 October 8, 2013 - 3:41am | The sathar create a lot of dangerous creatures. Are these creatures dangerous to the sathar? For those with cyber implants the answer would be no as you'd expect that they were programed to not attack the sathar. But many dont have cyber implants (or do they?) The idea hit me that perhaps the sathar give off a phermone or chemical signature that is "programed into the DNA" of the creature that causes it to not attack. There is also all those nuisance creatures (ten total) in the back of the Star Mist module that are exact replicas of normally harmless creatures fround around the Frontier but have been modified to cause damage or just be a nuisance. Do these give the sathar a pass? The sathar are covered in slime, is that compatable with giving off pheremones? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 8, 2013 - 6:34am | Some sathar creatures are fully bio engineered like the quickdeath and the sathar are able to exert control over them on the battlefield as seen in SF-2. This would seem to be done with out a control device but we could view these quickdeaths as the sathar equiv of a trained military K9 and presume a sathar animal handler. Other creatures require cybernetic control devices and again these seem to also require handlers. Why the difference? Is it perhaps that some creatures have been part of the bio-engineering program for longer and those that they have not yet perfected they use the expediency of a cybernetic device? It also seems clear that they are doing some trans-species gene splicing (just look at the description of the quickdeath) no doubt this is very difficult and frought with many problems and negative side effects until its perffected. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 8, 2013 - 10:17am | Well, the quickdeath is like a dog. The other creatures are more unpredictable and require more control. You could create an adventure with a new Sathar Construct that goes wild and kills the base personnel. The Characters discover the base, maybe part of an exploration team, and then fight the creature. |
 October 8, 2013 - 11:33am | I think the Sathar bioconstructs are like chemical weapons. Sure you can use them but there is always the chance they will bite you back. Do they have a fail safe built in to prevent themselves from being attacked? I would say No. Two reasons: 1) There is a chance their enemies would find it and make their weapons useless. 2) A race that prefers mass suicide to capture probably doesn't care about personal losses from their own weapons. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
October 9, 2013 - 12:12am | LOL, well K-9 handlers have the smae problem - the dog biting them. |
 October 9, 2013 - 10:43am | When my olde brother was pre-school age my family lived in Ivins, a small farming town in southern Utah. The town at that time was populated at that time by families all related, about four family names. Because of this the town government was basically the oldest parents making the final call after family meetings. This was the late 60's and one of the boys in one of the families came home from Vietnam with his k-9 dog. The dog was geared for war and seen as mean by every one else. He ended up biting several boys and all the kids were afraid to go up the hill past his house. The adults began complaining that the dog was mad. Then one day my older brother, a toddler at the time, wanders up the hill and gets bit. This caused all the adults to get together and discuss the fate of this dog who had developed the practice of bite first, as questions later, while in Vietnam. To make a long story short, the grandfather of the vet had tell him that the dog had to go. The end result for the dog was not good. The SF take is that I expect the sathar end up with some pretty wild attack beasts even after their attempts to mind control them. -iggy |
October 9, 2013 - 1:28pm | Dose sathar hypnotism work on beasts? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 9, 2013 - 1:57pm | I'd vote no, that it only works on the various higher level races. 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 |
October 9, 2013 - 4:08pm | I'd vote no, that it only works on the various higher level races. The rules say that a sathar hypnotism ability operates when they speak so it would have to be with a sapient being. Still the idea is intriguing. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 9, 2013 - 10:22pm | I was refering to their cybernetic mind control. -iggy |
October 10, 2013 - 4:29am | I was refering to their cybernetic mind control. To my mind the creatures with cyber devices are a short cut for the sathar - rather than diddle with years of experimentation to perfect the bio engineering they went for the short and simple sollution with cybernetics. Have to wonder if there is a story angle trying to rescue a slave bot. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 10, 2013 - 10:46am | Maybe a short cut to mind control but I don't expect it to be perfect. Wires to the brain, long durations without service, some units may fail in the cyber tech or the flesh. The implant could start having incomplete, week, or overloaded inputs to the brain. The brain tissue could die off or reject connections resulting in poor cyber control or brain damage and madness. There could be some fun stuff to throw at PCs. -iggy |
October 10, 2013 - 11:17am | I also have the feel that sathar clans tend to specialize in a technology. The reason we tend to see a full panoply of sathar tech in an invasion force is because the dominant clan has coerced the weaker clans into helping. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 10, 2013 - 3:05pm | Yeap. Each clan specializes. I found the below: Clan K = Cutter spacecraft
(a clan of little real power in the
Sathar hierarchy) Clan X = attack monsters Clan Y = spacecraft:
fighter & scout and robotics (“Spider II” personal robots) Clan Z = robotic emphasis
(the Ares article on von neuman machines would suggest this.) |
October 10, 2013 - 4:58pm | Clan A = Leadership and politics? -iggy |
October 11, 2013 - 12:33am | Well Clan X and Y have been the longest. X is from the first book and Y is from the Eleanor Moraes. Clan K is a minor Clan and just came out with the cutter. Clan Z...? I had suggested a Clan Council for leadership. In an upcoming article for Frontier Explorer, they suggest that one Clan tries to dominate the others. I agree with both. It reminds me of the current (October 2013) situation with the United States Congress. <not a polotical rant but, a factual comparision.> The Clans lead themselves but, as a race, they debate, argue and wrangle for control and power to push their personal agenda. Probably, the "Hawks" won power during SWI and SWII. Now is a period of debate OR maybe there is a "Dove" faction. This faction could be one of two things. 1) The Sathar are all warlike and this faction does not exsist but, it is a period of instability. 2) There is an actual faction within the Sathar that seek peace. A) They want peace and to stay away from the Frontier - possible B) They seek peace with the Frontier. This is unlikely but possible. It would be small and need to be covert. |
October 11, 2013 - 8:28am | My jest at a clan A was to poke fun at the possibility that there are as many as 26 clans. I was also half serious. Maybe we have only seen the clans near the frontier. Maybe at the core of the sathar system and space there is one rulling clan. -iggy |
October 11, 2013 - 10:50am | The sathar have been space faring of 900 years at least, since the Day of Doom when they attempted to wipe out the eorna on Volturnus. How far could they spread in all that time? Perhaps the became aware of the eorna, by either radio signal or because of eorna explorers, and travelled many many light years to deal with them and left the obelisk in case they survived. During the intervening millenia they have expanded in this direction. Clan x and y do in deed represent two of many many clans but they are the local and x has been dominant. The disjointed nature and natural in fighting of the clans is the only thing that keeps them from wiping out the UPF and Rim which they could do if all sides amassed their military might. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
