 January 31, 2014 - 12:53pm | Star Frontiers 654 was a website (now defunct) that had one GM's future version of the Frontier. One of the main things I remember from his site was an alien species known as the Thyrann. They are intelligent lizards, resembling an iguana or komodo dragon, but standing upright. Equal to the core four in tech level, and moderately good at genetics. They stand about 6.5 to 7 feet tall, and live somewhere out beyond the Frontier and Rim. In his game, they are discovered at some future point in the timeline, and join the UPF. I think they deserve an article in one of our magazines. Is there a way to salvage them? |
 January 31, 2014 - 1:42pm | Thrynn were an alien race in a Sci Fi Sega Genesis video game -- Starflight. Pretty easy to extrapolate and create a Star Frontiers race from the info on Thrynn available online. |
 January 31, 2014 - 1:56pm | If you are into the dusty lost internet of Star Frontiers sites you might be interested in the snap shot archives on the way back machine internet archive. I have not found way back machine all that easy to locate things but once you are into a page with a good snap shot and links to other pages you can follow those links all over the lost internet and locate lots of lost SF material. The following link is one of the key sites that will let you track down stuff, we truly owe Layne Saltern a debt of gratitude for maintianing a great clearling house of Star Frontiers material for so long. http://web.archive.org/web/20050207011848/http://xmission.com/~layne/Star.html I unfortunately could not locate the site you specified but did find this one: http://web.archive.org/web/19991008203830/http://anime.jyu.fi/~greyhawk/opera/ but I dont think its what you were thinking of. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 31, 2014 - 4:44pm | Most of the SF species are caricatures of particular facets of human nature. Dralasites had the philosophy and humor, Vrusk the cooperation and love of beauty, Yazarians honor and anger, Ssessu self interest. Is there something similar for the Thyrann? Eorna are furry dinosaur peaceniks who genetically altered intelligent species. How are the Thyranns different? Maybe they use genetics to create modified animals to do jobs that other races use robots for or they have some sort of plant based weaponry or bioships? Perhaps they modify themselves or run clone farms? That could go either way, either a underclass of the unmodified or a very eglitarian society. Thyrann reminds me of Tyrants, from T. Rex to historical tyrants. Thyra is a variant of Tyra, a feminine name referring to Thor. I don't think anyone's done high tech Viking lizards. There's also Thyreoporea, the shield bearing dinosaurs, mostly stegosaurs and anyklyosaurs. You certainly don't have to stereotype them with attributes from earth reptiles but there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Earth reptiles are very good at water conservation due to the scales on the skin and the way they excrete waste. If these guys are similar, they might have a arid homeworld. Earth reptiles have extremely varied reproduction including at least one species that reproduces by parthanogenesis, making them a species of clones. One thing that I never see is a real effect on societal structure caused by how a species reproduces. Most of human society is based around the fact that we have short lives and few offspring that need a lot of care. Not knowing the original race, I'm not sure how much help this is. I'm happy to brainstorm species with you if it helps. |
January 31, 2014 - 5:01pm | I'm reminded of a sci fi novel I didn't finish where dinosaurs evolved a sapient species before humans arrived called West of Eden by Harry Harrison http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden the dinos evovle an advanced bio-tech industry and modify everything around them turning an aquatic dinosaur into a submersible ship, developing a creature that acts as a warming blanket etc. this sounds a lot like what you're talking about and might be a source of ideas. At the time I lost interest in the story as being weirder then i was generally interested in. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 1, 2014 - 2:33am | Yeah Jedion, I also read West of Eden. I managed to read the whole series, and yes it was weird. It is possible that the SF Thyrann author was inspired by that. Sam, I did not know about the Sega Genesis game, but that does not surprise me. I remember quite a bit about the Thyrann, since I have used them in my own game for years. I will have to look and see if I have a printout of the original website description for them. I did that sort of thing back then. Here are a few things I remember off the top of my head: The Thyrann use genetic engineering as a form of medicine. They will enhance their own immune systems to survive an epidemic, or make sure that organ transplants do not get rejected, for example. However, they object to engineering creatures for petty uses. They are expansionist & imperialistic, and control and small empire of 6 solar systems. However, despite some minor aggressive tendencies, they are not genocidal. They do have several subject species (mostly sub-sapient creatures along the lines of ape-like animals), but view other technological species as their equals. In their society, females are the dominant gender. Males do menial labor, or just manage the household. They marry in groups. I know I'm forgetting some more stuff. I'll have to do some digging. |
February 1, 2014 - 2:40am | Blankbeard, your post reminded me of some more stuff. They use their subject species they way Frontier species use robots (or the way people used slaves long ago). I remember that some Frontier species objected to what appeared to be slavery by the Thyrann. Of course, the perspective of the Thyrann was that they were helping these "lesser species" and teaching them to become civilized. There was nothing about cloning or organic weapons/ships, but that kind of thing seems like it fits the tone of the species. |
