 August 25, 2011 - 6:44am | Somehow I don't see a conventional invasion with hundreds of thousands of casualties being on the menu. And you have to wonder if they nuke the planet will the sathar return the favor on their next raid. Kinetic strikes are as good as a nuke and leave no radiation but do we really care if we irradiate a worm infested world? After all habitable worlds seem to be a dime a dozen. Would a scorched earth / shiva option be effective or will it open a can of worms. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 30, 2013 - 10:57pm | Perhaps the lower casts soldiers are what iggy suggests, nothing but mass produced and programmed cannon fodder. The average sathar is middle caste and then there are some upper cast leaders who contol the sects. the suicide thing is programmed into the lower cast and the self destruction of sathar ships is on orders from the chain of command and has been followed by the middle cast sathar to date as they saw no hope for survival and it was ordered. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 31, 2013 - 4:38am | suicide thing is not limited to lower castes. Japanese Samurai and Army Officers saw it as their duty to kill themselves especially if they failed and Mayan upper caste were all that was appropriate for sacrifice. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 31, 2013 - 6:57am | suicide thing is not limited to lower castes. Japanese Samurai and Army Officers saw it as their duty to kill themselves especially if they failed and Mayan upper caste were all that was appropriate for sacrifice. This may be part of the indoctination of the sect- that ordinary sathar that might balk at suicide are indocrinated in the cause. It would also be part and parcel of the sects sending some back to retire in the regular community because they encourage the young to vollunteer. Its sort of like a university showing deference to those you did a missionary tour, students that didn't might feel some resentment but its probably not wrong for the school to show some defference to those you have vollunteered and served. It also becomes a subtle pressure to do you part and do the tour which is not a bad thing from the perspective of the school or in this case the sathar sects. returning sathar recieve some defference in the community because they have served the cause of the Great Worm- there it is- I'm clearly becoming corrupted by Vmnjn's material. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 31, 2013 - 8:14am | Sorry. I just usually like my villains to be as complex as the heroes. Of course there are "evil" people who are really "evil." History gives us plenty of examples. However I often get the impression that most are just doing what they believe is right, following orders, bowing to peer pressure, etc, etc... As far as the suicide angle, I've always had trouble with it. It just seems so counterintuitive. Now we have plenty of examples like with Japan during WWII. However, the death before dishonor sort of thing was hardly universal. The closest I could come up with was making the sathar all be passively telepathic or empathic to some degree. Basically the sathar can "sense" each other and once "one" gets too far away? Either because the other sathar with it are dead or fled. An isolated sathar looses that subconscious connection and much of its tether to sanity. The sathar basically "snaps," going berzerk or becoming suicidal. That's the nature part. The nurture part is covered early in the tribes with horror stories of their enslaved days, seperation from the tribe, etc... Then reinforced later with years of sect indoctrination. Sathar "scouts" and "00's" are toughened up to handle going without that background "connection" for extended periods but as soon as they believe they've lost any realistic chance of getting it back? They also "snap." Now I do think the suicide thing is still not universal. The Frontier just has not encountered the "right" sathar yet. Who instead of snapping will just get very depressed and listless. Even the sathar in Face of the Enemy were still heavily indoctrinated. Despite having less combat oriented personnel, it was still an intelligence operation in hostile territory after all. |
January 31, 2013 - 2:36pm | there is a small problem with the "cut off from telepathic contact" thing in that the jarred sathar brains left running an obelist or something would be cut off and would thus snap and be useless to run the facility. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 31, 2013 - 3:59pm | True, I pondered that the brain-jar process lobotomized the sathar to some degree. Or perhaps, supplanted slave bots with sathar in their sense of "connectionness." Hardly the best answer but I've always found the whole, "i can haz seppuku" aspect of the sathar to be a bit too odd. Then again maybe the whole "off switch" thing is, itself, UPF propaganda and Spacefleet does have sathar prisoners. In highly classified, and remote, prisons. |
 January 31, 2013 - 7:34pm | Now there is a good twist. Sathar deep in a UPF prison and the pc's somehow come across this. What a find that would be since the UPF would probably hunt them down and kill them just for knowing about it. |
 January 31, 2013 - 8:53pm | Or the Sathar brains were just misfits and loners who for some reason didn't need the companionship/mental link/whatever with the other sathar and so could function independently. There are bound to be some in populations of millions or billions that are just different. 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 |
 February 1, 2013 - 12:05am | I like TerlObar's idea of loners being conscripts who fit the mental bill to be brains in bottles. Also remember the sathar are very good at making cyborgs. Maybe they know how to turn off the sathar need for companionship. Maybe they even do brain surgery on the troops that are cannon fodder. They may have a massive population problem with their hermaphroditic biology. In their natural state their population was controlled by disease, resources, etc. Then they were enslaved and breed as soldiers. The breeding and better health has promoted a population explosion. The sects are just managing the brood or what ever you call a mass of worms. -iggy |
February 1, 2013 - 5:22am | I like TerlObar's idea of loners being conscripts who fit the mental bill to be brains in bottles. Also remember the sathar are very good at making cyborgs. Maybe they know how to turn off the sathar need for companionship. Maybe they even do brain surgery on the troops that are cannon fodder. They may have a massive population problem with their hermaphroditic biology. In their natural state their population was controlled by disease, resources, etc. Then they were enslaved and breed as soldiers. The breeding and better health has promoted a population explosion. The sects are just managing the brood or what ever you call a mass of worms. This I like as well as Terl Obars comment. This works for me. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 1, 2013 - 7:27am | That could work. Now there is a good twist. Sathar deep in a UPF prison and the pc's somehow come across this. What a find that would be since the UPF would probably hunt them down and kill them just for knowing about it.
It could open some interesting scenarios like players stumbling across a brief distress call that leads them to a remote part of the system. They find a heavily armed and fortified installation either in chaos or already in ruins. They discover some sathar inside who are either busy turning their fellow inmates into slave bots, have "turned" the warden, the distress was actually aimed at other sathar who are coming to rescue them, etc, etc... |
February 1, 2013 - 10:20am | Another scenario that has been evolving in my mind is one sect sends representatives to the UPF to negotiate. Its seems one sect has been dabbling with things they aught not and have been attempting to bio-engineer a Great Worm ala Jurassic Park. Because the "voice of the Great Worm" figures in the evolved post slave religion this is generally percieved as abhorrent and corrupt by most sects. The problem is this sect has bio-engineered a weapon against its fellow sathar and has decimated 5 sects as an example thus the remaining sects are willing to deal with the devil they know as the UPF to destroy the greater evil of this corrupt sect that looks to take over all gallactic sathar society. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 4, 2013 - 8:34am | Maybe nukes were not used previously because either race wanted the world. If the Sather suffer from over population, they won't use nukes. You cannot colonize or harvest from, a planet that is a nuclear wasteland. I think, the UPF would blockade and bomb from orbit. Some Sather would fear capture and commit suicide - death before dishonor ~ like Japan in WW II. Then when the population was low, send in the troops. You have to send in troops because the UPF would see the planet as a treasure chest of intel. The first wave would DEFINITELY have combat robots and warbots. Establish a beachhead and move on to the first city. Then the next city, etc; until you have the world pacified. |
August 3, 2013 - 5:12pm | I can see the UPF employing the "god rod" weapon from orbit- nuke like effects but no radiation. but good point about population size dictating tactics I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 30, 2016 - 9:42am | Hello, I had a slightly different twist on this theme for any feedback. Please see my "Phrisk Anyone?" system brief for background. http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/9090 What would the Sathar do during the Second Sathar War if they knew about the S'sessu and their home world's location? I submitted the following as part of a sidebar story on a campaign ideas with the S'sessu to Frontier Explorer magazine: As the Worms Turn: After the outbreak of the Second Sathar War, the major S’sessu nations declared their neutrality in the conflict and strong-armed the other nations on Phri’sk to follow their lead. All S’sessu were ordered to leave the Frontier and return home or their citizenship rights would be revoked. Explanation: I would think the S'sessu would recall all their citizens so as not to provoke the Sathar, but as you will read, I think the evil worms would have other ideas. Most left, but some notable S’sessu remained behind, a few even enlisted in the Landfleet’s Special Operations forces and learned to infiltrate the Sathar’s forces. One such operative, codenamed “Agni,” was lost behind enemy lines after obtaining sensitive intelligence. The PCs need to find and extract the agent. Twilight of Phri’sk: For nearly a century, the Sk’ky Srung clan controlled the S’sessu nation of Pho’Trassh’Nsk [this is the one that I consider to be the third largest S'sessue country] with an iron tentacle and harbored dreams of creating a world empire. About a decade before the Second Sathar War, the dictator Skky Srung-Ilsh the Loathsome died and was succeeded by his fourth offspring Sk’ky Srung-Ut. Called “Fatty Sk’ky” by the Ssostrans [citizens of the dominent S'sessu nation], it was hoped that the young, overweight Ssessu ruler would be less aggressive than his parent. However, Ut proved to be even more vicious than his forbearers. After a series of sham trials, he executed several close family and clan members – even his lover – by blowing them apart with antiaircraft guns. [Sound like a world leader who has been in the news recently?] Sathar Clan Y infiltrated Ut’s advisors and convinced the young dictator that with their help he could win a war against the S’sostrans and the Ssar’phesk to become the supreme ruler of Phri’sk. Clan Y diverted a taskforce from its attacks against the Frontier for a co-ordinated strike against Phri’sk to destroy all S’sessu space stations and shipbuilding facilities. Pho’Trassh spies sabotaged key defense installations before launching full-scale military assaults against its rivals as they battled the Sathar fleet. The overwhelming attack force destroyed Phri’sk’s defenses. Clan Y followed up the space assault with an orbital bombing campaign against the S’sessu’s industrial centers while seeding a bio-engineered blight into the planet’s atmosphere to cause crop failures. Clan Y had invited Fatty Sk’ky up to their command ship to witness the bombardment, but he soon learned that his own nation was targeted too. The Sathar leaders realized that Ut was too unreliable to be an ally, especially if he was willing to betray his own world. It is believed the Sathar harvested Ut’s brain for a cyborg machine, however. The fierce assault and plus crop failures resulted in the deaths of more than two billion S’sessu. Belatedly, a relief force from the Frontier arrived in system, but it was long after Clan Y’s fleet left. Though enraged by the Sathar’s attack, the S’sessu nations were unable to lend the Frontier more than token help during the closing year of the Second Sathar War. The PCs could be caught in the middle of the battle against Phri’sk, but their task would be one of trying to survive. They might even be able to thwart some of the Pho’Trassh’s efforts, but the Sathar attack force is too large for the S’sessu to win. Or the PCs might be part of a relief mission to Phri’sk. Or this is background for a later campaign event around FY 111 when someone encounters a Sathar cyborg that uses Fatty Sk’ky’s brain. Clan Y's motivations for the attack on Phri'sk will vary depending upon what the game referee's concept of the Sathar. Are Clans X and Y following the dicates of a computer (as Imperial Lord had postulated) or do they view the S'sessu as heretics for not following their view of what the Great Worm wants them to do? I didn't want to annihilate the S'sessu and figure that maybe Clan Y can't finish destroying them yet -- just knock them out of commission while they tried to eliminate the UPF first. Joe Cabadas |
April 4, 2016 - 12:14am | I like the plot hook about the S'sessu UPF recruit lost behind enemy lines during 2nd SW and the PCs must rescue him. Sort of a Saving Private S'sessu. Though one should not forget the S'sessu are completely amoral and would sell out the PCs to save them self. EDIT: in this case he should be a Lt. Not a Private. This would be quite the high level adventure. It would require holo screens for the PCs, after contact was made the S'sessu could do the talking. The PCs were chosen due to prior successful contact with sathar IE they ran the Volturnus campaign or the Beyond the Frontier campaign. They'll have top of the line equipment to start and potential encounters would have potential for lethal consequences. Total party kills should be a real possibility. Which also should have appropriate awards. Perhaps this adventure is a little bit of Saving Private Ryan, a little bit of Inglorious Bastards, and a little bit of The Guns of Navarrone (or any other rag tag/elite military strike behind enemy lines you care to name). Suggested subtitle for this adventure: Sathar, Slitherers, and Quick Deaths Oh My! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 4, 2016 - 12:32am | On the topic of rewards: how about the astrographic charts and jump routes leading from sathar space to Earth? Or for the non earth purist the dralasite home world of origin? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 4, 2016 - 9:20am | I like the plot hook about the S'sessu UPF recruit lost behind enemy lines during 2nd SW and the PCs must rescue him. Sort of a Saving Private S'sessu. Though one should not forget the S'sessu are completely amoral and would sell out the PCs to save them self. EDIT: in this case he should be a Lt. Not a Private. This would be quite the high level adventure. It would require holo screens for the PCs, after contact was made the S'sessu could do the talking. The PCs were chosen due to prior successful contact with sathar IE they ran the Volturnus campaign or the Beyond the Frontier campaign. They'll have top of the line equipment to start and potential encounters would have potential for lethal consequences. Total party kills should be a real possibility. Which also should have appropriate awards. Perhaps this adventure is a little bit of Saving Private Ryan, a little bit of Inglorious Bastards, and a little bit of The Guns of Navarrone (or any other rag tag/elite military strike behind enemy lines you care to name). Suggested subtitle for this adventure: Sathar, Slitherers, and Quick Deaths Oh My! Yes, would the S'sessu agent have "gone native"? Then you'd have an Apocalypse Now adventure. I just wanted to leave a few plot ideas for any game referees. I don't have a detailed adventure of that one yet. Joe Cabadas |
April 4, 2016 - 9:35am | Apocalypse Now, "Charlie don't surf!" Updated for version of required English reading : Heart of Darkness That's an idea too. I love Col. Kilgore. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
