 November 11, 2012 - 8:48pm | Late at night I was looking through the Frontier Explorer #1 and something about the article on Lossend through me. So going back over all the SF I could think of I finally found what I was looking for in an old Dragon Magazine. (I have no life). Seems at one time a fleet of ships arrived around Thesesus and was found to contain the entire alien race of Saurians in suspended animation. Finishing the article it mentioned that the UPF had decided that they could not fit any more Saurians on Thesesus and thought it best to send them to Lossend. All 50,000 of them. Did not see a mention of them in the article on Lossend. So give me your best shot at how the Saurians were Lost on Lossend. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 12, 2012 - 5:43am | Levels of canonicity Dragon magazine articles are always considered apocryphal or optional if you will. I try to harmonize all of the canonical material into a coherent whole: AD & KH primarily, Zebs if it does not cause to much trouble secondly or thirdly and Polyhedron and Dragon magazine articles Secondly or thirdly depending on the material For example the Cook article on the archaeologist encountering an Ul-mor on Laco had details of a PGC operated/run archaeological group this detail would have high value for me as its not controversial and doesn't conflict with anything anywhere else. Even the Ul-mor and his loper being on Laco are no big deal because of how it happened Layover at Lossend introduced the Wypong as yet another sapient race- I grabbed all the environmental data from that article for the lossend brief and since I was aware that some of us rather dislike the crouded landscape of so many sapient species in so limited a space of the galaxy I created a scientific controversy over whether the wypong is an animal or sapient species. This simply lets us keep the wypong and each referee can use them as they see fit- zero sum change but everyone is happy. For the saurians- since at the time of working on the Lossend brief I saw them as purely optional, I left them that way. If I had integrated them into the brief too deeply it sets up my brief to be totally discounted by someone that does not want the saurians in his version of the setting. I think leaving them out was the best option and they are more easily added to the setting than stripped out of a brief. Note my views on canonicity and level of authority were developed before the Zeb cook interview and the coming to light of the Kim Eastland & Lawrance Shcik interviews, I suspect that I would have made slightly different decisions in some cases with certian pieces of material. However, at this point with so much invested into the Zebulon's guide material, timelines, system brief I rather doubt I sway from the path. However, at some point I might try to "reconstruct" the original "Alien Worlds" rules as a project and as another project, craft a more Gama World/Shadow Run flavored setting doc with a dose of Star Wars creature cantina for flavoring. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 12, 2012 - 8:33am | Ah you missed the point. Not including the Saurians was fine by me. Optional race and all. For me I would just give them a small city and include them among the farmers who have certain misgivings. This would play similar to the Vietmanese shrimp catchers who were relocated to the Texas coastal area after the war. Just looking for other beings explanations on either why they never made it or what might have happened to them when they got there. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 12, 2012 - 8:18am | I like how every alien race has 50,000 something. Saurians - 50,000 - Eorna - 50,000. I guess I need to unleash 50k Clikks on the frontier to preserve the canon... :p |
November 12, 2012 - 8:34am | Is 50,000 like the base number for genetic diversity to maintain a race? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 12, 2012 - 8:39am | Give them a coastal city and a small star port of their own since they have their own ships and will want to stay in contact with them and with the saurians on Theseus. Locals call it lizard town but not really in a derogatory manner. Their intense hatred of the worms makes them very welcome even if their militancy makes the local government nervous. One item that irratates the local farmers some is the saurian propensity to feed the forest losso dragons which makes the saurians feel a little nostolgic but are a pest for farmers. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 12, 2012 - 7:45pm | Are forest losso dragons a different variety of the losso dragons that live around Mount Spire? -iggy |
November 13, 2012 - 2:28am | Are forest losso dragons a different variety of the losso dragons that live around Mount Spire? Sure... how many species of bear are there in the real world? I figure that once you've done the work of creating a species and even come up with an illustration just do something like say there are 12 other species of theis creature that simply vary in color, habitat, size, a forest losso dragon is arboreal and smaller and his habitat is the whole planet- he's a pest and farmers shoot them out of hand. the Losso dragons of Mt Spire are the real deal though and very impressive but the forest dragon is a miniature version of them. Posers claiming to have travelled to Lossend and hunted the famous Losso Dragon sometimes knowingly and or ignorantly have hunted the forest dragon which is far more cheaper and safer than obtaining a permit for the big boys. In fact the gift shop on the space station has 1-2 taxidermied forest dragons to sell to anyone on layover so they can take it home and brag. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 13, 2012 - 7:50am | Are forest losso dragons a different variety of the losso dragons that live around Mount Spire? Sure... how many species of bear are there in the real world? I figure that once you've done the work of creating a species and even come up with an illustration just do something like say there are 12 other species of theis creature that simply vary in color, habitat, size, a forest losso dragon is arboreal and smaller and his habitat is the whole planet- he's a pest and farmers shoot them out of hand. the Losso dragons of Mt Spire are the real deal though and very impressive but the forest dragon is a miniature version of them. Posers claiming to have travelled to Lossend and hunted the famous Losso Dragon sometimes knowingly and or ignorantly have hunted the forest dragon which is far more cheaper and safer than obtaining a permit for the big boys. In fact the gift shop on the space station has 1-2 taxidermied forest dragons to sell to anyone on layover so they can take it home and brag. Sweat! -iggy |
