 March 8, 2012 - 11:20am | I've created a Google image for the community to use for online games and reference material. It's in the Adventure Writing Forum project. I'll eventually create the "current" Frontier which will include all the system discovered during the modules and another one for the Zeb's material. Content of Adventure Writing Forum project Early Frontier (w00t)This document cover the early Frontier during the Age of Colonozation and before Sathar War I. Inspiration is largley taken from TomV's
Frontier Timeline, Issue #16-p34
(This map is read-only, you can download a copy or if you have a Google account you can "make a copy" and edit, add, change anything you want. Below is a smaller version)  |
 March 14, 2012 - 11:35am | Nice, just one critique...if this is from before the first Sathar war then Morgaine's World doesn't exist. |
 March 14, 2012 - 12:08pm | Also, why were the connections between Theseus and Timeon and TImeon and Gruan Garu lost in the modern Frontier? 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 |
March 14, 2012 - 1:49pm | Thanks Shadow! (If you like I know I did a decent job.  )Tom, the snapshot posted above was before I made the corrections (did you check the google doc?), but who's to say in my frontier those routes became to hazardous to travel?  The map is provided as a Referee resource to do with as you please (by copying and editing to their liking). It's not a cannon map since there isn't such a thing in SF. Enjoy! This map brought to you by [[Star Frontiers Online Play]] and the alphanumeric characters w, 0, 0 and t |
 March 14, 2012 - 5:21pm | Morgaine's World exist, just under a different name. What that name should be is up in the air- something that sounds like Gran Quivera and Prengular IMO. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 14, 2012 - 9:31pm | It is probably something like White Light -2 Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 15, 2012 - 12:08am | As much as I hate to cite Zeb's Guide: "1 pf. Morgaine's World in the Prenglar system is named after the fallen Admiral." It's an outpost world in AD and a "moderate" population by fy-111 in Zeb's. It's one of the few things in that book that actually makes sense in the method that it actually sticks to the canon AD material... |
March 15, 2012 - 6:21am | For a name all I could think of is New Quivera. Droummond. Higlar. Radghast. |
March 15, 2012 - 7:14am | Maybe before the fateful battle it had the unimaginable name of Prengular III, the move had already been in the works for a better name when Fate brought the war to its doorstep. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 15, 2012 - 11:03am | Maybe before the fateful battle it had the unimaginable name of Prengular III, the move had already been in the works for a better name when Fate brought the war to its doorstep.
That sounds about right, perhaps is was a colony or corp base for starters, a huge influx of people who never prompted it to get renamed then after SWI it was dedicated. Parades, banners, candy, tractors, cows and clowns! |
March 15, 2012 - 11:41am | Put into perspective, both Laco and Morgaine's World are outpost colonies in AD, and by fy-111 in Zeb's they are moderate populations. Now for anyone who wishes to quote Zeb's timeline as accurate...Dixon's Star was founded in 220 pf but Laco isn't even mentioned...even int eh descriptions for the first satahr war it is still referred to as "Dixon's Star". Laco is only mentioned with the sathar war reference in the seperate planetary description section. The Morgaine's World reference in the planetary description section hints that it is still a young world. Nothing canon (AD) or non-canon (Zeb's LOL) suggests that one existed or was founded before the other...the only suggestion is Laco earned its name prior to Morgaine's World. |
March 15, 2012 - 12:54pm | Well I've reconciled myself to the fact that not everything can be reconciled. So I wont use Zebs dates if they cause problems. and I treat Laco as an outpost at SW1- its a sucky kind of planet anyway and in the early frontier there are better places to colonize but with the discovery of the Tetrarch ruins there is more interest. Flood of refugees From Truane's sTar is a temporary boost and easy enough to imagine that when all is said and done after the war some may have stayed (perhaps 1% but maybe as high as 3% of the refugees). After crushing of the second sathar task force in Prengular; Laco is quite obviously the first stop on reclaiming Truane's Star. I imagine that the sathar did not have as long to dig in there as on Pale and that perhaps they have fewer troops on the ground. We can assume they discover the Tetrarch ruins and become curious about them and that a significant battle will take place near the ruins. With the mopping up of ground opperations on Laco it becomes the forward supply depot for the return to Pale. This means that the UPF and PGC establish landing fields and infrastructure to move tons of personnel and equipment. This facilitates future colonization- makes it easier for science teams to get in and study the ruins as well as a probability that PGC brought in robotics factories to churn out military supplies for the war effort in Truane's Star. These factories will contribute to the Industrial economy listed in Zebs latter on. After the war Ground Fleet will demiliterize its opperations on Laco but PGC will simply retool its factories for peace time consumables.PGC will maintain a presence seeking to monopolize the tetrarch discoveries- leading to the Laco's War conflict latter. The long and the short is that with so much prior investment into the planet it will be easier for people to stay despite the sucky environment. Now the tricky part: the nuking of planets by the sathar- I dont lean toward them using nukes on Laco so that leaves Pale and New Pale. It requires a judgement call on sathar objectives- did they come all this way to wantonly destroy planets or did they use nukes for surgical strikes? Either way they would only need a few to surpress targets on New Pale; its just a farming outpost. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 15, 2012 - 2:04pm | Is there somewhere that I've missed that says the Sathar nuked anything? I've seen the word 'ravaged' but don't every recall seeing the use of nuclear weapons mentioned. You can ravage a planet's population just fine with conventional weapons and large numbers of troops. Maybe I missed it but I think the use of nukes is an extrapolation and so isn't necessary if you don't want it to be. 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 |
March 15, 2012 - 2:46pm | Is there somewhere that I've missed that says the Sathar nuked anything? I've seen the word 'ravaged' but don't every recall seeing the use of nuclear weapons mentioned. You can ravage a planet's population just fine with conventional weapons and large numbers of troops. Maybe I missed it but I think the use of nukes is an extrapolation and so isn't necessary if you don't want it to be. There was another discussion, I believe the nuking reference may be in Volturnus connection article, have to check when I get home. EDIT: check the "What would happen on Pale and New Pale during the SW1" actually started by Terl Obar in the sathar project . There was prior discussion on nuking of Pale and New Pale. One person felt strongly about it while I'm quite ambivalent prefering kinetic strikes over messy nukes. But again I repeat my contention that dropping a few nukes are no big deal as more then a few have been dropped on earth before the cessation of atmospheric testing including some really huge bombs, specifically czar bomba. Sure being at ground zero makes for a bad day but today Japan has rebuilt its destroyed cities and there are no apparent lasting effects. NOTE my words carefully please. Nukes suck but they exist and have been used and eventually will be used again, they devastate but are a significate weapon.I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 15, 2012 - 5:12pm | I'm not finding a direct reference to nuking but rather to ravaging and "intent on ravaging Triad" so the big question is what does ravaging mean? It could mean nukes. One point is that the Sathar's actions in Truane's Star is the catalyst that triggers the 2nd Common Muster. If its just that aliens invade an blow a few ships and land troops, I dont see that as having enough weight to panic the Frontier into banding together to form a unified fleet and federation. Simple inertia will see to it that most governments drag their feet to see whats really going to happen. Now an effect like the calling of the 2nd common muster and the organization of an interstellar federation requires a cause of equal or greater impetus. That said I think we must cast the sathar invasion in the most vicious and scary light as possible and that means nukes. However, some of those "nukes" could be "rod from god" kinetic strike weapons that hit with the destructive force of a nuke and witnesses just go, "OMG they're nuking us!" Abortive efforts had been going on to form some League of Nations among the stars- just the name of Triad in the Cassidine system suggest one effort prior to meeting the yazirians. the yazirians would naturally be resistive to the whole "lets sit around the fire, hold hands and sing kum-by-ya" so that while elements of the other three races worry over their warlike tendencies and desire this it just would not happen. But come some implacable alien that nukes indiscrimently, and with the First Common Muster a fresh memory, the sathar become an adequet first cuase for the 2nd Common Muster and the founding of the UPF. I think we can also assume that the ravaging of Volturnus 900 years ago may have also included nukes- which fits what the sathar did to the eorna- nuking them back to just a handful of survivors. From the perspective of the worms this may be a viable strategy- there are limits to the numbers of troops that can be transported through space and if a planet has a population into billions as the eorna may have had then it would be difficult to land occupation troops and wiping out a few population centers with nuke or rod from god kinetic weapons, would in sathar math, be a very attractive option. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 15, 2012 - 5:19pm | The long and the short is that with so much prior investment into the planet it will be easier for people to stay despite the sucky environment. Sounds like my old home Las Vegas after the building of Boulder Dam. 
-iggy |
 March 15, 2012 - 6:48pm | The sathar could have used bio-weapons instead of nukes. If I heard/read the word ravage, my imagination would tend toward biological rather than nuclear. The sathar like to bio-engineer constructs so why not bio-weapons? Especially if you look at Volturnus. I would think it would have been a little less hostile of a planet when the Eorna were at their peak of existance. So something bad happened besides conventional war. |
March 15, 2012 - 7:05pm | Bio constructs are not that scary as people not facing them will just say to themselves, "We'll bring along the big guns and show those creatures what for." sort of like the overconfident colonial marines in Aliens. bio warfare in the form of pathogens could be scary enough but i think that might take too long and would the sathar luck out with their on hand pathogens when they first meet the core four? not too likely. I think the threat has to be big. and again bio constructs also take space and just how many can they transport? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 15, 2012 - 8:09pm | I prefer kinetic kill weapons over nukes as well. I also think that maybe they came somewhat later or were not used in great numbers. Otherwise you don't get that many refugees. Or maybe there weren't really that many refugees that escaped. But if you allow for large strikes from the outset, I don't see that many people getting off planet or out of the system as the starports and the ships would be prime first targets. 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 |
March 15, 2012 - 8:36pm | Not to put too much stock in the corrupted cannon but 3PF Pale and New Pale fall. The Great Exodus to Dixon's Star System takes place. The thing is that with a huge sathar fleet present that will be big enough to split into two task forces headed to separate objectives after leaving this system how many ships will get out with refugees? Unless of course there are a serious number of ships that while some are intercepted many more get out. Could even be a desparate fight by the militia that allows for refugees to get out and or even planetary defenses that engage and occupy the sathar while the refugees get free. With a stiff fight from desparate militia ships and planetary defenses the sathar commander will eventually reach the decision to deploy WMDs whether nukes or kinetic strikes. Now there has been over 500 nuclear tests on earth and atmospheric testing ended in 1963 with Chine and France continuing up until 1980. The largest was est. at 50 mega tons by Russia and Earth didn't stop rotating and the end of the world did not arrive. I think we can allow for some nuking of Pale small 10 kilo ton to 1-5 mega ton yields that were designed for taking out military targets. After the nuking of Pale and a few sites on New Pale for good measure the flow of refugees slows to a trickle and the sathar effectively control the system. Some of the reported nukes are kinetic strikes but a few were legit nukes. They all are reported to be nukes and panic spreads in the Frontier. Note under this scenario we get a legendary last stand ala Alamo mixed with Dunkirk around the galant actions of the Pale militia giving the last full measure of devotion and selling their lives dearly for the civilians to get out. After this partisan groups fight until the UPF arrives with the newly organized Ground Fleet and the Presidency of Pale falls to the highest ranking member of the government to survive, the Secretary of Education;) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 15, 2012 - 9:11pm | Could even be a desparate fight by the militia that allows for refugees to get out and or even planetary defenses that engage and occupy the sathar while the refugees get free. With a stiff fight from desparate militia ships and planetary defenses the sathar commander will eventually reach the decision to deploy WMDs whether nukes or kinetic strikes. Now there has been over 500 nuclear tests on earth and atmospheric testing ended in 1963 with Chine and France continuing up until 1980. The largest was est. at 50 mega tons by Russia and Earth didn't stop rotating and the end of the world did not arrive. I think we can allow for some nuking of Pale small 10 kilo ton to 1-5 mega ton yields that were designed for taking out military targets. After the nuking of Pale and a few sites on New Pale for good measure the flow of refugees slows to a trickle and the sathar effectively control the system. Some of the reported nukes are kinetic strikes but a few were legit nukes. They all are reported to be nukes and panic spreads in the Frontier. I like this. I'm writing this part of the history in my story right now. At least a recap of what happnened. I'll have to work these ideas in. As usual Jedi, your ideas are awesome. The sathar begin to arrive at Pale and obliterate the ships further out. Realizing that it's going to be all or nothing, the militia commander in space orders the rest of the ships to attack en masse. He also radios down to the surface that they should evacuate as many as they can as quickly as possible since he doesn't know how long they'll be able to keep the invaders occupied as they are out numbers in hulls and out gunned in weapons. With tensions running high, many people are already ready to leave and every unarmed ship on the planet (all the armed ones having been pressed into militia service) are quickly filled to over capacity and begin to leave the planet, headed toward Dixon's Star. The space battle lasts for nearly half a day, as the militia desperately try to buy more time for the civilians. After twelve hours of fighting, only a few of the militia and deputized ships are still around. They've bloodied the invaders but not really put a dent in their numbers. At this point he remaining defenders are overrun and the Sathar begin picking off the unarmed vessels trying to escape and bombarding the planet. While many ships make it out, many more don't. A few ships, that didn't get off immediately, get off later and manage to make it through the blockade to bring word of the bombardment and fighting on the surface. 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 |
March 15, 2012 - 11:47pm | I'm not finding a direct reference to nuking but rather to ravaging and "intent on ravaging Triad" so the big question is what does ravaging mean?
ravage --- to bring heavy destruction or devastation Yep, nukes definitely fits that definition |
March 16, 2012 - 4:53am | We have to ask why did the militia commander order the evacuation so early? As sitting tight on a planet is a viable option, certainly to be preceded over making a target of yourself running for void space. So here goes: sathar just discovered the Frontier civilization and don't know what they face. The send an invasion force mascerading as a recon in force. They typically build slower lumbering ships anyway so they've opted for a cautious approach. Militia sends a scout ship to make contact which comes in radioing hellos and gets a combined 300 laser battery response. Panic hasn't set in yet for the civilians but the military is certainly scrambling. In the outer system is a new mining colony on a icy rock and with the destruction of the military scout so close by all the miners begin piling into a half dozen heavy shuttles intent on skidaddling and the sathar assume its a fighter squadron deploying and that the mining colony must be a military outpost. They terminate the shuttles and the outpost with extreme prejudice and the first nukes are deployed. This sets off a panic as by now hard number scans of the number of hulls invading the system have been radioed back and the aliens have done nothing but destroy everything they encounter, hapless freighter in the way of the juggernaut, miners in their shuttles, mining colony, scout ship and they've shown a willingness to use WMDs from orbit. And the word is out as the miners broadcast everything unencrypted so that the news services are covering the biggest story since first contact with the yazirians. Knowing that he cant stop a headlong flight by every void capable ship the commander opts to at least try to control the situation. re-Deputizing ships that had been pressed into service for the 1st Common muster he makes the suicidal decision to meet the enemy as far from Pale and the support of its few and feeble planetary defenses. All freighters and unarmed ships load up and head the other direction. those that cant begin prepartation on the ground. riots break out to get on board ships, riots break out to grab food. some flee the cities. The militia and draft ships galantly by Pale as much time as they can but the writing was always on the wall. However, the commander of the militia force has time to compile data and a personal message for Lord Commander Morgaine of the Royal Marines, his former Muster commander. In this data is accurate scans of many of the sathar ships with detailed notes on capabilities. Messages have already gone out by the very new tech called subspace but the data assembed by the militia commander is given to a young bright wet behind the ears Lt. named Louis V. Jameson. He runs for Prengular with this packet performing a legendary feat of astrogation by not decelerationg in Truane's Star and hot jumping with minimal time computing the jump. Jamison's fast shuttle arrives in Prengular to discover that notification by subspace that they are all that remains of the Pale militia. When the 2nd common muster is called Morgaine has detailed info on the enemy giving him an edge. However, the sathar command has decided that this new civilization is nothing so much and that they can crush it and reap the rewards raising his clan to prominence among the worms. he becomes over confident and this leads to the fatal mistake of spliting his forces into two taskforces and allowing for them to be defeated in detail. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 16, 2012 - 5:14am | Jamison quite naturally wants to rush right back to Truane's Star and charge hell with a squirt gun despite orders from his dead commander to place himself under Morgaine's command. Morgaine attaches him to his staff and Jamison takes part in the battle of Cassidine from the Flag Bridge of Morgaine's ship. However, he is severely wounded and transfered to a hospital ground side at Gran Quivera and misses the Battle of Prengular. He however distinguishes himself by taking his fast shuttle and crew into Dixon's Star as an advanced scout for the muster forces and then again into Truane's Star. In the after math of the war he quickly rises to captain, commanding several ships in the expanding Pale militia. His posting to the Volturnus Survey Mission was a bit of a PR ticket punching as the word is that he will be promoted to admiral and command of the Pale Militia. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 16, 2012 - 10:18am | You people need to go to bed at decent hours instead of typing all night. Oh and to catch up you are over thinking again. For once we have accurate canon on ravaging. "VOLTURNUS" The Sathar came in. Slaughtered most of the population, destroyed the buildings and infrastructure, set up a beacon to tell them if these guys ever tried space flight again and then went away. Pretty sure that was the plan for the Frontier too. They just go stomped before they could finish it. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 16, 2012 - 11:52am | Well first off its typing in the early morning inbetween getting kids off to school and going to the day job. Secondly, the canon statements leave room for interpretation. Thirdly, there has been difference of opinion about the ravaging of Pale for some time in a number of threads and, to me that's cool that we can have different oppinions about it. I'm not about to take a condescending attitude about someone else's opinion that I dont agree with. I actually respect someone like Imperial Lord or Terl Obar more for the fact that they can state a their opinion and defend it and not be abrasive about it. Volturnus doesn't prove anything The sathar space armada quickly overwhelmed the eorna, wreaking destruction across the planet. Within a matter of days the worms had nearly driven the gentle eorna to extinction. Still, the eorna fought valiantly, and were able to resist complete annihilation because the sathar had over extended their supply lines. Also its clear from the modules that the sathar dont wipe out every civilization they meet sometimes they groom them as client species- zuraquor, mhemne and some they wipe out. There is a lot of room for people to interpret whats there- I think the fact that the sathar armada drove the eorna to extinction and destroyed their civilization but were over extended and could not occupy and apparently never returned in 900 years says something about their capabilities that they cannot or will not conquer the galaxy but settle for wiping out those civilizations they cannot dominate and that might one day conquer them. This would suggest to me a certain willingness to use nukes and other WMDs. Some people think I come up with good stuff around here, I dunno about that but I do know that the stuff i come up is the fruit of asking questions of the material and trying to answer those questions, if thats over thinking then guilty, I guess i just have pretentions of being a writer and bring writer's craft to the rpg setting. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 16, 2012 - 2:22pm | You do fine stuff and we all really appreciate your stuff. (Just remember to pick stuff up off the floor) In this case I do think you have tried to hard. They came they saw they kicked butt. Enough said. Now the Mhemne were kept around for slave labor and apparently needed as soldiers due to the limited worm power available to the Sathar at that time. The Zuraquor are some kind of allies of the Sathar which is not explained but since they are allowed to have independent battleships their alliance must be on an equal footing. As for nukes I go with the opinion nukes are a cultural no-no for the Sathar. While they devastate they do not destroy. If they really wanted to wipe other species out they would do so but their whole spy networks and limited attacks agenda show them not to be interested in total destruction plans. Being able to hypnotize they would have set some beings up to flip a switch or leave a door open so they could cause mass hazardous materials incidents like dumping a tanker of toxic chemicals into a water shed lake or causing power plants to overload or a starship to miss its orbit and crash on a planet. Since this doesn't happen they must want to keep the planets around for something. Or they just really hate other intelligent races. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 16, 2012 - 2:47pm | The mhemne were issued fighters and allowed to keep at least one ion powered ship, they were obviously being groomed as a client species hence their being trained in fighter operations -not typical of how you treat slaves. The zuraquor are simply a species that has been under sathar dominion for a long time thus the fact that the sathar trust them with battleships. There is simply nothing in the sathar character that suggests to me that they ever deal with anyone on an even footing. They will always use their racial ability to dominate. Its in their DNA, they respect no one and use everyone. Their caste system ensures a culture of arrogance. They see no one as superior and if forced to recognize some other race as superior they have a knee jerk reaction to destroy it or dominate it. Coexistence is not an option that which can be dominated is, that which cannot be dominated is destroyed, that which cannot be destroyed is corrupted from within. This is the Way of the Worm. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 16, 2012 - 2:53pm | The sathar have three menu options: eat your mind (dominate), eat your body (destroy), or eat your soul (corrupt through agents and turn coats). Though at some point the play book says that eat your soul should turn to eat your body or mind. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 16, 2012 - 10:27pm |
Losing the Nimbus Creed is a ready to run adventure, just need to setup a time to run. Player IntroductionThe time period is early frontier history, the ending years of the Age of Colonization. Dralasites, humans, vrusk and yazirians have pushed exploration and unification. Up till now the reliable ion engine has powered many a ship. A new breakthrough in engine technology in the form of atomics will usher in faster ships allowing the races to explore and colonize faster.Currently you work for Dym Inc. as troubleshooters and explorers. Dym Inc. takes high-risk ventures opening new star routes and exploring new systems. A new habitable planet four light-years west of the Thesus System was discovered by the Nimbus Creed, an exploration ship sponsored by the Theseus goverment. The Creed was outfitted with prototype atomic engines by Pollarius Drives. Pollarius Drives is partly owned by the Clarion Crown, Theseus government and two wealthy independent businessmen. IN THE NEWS The Pancific-Galactic Company recently attempted to purchase Pollarius Drives after their announcement of developing an atomic powered engine capable of faster speeds, both slower and faster than light. The attempt was blocked. A Pancific-Galactic spokebeing had this to say, “I’m sure Pollarius Drive will see the benefit of aligning with Pancific, We haven’t lost a bid yet and have no plans to start.” |
March 18, 2012 - 6:49pm | Okay folks...here it is from the KH Campaign Book (page 50) --- Once again, however, as the Sathar emerged at a major population center (Gran Quivera at Prenglar, this time), the Admiral and his"fleet" were waiting. A savage battle developed around a large and, at that time, uninhabited ringed planet. During the course of the battle, nearly all of the Frontier's ships were destroyed. Admiral Morgaine's cruiser was lost with all hands. It goes on in another paragraph... A grateful population (re: Gran Quivera) named the ringed planet after the hero of the First Sathar War. Yep, you definitely need to strike the name from any pre-SW1 map. |
