 October 27, 2014 - 12:20pm | RE: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/7053 did some sketches of aquatic creatures recently and it got me thinking about Groth and the Nagana from the SFman. Kicking around doing a planetary breif (background for a referee), Cultural Perspectives (background for player choosing Groth as a home planet for his dralasite) and a smallish adventure. I'd like to detail at least 3 distinct environments on Groth. and write paragraphs on 3-4 locations (1. admin center &star port, 2. farming community or two, 3. Nagana Institute, 4. Vrusk colony ruins) Need to tackle the reason that the vrusk ceded the planet to the dralasites (Terl Obar made great comments in the above thread) And either some quick encounters of the "Layover on Lossend" variety or a smallish adventure set on planet. At least one encounter should be "meet the nagana" and might result in a nagana joining the PCs team as an adventure companion. Here is a re-imagine of the nagana as a primitive aquaitc sapient, this could be an aquatic variety of the nagana and I can work on the terrestrial version or the nagana can be recrafted as strickly aquatic species that never developed industry because fires are tough to build underwater. though they could have less of a fish tail and be amphibian.  And a saber tooth eel  I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 27, 2014 - 1:28pm | I just started rereading the nagana in SFman 1and and they were an aquatic species. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 27, 2014 - 9:21pm | I use the Nagana in my campaign, although to be honest they don't come up that often. They are one of my background races. It would be interesting to give them a bit more depth (no pun intended). |
October 28, 2014 - 4:51am | So the Nagana were discovered by the vrusk when they colonized Groth and we can presume they openned a dialog. The colony failled due to environmental factors such that when the dralasites turned up on the scene there was only a small science station on Groth vrusked buy very committed vrusk scientist forced to used extreme measures to protect themselves. We can further presume that the Nagana have had 200 years of exposure to vrusk society/culture and have probably faired better than American Indians have in the past 200 years as the vrusk have zero interest in pushing them off their "water". One wonders if the nagana have casinos? The past 100 years have witnessed "encroachment", if you can call it that by the dralasites establishing farms on land. Possibilities of nagana/dralasite conflict over water quality issues from run off carrying chemicals or bacteria into the water supply from the farm fields. In some ways the whole planet was a reservation for the nagana before the dralasites showed up. nagana attitudes toward the vrusk is probably the most favorable while they are not so happy with the dralasites; generally blaming all dralasites for the activities of the dralasite agricultural community on Groth. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 28, 2014 - 5:37am | Dralasites from Groth, may, at the player's choice speak or undersand nagana speech. Vrusk are not actually from Groth due to the environmental factors but a starting PC vrusk may claim to have done an internship on Groth for his trade house. This character has higher starting pay, may at the player's choice understand nagana speech, but also must roll for chance to have developed the "affliction" that originally drove the vrusk to abandon this planet. Characters from Groth are likely to have a science background. the Nagana Institute, labs studying the environment to make it safer for vrusk to visit, labs studying agriculture and developing new products- because Groth was abandoned by the vrusk 200 years ago its still virgin territory and there is great potential for developing agriculture, medicine and etc.- numerous vrusk trade houses empoly all non vrusk personnel on Groth. Military backgrounds on Groth: the Terledrom militia is extremely anal about smugglers and there is no way they would overlook Groth as a haven for smuggling. Therefore there is a contingent of militia stationed on Groth that are almost exclusively non vrusk. Any of the other core four may have been recruited to the Terledrom militia to help man this station. If there is one place that a smuggler can prosper in the two systems controlled by the Terledrom government it is Groth. So there is the potential for some criminal activity here but its not really out in the open. It may be that the Malthar has made some contacts/in roads into Groth. He was involved in the drug trade and may be this is an angle for an encounter set on Groth. "corporate espionage" where formulas were stolen. I wont go with the Malthar kidnapping nagana to harvest their brains for the drug as that is too much like the events in Dramune Run. Material Culture from Groth: Inner Reach has the paints, dyes and brushes that let its Dralasites make themselves into walking mood rings, Morgaine's World has the Trekker boot and knife throwing sport, for Groth I'm leaning toward it having an animate plant (like the Venus Flytrap) that is essentially a potted pet. It can, if trained by the owner, throw a spine at someone on command. These plants grow wild on Groth and in the wild can be very dangerous but have been cultivated and if kept in a smallish pot it will not grow very big. Its a social and cooporative species, which is why it can be kept as a "pet". It uses its spine throwing ability to kill small animals and its tendril vines then grap and drag the kill to it for consumption. limited mobility- a day to move meters. Encounter: dralasite working for the malthar has planted hedges of these animate plants around his property and encouraged aggressive behavior (think drug dealer with pit bulls) PCs have reason enter property and deal with dralasite criminal and his pit bull plants. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 28, 2014 - 5:48am | Meet the Nagana encounter. could be an investigation into why nagana are falling ill. Nagana blame the fertilizer/chemicals in the water run off from the local farms. Truth is that a smuggler is hiding his vehcile at a secret location and it has a leaky coolant/containment system that is polluting the environment. It could be this is a small fast star ship or a planet bound vehcile of some sort. Perhaps the ship evaded the militia only to crash land in water. current carries radiation from the atomic drive to nagana settlement. other sea life has been affected. smugglers are trying to recover the cargo so when the PCs locate the wreck there will be hostile negotiations. this could lead to the drug farm and pit bull plants encounter suggested above. beginning of the encounter is skill check and role play based but should transition to combat encounters when dealing with smugglers. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 28, 2014 - 5:50am | Moon pools would be a popular feature on water vessels on Groth. allowing nagana to pop in and say hello- or rather allowing nagana crew to come and go with ease. Fromeltar is governed by a mix of vrusk companies and elected dralasites. Groth is overseen by an elected dralasite, called the Chief Orator of Groth who represents Groth in the system government. Up till recently there have been Community Orators (mayors) but there has been talk of organizing regional orators though the population levels dont quite support this move yet. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 28, 2014 - 6:38am | to detail Groth in the setting, the militia and star port on Groth need to be covered and that means some development of the militia must be done. I started on that here and welcome comment and imput: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/8406#comment-37270 I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 28, 2014 - 3:45pm | I like the moon pool idea, and the fact that they can "pop up" anywhere, and disappear again just as quickly. In my campaign, there was an ongoing debate regarding whether or not the Nagana should be allowed to join the UPF. They were obviously intelligent, but many people felt they were no different than Wypongs or Heliopes because they did not have spacefaring technology. However, Nagana had demonstrated that they were quick and imitative, and had already developed a great deal of relatively advanced technology, both before & after contact. They are eventually admitted, but only after years of debate. In my campaign it was the Dralasites who were the Nagana's staunchest defenders, and they would argue in favor of them at great length, despite the opposition of nearly everyone else. |
 October 29, 2014 - 12:18am | Nice plant pitbull. As for the moon pools, suggest that some spaceships from Fromeltar have been built with moon pools in them. <Even though Nagana move around like snakes.> As for Nagana's admittance to the UPF - in my campaign - no. They are part of Groth and therefore influence their politics and receive reprensentation through them. |
November 2, 2014 - 5:57am | I was just thinking of surface ships with moon pools. Trying to envision how you'd do a water system and moons pools on a star ship. zero G becomes a problem and with vertical decks you could not connect moon pools from one deck to another. I think it was the sci fi series Sea quest that had a moon pool for the trained dolphins to pop in and out of the ship but is a moon pool even feasible on a sub? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 2, 2014 - 9:50am | The Sathar have moonpools. They put a split lid on it that closes during time of zero G. |
 November 2, 2014 - 10:01pm | It's unlikely that aquatic creatures would develop human-like limbs. Evolution usually drives limbs the other way, i.e. streamlining limbs as much as is possible. However, amphibious creatures may develop something vaguely similar (in the same way that frogs have), but perhaps at the expense of speed and a certain amount of agility when in the water. As for muscle-bound human-like aquatic creatures - nope  |
 November 3, 2014 - 5:32am | Nagana look like GMO to me. Maybe another culture made them & dumped them, or their ancestors escaped the lab... they probably would have a few myths that sound like typical creation & cosmology but could also be explained as the gods & demons where aliens. Think all those wacky books on ancient Sumerian Gods being planets & aliens. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 3, 2014 - 5:55pm | Nagana look like GMO to me. Maybe another culture made them & dumped them, or their ancestors escaped the lab... they probably would have a few myths that sound like typical creation & cosmology but could also be explained as the gods & demons where aliens. Think all those wacky books on ancient Sumerian Gods being planets & aliens. Cue the tetrarchs or the clikks I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2014 - 4:19am | Nagana look like GMO to me. Maybe another culture made them & dumped them, or their ancestors escaped the lab... they probably would have a few myths that sound like typical creation & cosmology but could also be explained as the gods & demons where aliens. Think all those wacky books on ancient Sumerian Gods being planets & aliens. Actually my desire to redraw the nagana is rooted in my very first reaction to them that they looked like something out of Greek myth or D&D, and I'd like to lose the fantasy look, if at all possible. We dont have to classify them as GMO but should consider better ways of depicting them. 1. on that list is losing the human muscular look, especially any body builder look. Even if aquatic organisms are strong they still tend to have a sleek look to them. That part of the surprise of fishing- as a kid I'd hook a pickrel and think "this has got to be a big fish by the way its fighting" and when it was landed ther would be a let down in that the pickrel was smaller than expected. They can be tough but they are sleek and thin. 2. I think the shoulder structure might be the next thing to tackle- they were very broad in the original artwork, they still stand out in the image I drew. A shoulder stucture like this is almost certainly about bearing weight and it presents unwanted drag in an aquatic creature. I will have to consider ways to depict the arms that are less human and more aquatic 3. then you have to consider the head, most aquatic creatures have their head/face aligned with the main axis of their body pointing straight ahead so they the can see where they are going. why does the nagana have his hinged to look down? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2014 - 4:45am | Jed, you have to remember that this race migrated from the water - they are land based. That's why they are muscular, have shoulders and a head. |
November 4, 2014 - 5:16am | Jed, you have to remember that this race migrated from the water - they are land based. That's why they are muscular, have shoulders and a head. Guess I missed that, I saw aquatic and assumed they were just amphibian. So in all likelihood they discovered and learned to use fire on their own and had some form of industry when discovered by the vrusk. Hinged head is in but the shoulders still bother me some. Edit: based on SFman 1, I would give all nagana a free level of artist skill whether from the Artist PSA in the SFman or from Skilled Frontier. Since vrusk are lovers of beauty it would not be unheard of for a trade house to hire a famous nagana to decorate their new offices. Coral cities- suggests a organism or class of organism. Though since their tail fin is vestigal, could this be a land based coral? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 4, 2014 - 10:33am | I think if we are talking a a species that is in transition from water to land, we need to rethink a few things... I suggest fingers more along frog/newt/salamander: They probably would lack claws. I am thinking the limbs would not be placed where ours are, looking at whales you can clearly see how the shoulder blades are, instead of long forelimbs I suspect they would be shorter, tighter, more T-Rex.  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 4, 2014 - 10:58am | In my campaign, the Nagana have more newt/frog-like hands. |
November 4, 2014 - 7:19pm | Also they probably need to keep their eyes moist outside of H2O, this could be a specialized eye lid, or the tongue thing (which other species might react poorly to), or just weepy eyes. Also what about gender & reproduction: The material I have indicates the standard male-female sexes, do they group spawn or do bonded pairings, do the males care for the babies at some point (seahorse)? Do they give live birth like seahorse or some sharks or do they do an egg sack thing, if so what kind of egg sack, like spawning fish or more like a sharks? If a shark type sack do the siblings get eaten by the strongest fetus? The males being blander colored is the reverse of what you see in say the beta fish, in that the male is brightly colored to attract females & probably help with intruders... so are females playing reversed roles, attracting mates and defending territory? The fact that female fins = female hair in our human society, I would suspect the females have ways of enhancing, decorating and caring for those fins. I also suspect a female without the underarm fins would have some sort of special status in their society good or bad... religious person, punishment... Since male fins are bland... they might be permanently marked or marked as part of rituals? Markings could be done a variety of ways, scarification, tattoo, notching? Their species name ends with the "-na" which is a female name ending, is that a significant hint to society structure? Do they have some sort of female centric or dominated culture? "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 5, 2014 - 9:17am | Article says eyes are hard to see from brow ridge overshadowing them and this could be part of a strategy to protect them. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 5, 2014 - 7:12pm | In the original SFm #1 the forelimb looks like it has negative space (a hole between the bones)? Am I seeing that correct? I did some poking looking for aspects of the critter in real life: Some real fish with "hands"in various stages of development, some photos also show how some fish have rather armish bulkier fins: These fish push themselves along the floor more than swimming. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 7, 2014 - 9:14am | A brow ridge would be very unusual for aquatic creatures. This is because such creatures need to have a peripheral view that includes the space at quite an angle above them as well as to the sides when the head is facing forwards. What's more likely is that the eyes have an outer covering of some sort, or are 'hard' like those found in insects. |
November 7, 2014 - 10:15am | Maybe the brow ridges, are not "brow ridges" but part of a natural sonar system? I thought brow ridges where odd too. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 8, 2014 - 3:56am | Something like a dolphin's "melon" which protrudes in the front of its head... |
November 8, 2014 - 4:41am | Something like a dolphin's "melon" which protrudes in the front of its head... Ok, i like where you are going with that... I'll try to bring a sketch pad to work and do some sketches today during down time. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
