 November 4, 2011 - 7:14am | BOWER TENT: a temporary tent like shelter that can be mounted on the side of a giant tree. Traditionally made from wood poles, vine ropes and hides. A modern version exist that is light weight and water proof. The tent can be mounted above or beneath a large branch for extra stability in high wind. A yazirian with skills that allow him to craft items for a survival situation can make one automatically if appropriate material is available. Any yazirian without such a skill can make a LOG check to see if he remembers enough to attempt to make one and then must make a LOG check to succeed. The primitive version can be water proofed by oiling with animal fat or plant oils but its not permanent nor 100% successful if a torrential down pour happens. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 8:07am | KESHECK OL-TOR: the ancient Angladoc name is kesheck o-tor which is literally kesheck tooth since this ancient war club was made from the teeth of the giant carnivore called the kesheck. Modern usage is o-tor. Modern versions of this weapon usually have metal head since the kesheck is endangered and protected in zoos and nature preserves. Originally the weapon was made from a hardwood handle with kesheck teeth set into the club by drilling holes with a stone drill tip and a bow drill. The teeth were secured with a tough animal blood glue and thin leather wrap. The pattern for setting the teeth varied by region and clan but a common pattern was four set at 90degrees from each other at the end of the club. Some times one was mounted on the end if the owner desired to be able to throw it. The handle had leather wraps and a loop for hanging from an equipment harness while climbing or to loop over the wrist to help secure it during combat. This weapon was a status symbol for only the greatest hunters and warriors since tradition held that a warrior must kill the dangerous kesheck by himself. Once a warrior died who owned a kesheck the weapon became a ceremonial item for his clan. In ancient times it was believed that the spirit of both the kesheck and the warrior that made the weapon imbued the weapon. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 9:32am | Brak-mira: is an ancient weapon made using similar construction techniques as the kesheck ol-tor. A straight or curved length of wood has a lengthwise groove carved into it and micro blades of obsidian or flint were glued in place with a strong blood glue. Prone to dulling easily the weapon was abandoned quickly once metal working was developed. Modern names for the weapon are bakmira or bakmra depending on dialect, region, or clan. The ancient form, brak-mira, derived from the root word mira, meaning blade. Modern bakmira are often simply refered to by their Pan Gal name: sword. Some very rare ancient examples of this weapon used flat sharp aquatic carnivore teeth and were less prone to the dulling problem. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 9:30am | OLT-MIRA: from the root words tooth and blade. In ancient times when suitable teeth were available ceremonial knives were made from from carved teeth with micro blades of obsidian or flint glued into a carved groove. Many were made from kesheck teeth if the beast was killed by group effort. Ceremonial knives are still made in this fashion in modern times but kesheck teeth from modern kesheck only become available as animals die from natural causes and the Family of One tightly control these. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 10:03am | ROPE: made in ancient times from vines (low tensile str) and only usable when fresh cut loosing pliability once dried out. Vine ropes are generally used for lashing poles together if they're not expected to stand upto to rigorous use. braided bark or animal hair and even long grass (moderate tensile strength) rope. At some point in antiquity rope walk mechanisms were invented and modern looking ropes from plant fibers were produce that had high tensile str if kept clean and dry. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 10:12am | OTHER EQUIPMENT: waterskins, spears, fire starting bow, clay pots, inks dyes and paints from plant and mineral sources. VOR BRISTLE BRUSHES: made from stiff VOR bristles and used for painting and writing though charcoal was also used for writing. Primary writing material was vellum, thin sheets of delicate animal hide cut into uniform sizes and stitched together with an awl and leather thong. The earliest yazirian books were scrolls. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 11:23am | MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: the Ranga Druma, a long narrow drum (20cm diameter by 60 to 80cm long) covered with skin on both ends and slung around the neck by a bandoleer the drum could be played by a dancer. It was played by beating both ends and its side with the hands. Wind chimes and metal symbols were also used. Occasionally small metal symbols that strapped to the thumb and fingers were used by dancers. EDIT: modified the name to match the Druma of the Yazirian Bard Thread I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2011 - 10:53am | Snares: leg snare made from rope were the most popular. Tactics were to drive animal toward snare and close in and kill it. Neck snares were used but not as popular. Pit traps are sometimes used but there is an expectation that a hunter should dive into the pit and finish the beast at close quarters. Net traps are only used when the goal is to capture an animal and bring it to a clan festivity. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 4, 2011 - 8:02am | The Khad'dan (pronounce: Kha-dawn) Created by Mathew Crymble In the past two week I spent a lot of time on the Way Back Machine looking for snap shots of old SF sites from the '90s and came across the khad'dan, a traditional yazirian weapon. Eventually made contact with its creator and we had a phone conversation where he filled me in on the weapon and some of the history of SF on the net during the 90s. The following is taken from notes I made during our conversation. Matt had speculated that since the yazirian had battle rage which is only a benefit during melee combat that for Battle Rage to have evolved in the yazirian species that they had to have used melee weapons. He further surmise that since they were fast and wirey and not super strong that it was probably an edged and not blunt weapon. Their racial ability modifiers make them below average in STA and STR so it would be a weapon with good hitting power on the first blow. Taking the Nepalese Kukri or the Ghurka knife and making it short swort sized (for a yazirian) its forward curve and broad heavy blade would have tremendous chopping power (a number of other swords from history come to my mind that are close parallels- the falchon being one and another that the name escapes me right now). There would be a tremendous amount of variation in style and length based on clan. The weapon's stats were published in the Sci con con book and he promised to try to locate them as time permits (he believes the book is in storage on the other side of the US from where he's currently working) The stats are basically the same as for the machete or sword but with a slight bonus for melee mod over the sword.(I'll speak on that latter). The weapon can aslo be thrown but this is done as a last resort as the yazirian can lose the weapon that way and its very important to him to keep it with him. Culturally its like a samuria and his swords, a traditional yaz will not want to be parted from it but there could be complications on worlds with weapons laws and Matt left that up to referee judgement if a player had a yazirian who carried this weapon whether he'd be allowed to walk around with it in public. Now looking at the Family of One with their uniform that tells you they are from Hentz and adhere to the Fo1 he decided that the khad'dan would be from Yast and would be the identifying mark of a traditional yazirian. You see a yazirian carrying a khad'dan and you know he's very traditional with a high probability of not being from Hentz. There is also an undercurrent of disharmony between traditional khad'dan carrying yazirians and the Fo1. The weapon is not limited to Yast or to any one clan its just very popular there. Note this weapon was created before the Zamra was printed in a dragon magazine. The zamra is thrown not melee so its of limited benefit other than to use while gliding or to take out a yazirians wings. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 4, 2011 - 7:39am | Ok the above post is the details, as I remember them and my note inform me, concerning the Khad'dan. Now I'd like to talk about those details. Stats: a sword has 3d10 damage, +10 melee mod, 2kg, and cost of 30 For the Khad'dan (barring obtaining the originally published rules) I would keep the 3d10 damage and 2 kg wt. Cost should be more because its special and is going to have more capability than the std. sword. 50-100 depending on quality, Throwing stats either those of the knife or somewhere inbetween the knife and spear. but I think the knife's range bands are fine I think. Melee mod- should it be +15 for race OR +10 for other races and +15 for a yazirian? Or should it be +10 normally but on the first chop of combat its +15? Side note, if you was using hit locations and the roll was a critical success then I would allow for the possibility of lopping off a limb (break out the cybernetic rules time) Concerning this item being a traditional weapon I would further take the reference to sabers in my poem Charge of Clan Renegade and interpret that word as a translation of this weapon's name. In my propose "Seeds of Civil War" concerning an eventual break by some of the yazirian colonies with Fo1, I always saw Yast as very possibly ground zero for that break so the view of Fo1 not being in favor of keeping the khad'dan and yazirians from Yast liking it plays into that idea. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 5, 2011 - 6:24am | New thought on the khad'dan: leave the melee mod the same as the sword and instead a yazirian holding a khad'dan when he battle rages gets a +5 to the rage attempt. The khad'dan acts as a focus item reminding him of his clan, its history, and heritage. This make the khad'dan a true racial weapon but no individual of another race has any reason to obtain one since the melee mod is the same and since of costs more than a normal sword. Finally I would also house rule that if a PC successfully battle raged and hit on the FIRST turn after the roll for battle rage then damage is Max. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2012 - 1:11pm | Kicking around an idea for a new skill: Yazirian Tradition A yazirian with this skill can make traditional, primitive equipment like the bower tent, and ceremonial knives described here (Same as Envrionmental sub-skill to make items) He can speak an ancient dialect of the yazirian language (like Angladoc) He's knowledgable on ceremony and tradition (LOG) He can use the khad'dan and the zamra at his skill level (DEX or STR for khad'dan) He must wear his clan symbol. Skill is considered in PSA if a yazirian but if another race studies this skill its out of PSA I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 10, 2012 - 4:35am | I think that on the ancient Yaz language issue it aught to be handled one of two ways. 1) there is one ancient dialect of Yaz I've already created and if a player is to have a choice there would need to be more so that he has a choice. But one has to wonder how often this subskill will come into play and what if the PC knows the wrong dialect? 2) so perhaps its that the PC can puzzle out and read any ancient for of yazirian based on LOG and skill level. Though there were many dialects their written forms were all close this this is an ability to read and decipher ancient Yaz texts. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 10, 2012 - 7:45pm | I imagine that Yazirian ancient dialects are about as diverse as human dialects. As such I'd say he knows one and can puzzle out the others with the aid of a polyvox using his LOG and skill level. This is assuming he is reading or listening to written/recorded material. If he is talking face to face then he can do the one language without the polyvox. Other dialects (face to face) require him to use the polyvox to study it and learn it at 1/(skill level) the normal XP cost. However, in a world of polyvoxes I don't see many players caring about this part of the skill. -iggy |
January 11, 2012 - 5:53am | Well two things Iggy, one I was simplifying this for playability because I rather doubt this subskill will come into play all that often and two I was also thinking about how I can read a Spanish paper and puzzle out the reporting despite an inability to speak it. In fact I can make a guess at things written in most of the Romance languages. I'm just thinking that creating a small handful of ancient yazirian languages might not do much for us. Perhaps the situation is like that with Old English, a modern listener or reader of Old English would be totally lost. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 11, 2012 - 2:38pm | And how many ancient Yazirian texts are there? The Yazirians abandoned a planet. How much could they really bring with them? Physical space would be at a premium on the exodus ships. Or are we assuming they digitized a lot of that stuff and brought it in that form. The exodus was less than 500 years ago. I don't imagine that, with a technological society, the language has evolved that much from then they left Yaziria, but maybe it would. So I don't expect there to be too many "ancient" texts that were generated after the exodus. 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 |
January 11, 2012 - 10:15pm | When you say ancient languages I think of early iron age and older languages. languages that have died out due to other languages taking over in the process of political change. Heck I'd have to look up the names of these in Earth languages because their thousands of years old. I'm thinking Rosetta stone stuff. This and the fact that I have learned an Malay dialect (Visayan from the Philippines) teaches me that once you get out of the group of languages that your own tongue is related too then puzzling out the language gets much harder. I can puzzle out many European languages because I speak a European language. I could not do that with Malay dialects until I learned Visayan. Don't ask me to puzzle out Zulu because I can't do it (I've tried it) even though my family lived in South Africa. I never learned any African languages to work from. These two aspects make my response to puzzling out Yazirian dialects a little more detailed for the player character. However, if we frame the Yazirian language base as coming from one branch then I could simplify both the age aspect and the language group aspect and buy in to Jedi's simpler rule set. I don't imagine that there is anything in language science that says an alien language must branch out as much as Human language has or that some must die out. I'm sure if this were true for Yazirian languages then it would cause the Human linguist to question how their language became so fractured, and that thought will cause some players to have a hard time with one language branch. I could easily do one language branch in my campaign and feel good about it because I start with one tribe. But I can see others not liking the idea because they imagine many tribes developing and wont like that tribes of Yazirians on different sides of the world all developed related dialects. -iggy |
January 12, 2012 - 5:21am | @ iggy & Terl Obar : you both are quite correct. I do believe that every clan that made the exodus brought with it its clan artifacts and treasures and that this would have included scrolls. For the yazirian tradition and history are everything and what would be the point of saving themselves and losing the soul of the clan? But good point about space and how much they could bring, have to spend some time thinking on that. Still I would consider that there are quite a few of these ancient records kicking around in yazirian space, held by one clan or another just waiting to be used as a plot point, hook or device by a referee. I equally consider them to be of an age ranging from Epic of Beowulf to Epic of Gilgamesh in age. I'm sure I could draw a chart of language groups invent some epic ballads and add more detail to this just not sure that it was needed or that it would get used. Not even sure how many of my invented details on the fringe of the setting get used anyway. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 12, 2012 - 8:50am | OK here's a stab at yazirian languages "ladoc" I've already established as meaning language or speech as in the bit of fluff that I created with Angladoc with is literally language of clan Anglan. And its the Latin of yazirian languages used by the clan that controls Fo1 even though they also speak the lingua franca known as yaziradoc which has roots with the pasamoria clan of Yast. There is also the Hargutian dialect linked to the Hargutia clan of Hargut which comes in modern middle and old varieties and is in the same language family as Angladoc. Would that work? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 12, 2012 - 11:10pm | OO! I can see the Yazirians as putting everything that they couldn't take with them physically but was valuable enough to digitize into some kind of safe capsule and sending it into space on the hope that it may one day be found. Maybe there were thousands of these capsules made and launched. They are drifting out of the old Yazirian system much like our Voyager probes. This is a cool idea but I would really like to get the stuff further from the Yazirian home system. Any ideas? -iggy |
January 13, 2012 - 5:13am | Hard to say what would and wouldn't be possible if you bent the entire GNP of world toward a project like a star exodus. Obviously ancestral lands and historic and sacred sites and buildings all get left behind. Vast digitized libraries will be saved, every last scrap of written material will be scan without actually reading it and tantalizing treasures will be lurking in digital data bases in the Frontier but who controls those data bases? Fo1? A gene bank will be assembled. And shipped. Finally the most valuable resource is the people, shipped by cryonetic technology to simplify logistics. For the yazirians more than any other race cultural artifacts will be saved because of their links to the past and clan histories. Sure the government will make efforts to preserve culture and history but every single clan will have a scroll or a sword or a head dress that it will not leave behind because of what the item means to the clan. Personal possessions? Not important, clan is important and its artifacts. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 14, 2012 - 5:19pm | But think of the adventure twists for an artifact that was deemed not important enough to bring along but important enough to put in a preservation capsule. Then later as the digital libraries are being studied it becomes a very hot item for Fo1 or some other powerful organization to find and recover. -iggy |
