 August 15, 2014 - 12:25pm | Gorlian Thugs were famously mentioned in Alpha Dawn but with no explanation of who they really are. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 15, 2014 - 3:10pm | That's the sense I got, that Gorlians were no-necked Yazirian enforcers. Besides, having another semian race with a bad attitude in the frontier just puts a bad taste in my mouth. Mixing "gore" (as in bull horns) and "gorilla" just isn't a sensible option to me. So what would a federanium-pumping Yazirian look like, anyway? Would they clip their glide flaps the way muscle-building women remove their breasts? (For that matter, what would a fat Yazirian look like?) View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 15, 2014 - 3:32pm | I dont know that they would go in for a human stereotype of "no neck" but rather would be thuggish in a yazirian way. Sure you can have a line like "Take the blood pudding but leave the gyrojet" and you'll be finding a severed wyvole head in the holo producer's bed but yazirians would play to their strengths- agility, gliding and battle rage not try to become a "type" unlike themselves. More like they might have more in common culturally with Japanese mafia. Pushiness but maybe quick to violence with rather permenant outcomes- so much so that the reputation even chills a yazirian's blood. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 15, 2014 - 7:21pm | I had the gorrilain species in mind when I wrote the Jurak Hangna article in FE issue 3. -iggy |
 August 16, 2014 - 5:52am | So what would a federanium-pumping Yazirian look like, anyway? Would they clip their glide flaps the way muscle-building women remove their breasts? (For that matter, what would a fat Yazirian look like?)
I've never penned a fat yaz, but here's a rendering I did of one born on a high-grav world that fits the federanium pumper mold:  |
 August 17, 2014 - 11:48pm | Whenever I think of a fiction with "Gor" in the title, I have a whole other mental image...  ...I'm just saying. |
August 18, 2014 - 2:43am | Ah... Boris Vallejo and Frank Frenzeti artwork; I've never actually read a "Gor" novel but I've seen the artwork. I'm envious of their skill with anatomy. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 18, 2014 - 9:31am | Hey there playing a little catch up here. First this problem of what to do with a race from he core material that was not really detailed is not real new. FASA had the same problem when they did the Orion expansion for the original Star Trek role playing game. At the time the only mention of Orions were the appearance of two Orion Slave Girls in two episodes. Nothing else was available and it was not know if the Slave girls were actually Orions or just females the Orions had enslaved. With the Gorilians we are not told whether they are a race or a criminal organization or a thug who works for a being named Gorilia. Heck the thug could be like a Ninja. Ninja is not a race but a fighting style for which they are known for. Personally I went with the criminal organization and kept it a human. But a particular Yazirian clan or even a clanless or dishonored warrior somewhat like the ronin could be a reasonable explanation. (Yes I know the ronin were not thugs but it is a loose analogy). Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 18, 2014 - 12:40pm | I think a Gorlian Cadre is a reasonable and very SF answer to who a gorlian thug is. To be certian we have a stray reference in AD to Gorlian thugs with no explanation. They could be: 1. a race as was proposed as optional material in the SFman 2. a yazirian clan that are tougher than other clans and thus almost a yaz crime family 3. a criminal cadre open to any race really. All three are options and all three are vallid in my opinion. At one time I liked the race option but these days I far and beyond like the clan or cadre option. Race Pros: written up in the SFman and there are some nice miniatures out there that could stand in for them. Cons: no detail for their home planet, history etc, there is a view of too many sapient beings in the Frontier sector. Clan Pros: a clan of yaz thugs fits the classic cannon portrayl of yazirians Cons: there is a view that yazirians are the golden child of the SF setting ie "Enough already with the yazirian centric new material for the Frontier." Cadre Pros: Criminal cadres fit into the Frontier rather nicely going back to the earliest dragon magazine articles for Star Frontiers Cons: criminal cadres are something that usually get dealt with and then you move on such that its tranistory to most games. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 18, 2014 - 2:04pm | To whom it may concern, it's "G-o-r-l-i-a-n", not "G-o-r-i-l-i-a-n". jedion, it depends upon how the cadre is used and the theme of the campaign. The Star Wars universe has used the Hutt crime family quite extensively, weaving in and out of story lines all the time. A Gorlian crime syndicate could be made a major long term BBEM for a party or an independent organization that is sometimes on the right side and sometimes on the wrong side, depending upon how their aims line up with the aims of the party or not. The party might even approach them for a favor. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 19, 2014 - 8:28am | As a side note Final Fantasy announced a new faction for their Star Wars X-Wing game at Gencon. Scum and Villiany. Maybe the Gorilians will appear there. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 19, 2014 - 11:54am | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6okQtZgvWI View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 20, 2014 - 4:15am |
I dont get that. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 20, 2014 - 4:35am | Gorlian thugs as a yazirian clan could be a clan of tough guys that will hire out as muscle with little concern for who or what they hire out to. Perhaps in the distant past honor was more important to the clan but through the events of the STar Exodus and Clan Anglan taking over control of the Oneness faith and instituting the Family of One a leader of this clan lost faith with the traditions of the past. He developed a what does it all matter sort of attitude and through his leadership the clan has become less "moral" or less concerned with honor and today they simply focus on the job. They hire out as muscle and dont really care for who or what, just simply that they get paid. You better not stiff them when the bill comes due. Thus they have developed a reputation as thugs. The clan business is essentially muscle, security, guarding, problem solving (as you have a competitor and you wish to drive him out of business so you hire some gorlians to go in and trash his business). They may or may not alsways be the baddie in your game and could concievably even be hired by the PCs for a job. Could even allow a PC to be Gorlian who isn't really supporting the clan business but may be approached during the course of a campaign to get right with the clan by doing a little job... or alternately he's a gorlian that is wrestling with finding the honor that the clan once possessed in the past- he's going to have rather negative or even fearful reactions by NPC who recognize him as a gorlian which should create in game challenges and opportunities for the PC. "You're a gorlian, right? So why don't you just go over there and bust some heads?" As a clan of muscle for hire they dont really have a master agenda as their agenda is the mission of the moment and really reflects who's paying them. They might have some lines that they wont cross or if they find out the something about their employer they might turn on him. Like say how pedaphilia in the real world is a line that most people wont cross and if they discover that someone they associate with has crossed it they can have a very negative reaction to them. Not sure what those lines would be in the SF setting other than maybe sathar agent which exists as a line for humma and ifshnits. As a cadre they should have an agenda and enemies and alies. For example the Malthar could be a long standing ally or enemy. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 20, 2014 - 6:47am |
A reply to rattraveller's joke. As a side note Final Fantasy announced a new faction for their Star Wars X-Wing game at Gencon. Scum and Villiany. Maybe the Gorilians will appear there. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 20, 2014 - 1:29pm | Jed: Why do you think the Yazirian Gorilians do not have or have forsaken their honor code? According to Wisegeek( http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-honor-code.htm ) A honor code is a code that governs behavior within a specific community. It typically dictates specific behaviors that are not acceptable, setting an example for members of the community to follow. Many criminal/evil organizations have honor codes. Yakuza-Tattoes for rewards and removal of fingers for punishment Gangs (Bloods/Crips)- Blood In/Blood Out, No snitching, respect the OGs The Nazi SS-They had alot of rules My Honor is my Loyalty was thier motto. More recently ISIS are a bunch of bloodthirsty savages but they do follow the a version of extreme Islam and its Code of Honor. Perhaps the Gorilians follow a modified Honor Code from the other clans. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 20, 2014 - 2:59pm | Jed: Why do you think the Yazirian Gorilians do not have or have forsaken their honor code?
Perhaps the Gorilians follow a modified Honor Code from the other clans. Yes a truncated honor code that makes them seem less honorable to other yaz clans but within their own clan they feel they are doing the right thing. Perhaps its not even an issue of losing the honor code or even of discarding some of it but rather since the clan business is muscle for hire it creates the persception of them being less honorable to other yazirians because they are loyal to the clan business and will fulfill the contract no matter what. Methods are immaterial as long as they fulfill the contract. Thus the outward perception is that of thuggish behavior and the inward perception is that they are loyal and honorable and to "the desert of lost hunters" with what you think about them or their clan as they just dont care. Family of One has made use of them from time to time, particularly on other yazirian world other than Hentz where they can do pretty much as they please. Where as on other yazirian worlds they require some plausible deniability and the gorlian clan is perfectly willing to provide that for an extra fee. Would any job be on the table with a yazirian gorlian clan or would there be some things they would not touch? EDIT: Having worked on the Honor Code article I dont think that there is anything in there that a gorlian thug would choke on. They simply see the honor code in strict terms of their clan not in terms of yazirian society at large. In the past they the clan leadership may have had a broader view of Yazirian Oneness but somewhere along the way something happened where clan leaders decided "screw all this touchy feelly we're all one family" and decided they had to look out for clan number 1. Very likely this happened during the Star Exodus and due to circumstances their clan was impovrished and they felt they were dealt a raw deal and have sinced rebuilt their position in yazirian society but with a reputation for thuggish behavior. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 21, 2014 - 5:36pm | FWIW, going by the artwork accompanying the sample adventure that mentions the Gorlian thug, said Gorlian appears human: |
August 21, 2014 - 6:48pm | Which paragraph on what page mentions the Gorlian thug? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 21, 2014 - 7:33pm | Apparently not the sample adventure that pic was included with...I could have sworn that was where it came from but I just perused it and it wasn't there. Scratch my prior post. |
August 21, 2014 - 7:39pm | Found it. Page 5 of the Expanded Rules, under the Personality description. |
August 21, 2014 - 8:02pm | Right, so quick-tempered thug is all we have. Yazirian. :) View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 22, 2014 - 5:18pm | It occurred to me that some names do have variant spellings or two words with slightly different spellings could still be related to the same base word, so it would not be a stretch for "Gorlian" to mean "of Goru", with "Goru" being a transliterated phoneme of the Yazirian language, while "Gor" is the translated phoneme. So maybe Gruna Goru (Hargut) could be the system from where Gorlian Yazirians hail. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 22, 2014 - 5:50pm | Give that man a cookie! That is about the best clue yet as to where this may have originated is Star Frontiers play testing. So a Gorlian is anyone from Gruna Goru and Gorlian thugs are thugs that hail from Gruna Goru. I like it. I'm gonna have to go reread my Jurak Hangna article about the Wom and see how this jives. The Wom article is the only skin I have in the game that needs to be reconciled with this. -iggy |
August 23, 2014 - 8:30am | So we have 1) a race 2) a clan, 3) a cadre 4) and a generic term describing an object, person or thing from Guna Garu I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 23, 2014 - 9:11am | I discovered that "Gruna Garu" was Eastland's misspelling in Zeb's. I'm suggesting race: Yazirian, system: Gruna Goru. Thug from Gruna Goru, possibly indicating that Gruna Goru is home to a cadre that may control the system, or at least all illegal activity in the system. Or maybe he is simply a thug from Gruna Goru. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 23, 2014 - 12:30pm | Well, we can embrace multiple spellings as correct. with Goru being old yazirian and Garu being modern yazirian. Could even be that Garu is the Pan GaL translation? Might even have a spelling that represents a local planetary dialect ie when you hear certain phrases you know the person saying them has a high probability of being from a specific geographical location. We should probably run this by an osakar since they are the linguists of the Frontier Sector :D I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 23, 2014 - 5:40pm | We should send a subspace email to Prof. Elib Osa at Bidik University on Osak. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 August 26, 2014 - 5:22am | Race Cons: no detail for their home planet, history etc, there is a view of too many sapient beings in the Frontier sector. Why can this race not be from several planets ex: coexsistance or share a planet like the Tyleri and Vrusk. |
August 26, 2014 - 5:27pm | We should send a subspace email to Prof. Elib Osa at Bidik University on Osak.
Not possible. The Humma are jamming all transmissions to and from Osak, because the Osakar are not overly fond of the Humma. Which is just fine with the Humma, as they do not care for the other races either. |
August 26, 2014 - 8:40pm | On the contrary. The Humma net is only blocking commercial communications. The UPF set up a special subspace relay beyond the Humma subpace net. The channel is only available to a few thousand users, but we shouldn't have a problem getting through. We just need to contact the Osakaran embassy on Gran Quivera. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
