 April 15, 2011 - 11:47am | Purpose of this thread is brainstorming what the home planet of the yazirian looks like: The following is what I would extrapolate from the yazirian racial description: 1. due to the yazirian pataguim (gliding skin flaps) it has been long assumed by many that the yaz were arboreal thus I would assume a large forest element with giant trees. Maybe not Avatar movie sized trees but at least CA redwood sized trees. Though the home tree of the navi was pretty cool. None the less, forest of Redwood and giant sequia like trees seem appropriate. 2. Not all of Yaz would be forest and other environments would be represented- rocky canyons and cliffs- equally exploitable by a gliding creature. Could also write in a compulsive tree planting imperitive to the Yaz- that they abhor barren plains and feel compelled to plant trees (opposit of what humans do-cut them down). This idea plays into the whole yazirians are the big terra formers of the Frontier- any place they settle they plant trees to break up the open spaces. 3. The Avatar movie hit on the bioluminescence issue and since the yazirian's eye sensitivity to bright sunlight has been written into them from day one, I've generally assumed a dim sun/nocturnal/dim forest existence for the yazirian early in his evolution. Writing in the bioluminescence to the plants and evironment would be cool and give you something to work with in describing plants and even animals. 4. The racial stat bonuses that degrade STR/STA could suggest a weaker gravity (which benefits the gliding as well). Similar to the navi of Avatar the yazirian evolved in a weaker gravity and thus were physically weaker on average and taller (see average racial height) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 15, 2011 - 12:46pm | So to catalog vertical terrain for the yazirian: 1. Trees 2. cliffs and canyons 3. Sea cliffs 4. mountains and steep hills Also: I'm thinking gravity of maybe 0.8 sol standard I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 15, 2011 - 12:49pm | In the sometime to be released Zebs guide to the core systems for the Star Frontier's (URS) I noted the Yazirian's Adopted homeworld as being Hargut in the Gruna Garu (Yazirian for Star gift) system of the very different Frontier of URS rules. This is an exerp of what I wrote for the system, please forgive the fact that I am using the Imperial system of measurement not the metric system: Hargut Type: Greenhouse Core: Magma Diameter: 4,385 miles Average Temperature: 1000F Gravity: .9g Orbital period: 595 days Notes: Hargut (Promise in Yazirian) is a world scarred by the ice age that existed on the planet for hundreds of thousands of years before the Yazirians came. The planet’s two main continents are covered by rugged mountains and deep canyons with winding rivers and areas of tangled forest can be found. The two largest continents on the planet straddle the equator and the three smaller continents rest in the southern hemisphere and are noted for the large expanses of rain forest that cover them. The Yazirians live in several large cities along the coastal regions of the planet, and these cities are marvels of technology. Hargut has several dozen native species that have survived the changes wrought to the planet. In addition to this the planet has more than 100 species of life that ecologists claim could not have evolved on the planet, and had to have been transplanted from worlds that have yet to be discovered. Hargut’s atmosphere still has a mix of pollutants and other greenhouse gasses which have allowed the planet to remain unusually hot for a system that far from the sun. The changes to the planet wrought by the ancient technology that brought the Yazirians to the planet have caused such profound changes to the planet that even the seasons are different from what they were before the Yazirians arrived. The planet’s first season is noted for a drop on temperature of about ten degrees on the average to roughly 90oF and sees an increase in the planet’s wind speed to roughly 26mph on the average. The second season sees the temperatures return to normal, but the winds continue at an accelerated rate of speed (26mph) and the chance of precipitation increases to 48%. The third of Hargut’s seasons sees the wind speed and chance of precipitation return to normal. "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 |
April 15, 2011 - 1:00pm | I'd have made the case for Hentz/Araks to be the new adopted homesystem with the presence of the headquarters of the Family of One. aside from actual Frontier planets that we have some baseline data on already, I'm kicking around ideas for the as yet un-detailed planet of Yaz. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 15, 2011 - 1:20pm | Over the years I moved the Yazirians around quite a bit...but eventually I settled on Grauna Garu in the 4.5 version of the rules, because I liked the idea of Gruana Garu meaning Star Gift in their tongue and the system being a gift to them from the projenitor race that left them in the Frontier. But what I thought was interesting was that you touched on many of the features that I had decided on when I wrote this blurb on the Yazirian homeworld for the URS nearly a month ago and you haven't even seen my work! So either great minds think alike or you are a master hacker sir and have been secretly looking through my files!  "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 |
April 15, 2011 - 1:25pm | no this is just me starting the Sacred Cannon Scripture of the Divines Star Frontiers and extrapolating what would be logical based on the known infromation. If however, our minds think alike I would suspect that your's works on large amounts of coffee... I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 15, 2011 - 1:37pm | Some thoughts on Yaz: Star: 0.75-0.90 solar masses in size. That will make the star redder and emit more light into the infrared (hence the Yazirian night vision abilitly). If you go with lower standard gravity, you'll also have a thinner atmosphere since the planet couldn't hold on to as much. What impact that would have on gliding I don't know. You'd also probably want to make it colder than earth. That would help it hold onto a thicker atmosphere since the air molecules would not be moving as fast and the weaker gravity would have an easier time holding on the them. Also it gives you a reason for the Yazirian to be completely fur covered. Anyway, those were just some astronomical aspects that popped into my head as I was reading this. 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 |
 April 15, 2011 - 1:50pm | I have always thought of the smaller star, lower light level that TerlObar mentioned. As per the lower gravity and it's effects on the atmosphere and thus gliding I am pondering this. My first thought is that the result would be a less dense air mass thus the gliding would be more difficult. But something suggests to me that this is not set in stone or right on the button. I need to talk to some of my friends who are pilots. -iggy |
April 15, 2011 - 2:59pm | I think that the strength penalty probable has more to do with the Yazirians having less bone and muscle mass than a human, which would make them better suited for flying. As for the fur issue, we have primates that live in a wide range of temperatures and perhaps the Yazirians are used to living at higher altitudes. Perhaps they dwell in mountainous terrain in more of a tiaga setting, and maybe in an area of their planet that has long winters with little sunlight which would have caused them to evolve with superior nightvision. "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 |
 April 15, 2011 - 11:55pm | As I recall from the scattered info, Araks/Hentz is the adopted homeworld, and had it's environment transplanted from an Exodus from Waloo(Pavor), I can't seem to find adaquate info on, but has been suggested as now being known as Beta? Which would make it the Second planet to sucumb to the Plauge?. Athor/Yast was the first colony opened to Yazerian expansion, and many tribes and clans that felt oppressed by The Family of One, settled on Yast as soon as they were capable. Gruna Garu/Hargut is a Pan-Gal/Family of One combined colony, there was a module about some event that occured on the base station during the early terraforming that was having problems, Araks has effectivly paid for the terraforming twice over but Pan-Gal has been slow in satisfying the contract. Scree Fron is effectivly a 'water monopoly empire' colony, they would like to break free from the influence of The Family of one, but the small colony is directly beholden to GOD-Co and has no known routes other than to Araks and thus no ability to gain support without Araks (and 'Family of One') consent. There was a module that occured here also but had less to do with the colony, and more to do with a space station. Both Araks and Athor have moved on the Vast Expanse, evading the council's reprimands and offical limits on expansion since the Sathar Threat, based on loop-holes in the Pan-Gal support of the Yazerian as an independant native empire early on, technically Athor's Interstellar Soverignty was recognized before there was a Council, making it older (by a few decades) than the UPF Council. How much of what is info from what book, im not sure atm, without looking... several modules, and a healthy amount of extraploation is in there... so pick away at the info... Their mane color ranges from glossy black to pale yellow and their skin ranges from gray to light tan, likely priority of terrain types suggested by this. !. Jungle Mountains and Arid Stepps (Central South America, North India, West China) 2. Canyons (We only have two really good ones on earth, look to mars for examples beyond compare anywhere else in the solar system.) 3. Arboreal (Black Forests of Germany shouldn't be overlooked as viable, neither should the Amazons or the great (and unalterably lost) Bamboo Forests, Seqoua are good but not the only choise.) 4. Sea cliffs (good examples of these are fairly plentiful all over the world, but rare to find photos and refrences.) The Yangtze River in China actually fits all of these criteria, making that region prime Yazirian Realestate for a well balanced empire. Plenty of very extensive caves too, nice for the light sensitivity and nightvision. The Amazons and Plateaus of South Amereca are a nearly tied second, caves are smaller forcing a more nocturnal/crepuscular cycle, but in the shades of the jungles and hidden falls they could stay active comfortably for all but the height of the daylight hours. Plenty of tertiary sites, from the mesas and canyons of the american west to the large forested highlands of central and eastern Russia, mostly nocturnal/crepuscular cycles here, but plenty of elevated places to hop around on. The Black Forests of Germany and the Congo of Africa are smaller in comparison to most of the regions, but close to, if not compleatly, pitch-dark even at noon! And they could always construct artificial elevation oriented cities, in flatter terrain, making plains city-fortreses a real defensive consideration. Interesting to see that the best places for the Yazi are also the least likey places to find Humans, come to think of it, all the core four are specalized enough to spread out on earth, without too much overlap. I have no problem with giving a good species its own racial variations either, The rare pygmy that keep to plains grasslands, like what once coverd the midwest north america, imaginge 20-30ft tall grass, thick as any unmowed field stretching across miles.. states even... (dosn't exist anymore tho' it all went the way of the Buffalo and the truly awesome Bamboo Forests....) they might need less elevation for comparitively equal glides due to size and weight, and function comfortably in lower elevation terrain types. Battle Rage and a napolean complex... some can learn to gain a little altitude from flat ground. Race of very rare white furred Yazi, living in high snowpeaked mountain ranges and arctic climes, no battle rage or light sensitivity, extremely stealth oriented, but otherwise the same. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 16, 2011 - 5:35am | not sure I'd make it "races" of clans as we have the very cool article in the SFman on yazirian clans the clans article already adds some nice differences giving players a real buffet to choose from. though we could ignore those clan distinctives and create 4-5 racial distinctions and specify which clans belong to which race. Perhaps we leave the clan distinctives alone (the give a small game based advantage) and write racial descriptions that dont give a game based bonus of any kind but instead they inform you on just things like skin color and size. Yet, IIRRC, the clans article did some of that with fur color as well. I suspect that for simplicity the racial distinctions are best forgotten and instead just create an inuit clan of polar dwelling yazirians and another clan of desert nomad yazirians. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 16, 2011 - 9:26am | no not "races of clans"... races of species, tribes of cultures.... clans of tribes... etc.. I make it a habbit to translate from the 'publishers-speak' found in most rpgs and novels. Humans, Elves, and Yazirians are Species, Races are groups that share common broad biology variation within a Species, Cultures share common broad social/political/philosophical patterns Within a Species or Race, 'tribes' are made of 'clans' made up of 'families', and represent sub-races and sub-cultures, of various sizes and structure. Another race might be the 'not-to-uncommon' orange/ruddy-yellow furred simi-pacificts, that have been popular around the net, based as it is on the orangutans from planet of the apes. My concept is that diversity of variation in race and culture, is just as wide and plentiful as is found with Humans on earth, and more so in respect to the Frontier, because they are so much closer to their homeworld origins. I'm not suggesting that they all need to be categorized and cross-refrenced. I am fine with detailing the major clans of the dominate tribe, and leaving short discriptors of the possible racial and cultural variation minorities. The minorities make up the bulk total of the over-all population, but individually are smaller than the dominate culture as represented. Same with the Vrusk and the Dralaisite... and Humans.... I assume there are still ethnic groups within the Humans of the Frontier.... and people still gravitate into groups with similarities as they always have... some colonies are entirely russio-asian, others french-indian, some are polycult-western, others polycult-eastern, entire asteroid mining colonies have been dominated by mid-eastern filial-clan conglomerates. This is easier to see with Humans and the 'near-human' Yazerians, but Vrusk and Dralasites have no reason not to be just as varried. (let me not go on about other races here, I get off topic easily enough  )Yazirians have even more reason to have such multi-cultural/racial representation in the Frontier, being so close to home, they have a larger population base to start with than the colonyship races. Then there is the plauges and wars, which have hit Yazierian worlds the least. The quarantine worlds are centered well beyond Yazerian space, positioned between the Humans and Vrusk, and the Sathar primarily targeted UPF colonies, facilities, and industires, leaving the Yaz out of the fight. Many wanted to fight beside thier new friends, but most couldn't, with a lack of ships and logistics avaliable to get them into the fight. Those that did and surrvived, are real rare legendary heroes among the Yazi. So the Pygmy, Yetti, and Zauis biological groups, would be accurately described as Races of the Yazirian Species, and the Clans of those Races in close association to the dominate culture surrounding the Family of One, would be representing sub-cultures. I obviously need to catch-up on my SFman readings... thats twice I have been refered to an article I missed since falling behind awhile back. Just to point out, it has been regularly pointed out, that most rpg publishers have regularly misrepresented the definitions of the words 'race' 'culture' 'species', frequently using the words incorrectly or as compleatly synonymous, Interviews with the authors and publishers themselves, have gone on long speaches, about how they would like to make it easier to read by using legitamate defenitions, but are frequently stiffled by the overused misrepresentations already in common use, effectivly blaming it all on Tolkeen's missuse of the terms. In those interviews, many publishers and authors of fiction in general, including Tolkeen, have stated that they use the more apropreate definitions in their own notes. The blame is on the tendencey for 'industry standard' mimicry, and I throw-in with the minority that refuse the establishment, when the status-quo has been proven inadaquate. man i need to make shorter responses!!! a curse I blame on being missrepresented too many times, that forced me to arm myself with an awareness of standard and standardized communication, in self defence.Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 16, 2011 - 10:17am | back to topic. if the information I have on Hentz and Waloois correct, then Hentz as a homeworld would look like a massive exodus colony, with cities in all the best rerrain locations (Massive Mountain Rivers, Gigantic Canyons, Colossal Cave Systems, and the largest Plateaus would make the best sites, even before the Great Arboreals). Hentz is clamied to have no significant native ecology if any exsited at all, and the ecology is compleatly transplanted from Waloo. In that case The Great Arboreal Regions from Waloo, would still be too young, and over the last few centuries the advantages of hard-fortress locations in other elevated-terrains and cave-systems, would have easily become more popular. Also being more resistant from orbital invasions, they would have military advantages of placing populations in such locations. This means that whatever Tribe(s)/Clan(s) were Arboreal, would have had to shift the focus of their traditional homes, to adapt to the new worlds. And forests would be given to extremely protected preserves, and not centered on high-traffic population centers. Even on Waloo the likelyness is that the major global cultures might have been Arborealocentric, but those reagions were probably still a minority in landspace, and such empires would still encompass other viable terrains in more abundance. My vote for is still on the two major world cultures, one centered on reigons reminicent of the Yangtze and Huang He Rivers, and the other on reigons reminicent of the Altiplano and Brazilian Highlands. a third could be from a region similar to the northern india mountainous regions, another from a massive martian-like canyon imposed on the central and eastern russian biome, and the fifth of a power of five in an Aboreal Grassland Plains.... when the Yazerians were introduced to the the frontier by the PGC they were suposedly still largely a primitive balkanized tribal-culture, and no 'world unity' exsisted, the Exodus is what brought them together, the best place to build a major facility for the Exodus would have been the Plains outside the Arboreal Yazi's homelands.... but the Yaz of the YangTze-rians and Altiplanori ethnicities, would be in regions that would have an easier time 'funding' such an endeavor. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 16, 2011 - 11:10am | *sigh* and this is why I walk to the beat of my own drum...no need for research, just make it up on the fly. I think one of the traps in utopian science fiction has been to create homogenized cultures, you know single world governments and everyone having the same cultures beliefs and environmental adaptations to each race being ignored. in my opinion there are too many global governments and not enough balkanization in the Frontier, which is why I like the idea of the Yazirians Clans as being more self sufficient, and self interested organizations that often oppose each other over such things as resource rights, prime colonization spots, prestege, prime breeding stock, and all the other things that "real people" compete with each other for. Though a little off topic I can generally see the Vrusk as having a homogenized culture, while I see the Dralasites as kind of a tag along race (no offense to Jedion's avatar) happy to adapt to the cultures of the races around them, absobing the best qualities of each race that they encounter and yet within their own planets being ruled by a true Participant Democracy where each Dralasite has a right to voice his concerns about how he wishes to be govererned and loving the opportunity to do so. Humans unless they are not transplanted from Terra I think would be a kind of wild card being balkenized on a interstellar level with as many government types abroad as we have here on earth + a few more. As much as I enjoy Star Trek, i have a hard time accepting the unified terren government thing (it just doesn't seem to be in our nature as a species). I think that species traits, such as fur color due to environmental adaptation should play a role in clan association, and clans should be competitors with clan prestege dictating how Yazirians relate to one another, and I have a problem with the we are all brothers despite our clan affiliation mentality, I think Yazirians should be just as prone to turning a blind eye towards the suffering of non clan Yazirians as humans often do to their own species. I know it's a darkened view of the Frontier, and maybe I'm slipping back to my Dark period (my games were exceedingly dark during the '90's), but I think the exploration of the "Human" condition even if transplanted to another race is very interesting and variety is the spice of life, or in this case adds a lot of ingredients to insure that there is no threat of running out of adventure ideas for a very long time. "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 |
April 16, 2011 - 1:29pm | Hardly homogenized  I thought I made that clear, though I didn't put it in that term.The Vrusk, Humans, Drals, and Yaz are very balkanized, with each other, within each other, and both on the interstellar and planetary scales. Then bring in the Sathar, thats what the Sathar are said to specifically be exploiting, the focus in all thier espionage! Destabalizing from the inside, and they find all the balakanization makes it easier to control things from behind the scenes! When it really comes down to a point by point breakdown, no species is less balkanized or homogenous than another. The Dral still come from a 'whole ecosystem' homeworld and have varients adapted to divergent biomes, same with the Vrusk, the Yazi, and obviouly (look around) the Humans. All the core-four are fully diverse sapients, with long histories, sub-cultural splinters and merges, and all that comes with it. The Vrusk culture is not a 'single incorporated entitiy' but a conglomerate of individual independant colonies, made of a hegemoney of castes, guilds, and proffesional houses, each with thier own divergent histories and lienages. They share comonalities of Species and Culture, but each time you take a level off there is another layer of wide diversity. Vrusk are not a 'hive-mind' in the litteral sense just more so than the typical human culture, Dral are not homoginized clones of each previous generation, they are biologically introverted but socialy extroverted and far to understanding of the philosophy of modularity and respectful of individuality to be mere clones. The Yazi are not all bloodthirsty savages falling in regemented theocratic fealty to the living-divine-family, they are just a relatively young sapeint species, thrust into the interstellar arena from a primitive mindset, in just a few short centuries. The Frontier as I see, is rife with power-struggles and factionalizations, speciesism, racisim, and cultural oppression is still everywhere, greed and avarice, pride and prejuduce, failings of morality is found in all the races no matter how that morality is defined, even the Sathar. Not even in clean retro kiddie sci-fi shows, Rocky Jones, Flash Gorden, and Buck Rogers, was everything a 'perfect utopia', people still carried around solid currency and fretted over 'paying the bills', and desired more than thier share, it wasn't a 'perfect' Type-I society. I don't see the Frontier being a Perfect Type I either, there are monarchs, corporate dictators, and adminastrative govenors, Port Royal doesn't have the exact same legal structure as Port Loren, and Kdikit still suffers from Human/Vrusk prejudices, hate crimes, and unfair laws. The brutal history of the Yazi most likely has a very recent, if not on going, problem with Overseers and their Rightless Herds, and various forms of caste, gender, and cultural, superiority/inferiority beliefs. I mean what are the Disenherited, if not an oppresed caste, and how much an somone of a higher caste get away with? what about in their own land, where such Yazi are a drain on the Overseers resources, if not used as free labor? Definatly not a boring homogeneity at any level, or in any of the core species. You are displaying a possible speciesists view of the Vrusk. Humans and Yazi frequently have difficulty seeing one 'bug' from another but to the Vrusk their 'faces' are as varied and and expresionable, and their ethnic lineages are as obvious, as those of Humans and Yazi are amongst each other. Dralasites have less trouble with such 'undetermined individualality' of another species, as they gain their recognition ques from smell, and subtile behavior differences, they avoid the 'they-all-look-the-same-to-me' much more readily than those races that rely on appearance alone. Everyone tends to think Dralasites all look alike by appearance, even Dralasites when focusing on that aspect alone. But several sub-races of thier species is likely to still exsist, environmental biome divergance necesitates a diversity on thier origional homeworld, some prefer deserts, others marshes, others sulfuric thermal vents, etc... in fact the necesecity due to the reproduction method, says it might take as little as one or two generations to develop a new sub-race, in a new environment, and another reason that a Dral 'leaving home' is akin to a funeral procession, and a Dral returning on such an extended absence is treated like a stranger. ack... off topic again... bad! Bad! and I just said I wasn't going to take this discussion here. I kinda already saw that someone might bring up the 'one species, one culture' problem, especially after the confusion about my use of Species, Race, and Culture.... it is another 'Elf is Elf is Elf, because the book only says Elf' thing. It's only a homoginized culture if you don't need to identify sub-cultural divergence and factional interplay in the plot or environment that pertains to your adventure. and in a very broad stroke you can just say Type I society if it suits that need, I like getting my hands a little more dirty with the polotics and power-struggles. The problem with Star-Trek, Rocky Jones, and Buck Rogers is the majority of the view was from a military internal perspective, Flash Gorden has no exucuse... other than it's atempt to be, an innocent-all-american-boy, joy-riding a scientists-toy, Edisonade style. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 16, 2011 - 6:20pm | Item #1: since all the colonies are fairly young and we have to assume that for the most part they were set up with only 1 government at the start I dont think that enough time has elapsed for a lot of political divisions to occure yet. Divisions between planets- Inner and Outer Reach yes; Pale and its police action on Cygnus Omicron IX (where ever that is) yes, Pale very probable interference/intervention on New Pale after the food riots yes. yazirians being clan based societies would experience a fast rate of political division but their racial description in AD says they learned to get along more with the advent of space travel so maybe with the yaz its political division on a system by system scale- something I'm very cool with as I see great possibility for a yazirian civil war of sorts fought between the Hentz and its daughter colonies who have had enough of the Family of One's arrogance and pushiness. Back to balkanization- you'd get it between planets but with the Council of World and the sathar threat I would think that even thought it would eventually happen the above named influences would delay it. Item #2: ok spiritC, I hear you on the whole race/clan/tribe progression but I think that different racial expressions still come down to creating some new clans to represent those racial divisions. Also I'm pretty sure that shadowshacks clan article has incorporated racial things into it. So with all the cool things that shadow did with his article I dont really see any way to improve on it other than to add a few new clans (white fured polar clan and etc.) It really comes down to the KISS rule adding a new layer of distinction to yazirians characters will, I believe, add a new layer of complication. One thing that the racial things should not do is add anything that has tangible game effects like the special stuff from Shadow's article. Item #3: Spirit C where are you getting all this background and history on yazirians that I've never heard of? Example: home planet named Waloo? and PGC introducing the yaz to the frontier? I'm usually pretty up on all the cannon material and I'm completely unfamiliar with much of the stuff you've been talking about. Could you point me to the source? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 16, 2011 - 8:15pm | I have to disagree with the colonies being relatively young even if we go from the Age of Adventure (125-10 P.F.) to the current age 111 F.Y the Frontier has been colonized for slightly over 236 years according to Zebs timeline, and if we look at US history that is roughly about as long as it took for the U.S. to go from colonial times to the end of the 20th century, which means that most colonies should have already grown to the size of minor planets with several million inhabitants. So unless there has been some kind of population control having been imposed throughout the Frontier there should be very few worlds that are actually colony sized worlds, most Frontier planets should have a population about as large as any european country. "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 |
April 16, 2011 - 8:29pm | Thats the thing Deryn, I never really envision most of my games happening at year 111 in fact most of the modules and most of the games I would tend to run would be much earlier in the time line which would be somewhere between the 1st and 2nd Sathar wars. Still were talking about a young civilization 200 years is young, especially compare to most in Earth's history. Throw in the outside menace of the sathar which is never ended in the current timeline and I think that the Frontier would be slow to fracture and since most colonies would start with what would ammount to a world government as the colony grows the government will grow and solidify its control. After year 111 I would say it would make sense to introduce some fracture I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 16, 2011 - 9:26pm | I don't think of it as the Frontier fracturing but most gamers myself included sadly all to often fall into the one planet, one government mind set and even fall into the trap of generalizing a whole race because that kind of short hand makes things easier, but thinking abot it realistically and yes from a human perspective, I see that the dream of a benevolent planetary government such as that of Star Trek is not very feasable, and that games such as Traveller 2300 (or 2300AD)'s view of colonial governments are closer to the truth. Even when I wrote out my alternate Frontier timeline I remember one of the comments that stand out was saying that my timeline was a bit dark, but as I wote it I tried to think of how things would work out if it was Terren Human who encountered the core three and all the political and social upheaval that would surround such an event. I guess I'm a bit pessimistic when it comes to human nature and how our future will turn out and I think I might be coloring the other races with the same paintbrush. Anyway back to the topic onhand... The Yaziran homeworld and the Yazirians. I still think that they are more a race of beings that are perfectly suited for an existance in a cooler climate in rugged or mountainous terrain with large expanses of conniferous trees and possibly where sunlight is defused either due to atmospheric conditions (heavy cloud cover) or because the tilt of the planet leaves a large area of the planet in twilight for a long period of time. "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 |
April 16, 2011 - 11:08pm | #3) Waloo has been around on many sites, mailing lists, and in a few places here on this site, and traces back to the dawn of the internet plus some.... I think it is what represented an early extraploation of what the designers were doing when such information was still fresh, a particular book.... I got nothing, and I have exahsted my search, but there are alot of items in the books that support commonly accepted consensus... 'fan canon' if you will........ and that suports my own extraploated discription from earlier.... like I said, pick it apart if you like... I can't support the Waloo Exodus from any book I've looked through yet.... All I can offer is it seems I remeber seeing something.... in print somewhere... a long time ago... and it has become a repeated consenus online, and that gives it some weight... means some significant portion of the fans accept it as canon.. if it was one site or even a half doz.... if it had not been something I've seen come up even after the 'net purges' that have happen to fan works, over several decades, I wouldn't say that. #2) Thats fine, I just don't catagorize the groupings that way, I like it more dynamic. I am all for KISS on the surface, but under that I want to get dirty, and I like to put enough into it for others that do, which has been more than the minority in my groups. Clans made like D&D subraces just doesn't work for me, D&D subraces made like they are often don't either. I want the complexity of a species' races, ethinic migrations, cultural divisions. To me The Yazi Clans are represintative of a subset of the races that have aligned to the Dominate Culture, those clans are from many ethnic groups, and all part of the Dominate Tribe of the Family of One. Not all the clans or tribes from the Yazi races, are subservient. Those that can, have split, especially on Athor/Yast where the Family of One and GODco has little, if any, influence. On Yast the 'old clans' and societies could reform, and have experianced a renaissance, Athor is not marked by a 'single colony' government, the 'balkanization' would have been quick and celebrated as a return to freedoms of ethnic independance, the view from outside is that the city around the main starport is a 'true democracy' of sorts, but really the power on Yast is divided into local regional powers, some of which have returned to nomadic traditions, others to confederated Overseer baronies.... yea I am sorta brainstorming from the cess pool of knowlege... mine and others.... so it's just for consideration, the state of affairs as i see it, like I pointed out somewhere, two diffrent people could describe it two difrent ways, and still be acurate. (are they more like Interstellar Imperial Shinto or Technocratic Egyptian Scientologists? well really neither they are Interstellar Tribal Arakasi, but what does that mean?!?) #1) oh this one wasn't directed to me, nm, I think I already responed to it anyway I agree with the idea that it hasn't been long even if taken at a couple centuries, and the planets are aproximatly european sized populations in a few hundred years, (except the Yazi who have a planet sized population spread out on two planets, two outposts, and a doz. system facilities used as agro-farm stations, asteroid mines, shipyards, The Vrusk who have shown an ability to make sudden 'hive explosions' and settle new colonies, and Dralasite who can do the same as the Vrusk but have expanded much more slowly, and all the worlds that suffered quarantine and Sathar attacks which made everyone except the Yaz drop in population.), and the core worlds have a few cities, elected officals, monarchies, baronies, corporate outposts, ghost towns and packs of roaming bandits, nomads, and camera wielding tourists, etc.. etc.. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 19, 2011 - 8:17am |  This looks very fitting of the suggested terrain prefrences. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 19, 2011 - 3:32pm | I think it might be, I was surfing for pics I have a larger selection now. wasn't looking to see if I recognized it when I grabed it tho', just my initial reaction to the basic archetecture, and overall terrain.... to me, terrain looked flatter than this concept art, looked much different in the movie. Still, it is surrounded by a thick forest, has plenty of natural air-circulated caves to hang-out in in, sits on a cliff surrounded by arboreal mountain spires, but still the tallest structure. Yazi could be very comfortable in this area, fishing is good, hunting is good, defensible from above and below. The large domed towers as an arcology, could be centrally open tiered levels, with rooms around the inner walls, and open windowed levels around the tops, for gliding between the diferent towers, and defending from ground attacks. Could be different from what others think about this, but I see the Yazi grouping into smaller population centers than the rest of the frontier typically does.... more numerous smaller city states, rather than fewer central metropolis. Each one dominated by a local kin-clan overseerer. there would still be a central capital, where representative clans of each tribe hold council with the 'Family of One', of course. But they prefer their space and like to spread out more, in my view. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
