldn't several colonies spring up on a world, each controlling a region and giving rise to multiple governments on a world. A kind of space race type situation would rise as different races/factions race to be the first ones to claim the choicest territory on a newly discovered planet. I know it sounds a little dark for SF but we have hints of it in the cannon books, with the corporate wars as an example of multiple groups squabbling over resource rich worlds. now if the reverse is true and habitable worlds are a dime a dozen, this situation wouldn't necessarily happen. Perhaps the so called "age of adventure" is a way of giving a nostalgic feel (or sugar coat) to a period of imperialistic expansion by species wanting to claim as much territory and resources as they could, and eventually the groups signed treaties and made trade pacts with the other nations to insure their rights and claims and to stop the squabbling over choice bits of territory which gave rise to a misnamed alliance government known as the UPF. And when the Sathar came this Alliance was tested and proved strong enough (barely) to hold up against the worm threat. As for the Rim...maybe during this time those displaced races who lost their homes to the imperialistic core 4 found new homes because of the generosity of a trade cartel who saw them as new clients (ie. The ifsnits), and these same traders saw the potential of using some of these new settlers as enforcers (Humma), and go betweens (the Osakar) to keep the imperialists from laying claim over their planets. (hmmm...the Dark Frontier, a mirror of US history on an interstellar scale). "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 21, 2010 - 2:02pm | Honestly, it doesn't say anything about planetary governments beyond citing that individual planets have their own governments. That's the beauty of it, the GM can develope each world as he sees fit. For example (prior to my Dominion campaign kicking in), I have Gran Quivera as a democracy and Minotaur as a dictatorship. Gran Quivera has numerous cities sprawled across the planet, whereas Maze on Minotaur is a huge mega-city that encircles the globe endlessly east to west (with a polar cap north and a desert on the south --- I have Minotaur as a moon orbitting a gas giant and tidally locked so one pole always faces the sun). Why did I go this route? It was laid out in the KH rulebook: Prenglar is home to both Task Force Prenglar and Strike Force NOVA, one each based on a civilized world. Hub of the Frontier and all that, home to the Council of Worlds...perfect setting for a unified democracy. Theseus is in a remote corner of the Frontier (only one travel route in or out in canon, others added in Zeb's that argueably shouldn't be public knowledge) and home to the mightiest milita in the Frontier...perfect setting for a dictatorship (and no, my Dominion campaign does not start here either --- Minotaur is perfectly content with UPF charter). As the UPF falls to the upstart "Sovereign Domain Authority" dictatorship (over a period of ten years starting in FY:71/ending in FY:81 - led by a yazirian* who originally trained under Louis V. Jameson, who is believed to have support from at least one mega-corp as well as the Free Frontiersman Foundation cult), planetary governors take office on each world enforcing the will of & answering to said dictator. This unified Frontier ends up being seen as a threat to the Sathar, and another Sathar War breaks out - the mega-dictatorship with their mighty war machine (boasting super carriers massing above HS:20 ferrying dozens of fighter craft to each battlezone) have little problem driving the worms back home. They even pursue them, but the war ends in a stalemate as the SDA discovers the gateway system to the Sathar homeworlds (which I observe as Zeb's does --- in the NE corner). Their supply lines simply do not permit further invasion and it basically ends there, the Frontier is safe from the worms but still not strong enough to eliminate them. But many citizens still yearn for the glory days of the UPF...and in FY:111 on the eve of celebrating thirty years of SDA peace --- a Liberation Party frigate from Clarion is captured in Zebulon carrying princess Leotia Valentine XXII, believed to be custodian to intel concerning an uprising of former UPF loyalists. Can the UPF return? And that's how I saw fit to develope "my Frontier". * "known to pull arms from their sockets" |
