 May 17, 2016 - 2:00pm | I know nobody wants to hire a specialist in the Thrown Weapons skill, and the NPC Wages table does not include a title for such a person. But suppose you did want to hire someone with Thrown Weapons skill. What would you call such a person? I'm drawing a blank for a word meaning "fighter that uses thrown weapons." |
 May 17, 2016 - 2:29pm | I suppose it would depend on your choice of thrown weapon. You could be a grenadier. A knife thrower. A tomahawker... (that's not really a word)... A frisbee specialist... Joe Cabadas |
 May 17, 2016 - 3:34pm | Duh...it's totally obvious...you are a...<pregnant pause> A Thing Flinger! You can't argue with the invincibly ignorant. - William F. Buckley |
May 17, 2016 - 8:23pm | A chucker. Not an up chucker, mind you. Joe Cabadas |
 May 18, 2016 - 4:37am | Laser Bolos... You know it would depend on the weapon I think. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
May 18, 2016 - 5:29am | Laser Bolos... You know it would depend on the weapon I think. Well, yes, because you could have spear thrower, discus thrower, javeline thrower... Joe Cabadas |
May 18, 2016 - 7:48am | Other military skills don't depend on weapon type for the names of their practitioners, hence my search for an inclusive name for the Thrown Weapons skill. I hadn't heard of a peltast or psilos before. These seem a bit too obscure, but are headed in the right direction. Perhaps skirmisher is a better word? A skirmisher doesn't necessarily use only thrown weapons, but then again a space marine probably doesn't only use beam weapons. |
 May 18, 2016 - 9:29am | I smell an archetype article in the same vein as the vrusk pistolero. I like peltast: so what if it's obscure, Pan- Gal is a made up trade language largely invented by a dralasite linguist. He was notorious for borrowing wouds from the speach of all three speakable linguistic traditions. He never realized peltast was obscure in origin, he just borrowed it for use in Pan Gal. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 18, 2016 - 5:08pm | Thrown weapons seem fairly low tech. Somebody already mentioned grenades, upthread, I know. The native human/humanoid guys from the PanGal trading mission illo? Rock hurling apes? |
May 18, 2016 - 5:45pm | Wait a minute! Perhaps humans haven't had a specialist troop type in throw weapons since the advent of firesrms but..... Yazirians have this honor weapon that they even wear as jewelry in the modern Frontier, the zamra or zamira. We need a Yazirian sounding that invokes the zamra. The word will migrate into Pan-Gal and become a general term for a specialist in thrown weapons, particularly when its used for a non yazirian. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 18, 2016 - 11:02pm | Wait a minute! Perhaps humans haven't had a specialist troop type in throw weapons since the advent of firesrms but..... Yazirians have this honor weapon that they even wear as jewelry in the modern Frontier, the zamra or zamira. We need a Yazirian sounding that invokes the zamra. The word will migrate into Pan-Gal and become a general term for a specialist in thrown weapons, particularly when its used for a non yazirian. The Zamaratter! Joe Cabadas |
May 19, 2016 - 3:35am | A zamra duel, as described in the magazine article involved gliding. So the zamaratta, traditionally were troops that kind of functioned as air cav though if we were looking for a human troop type analog Ronan velites or Yeager's of a latter historical period are better fits for how these troops were employed. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 19, 2016 - 3:51am | I'm so smelling an archetype article now. Gonna go review the vrusk pistolero article. Yazirians are of course gratified when words from their language are loan words in Pan Gal however the fo tend to grimace over the use of this word. The Zamaratta were often a highly trained elite troop type deployed during the clan wars a during the imperial period. In modern times they were more of a ceremonial designation. (Think Swiss Guards at Vatican or perhaps the Beefeaters). Zamaratta have not really been deployed as a formal troop type in centuries though the word has been retained for individuals who excel as thrown weapons specialist. Yazirians are grumpy over its use in Pan Gal due to the slight watering down of the word as it can apply to anyone who throws weapons including a host of things not the zamra. There is a feeling that it's use in Pan Gal some how besmirches the honor of the word or the honor of zamaratta of the past, however this is a bit of revisionist history project honor as more of an important element in the past. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 19, 2016 - 5:20am | Is there any reason not to use the title Grenadier? I mean it was originally invented and applied to a specialized soldier that throws grenades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenadier 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 |
May 19, 2016 - 5:43am | No, no reason, except we already created zamaratta and I like it. What if zamaratta connotes blade throwing and grenadier is the more general application covering anything thrown. In fact I can see where grenadier would have a use in the Frontier: Space Fleet, pirates, mercenaries might have a position designated "boarding grenadier " He the guy in the front to close to front rank who lays down a lot of smoke grenades to neutralize lasers, tangler or dose grenades at targets of opportunity to take prisoners and frags when you need "the wizard to drop a fireball" Edit: of course the rotary grenade launcher will have changed the desired skill set for this position but originally it went to the guy with the best arm. And the grenadier who is a thrown weapon specialist is not out of the game so fast as the advent of the yazirian disk grenade and its ability to do bounce tricks has kepted the grenadier in demand. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 21, 2016 - 10:13am | Zamraratta still has a human language suffix to it. Here is my attempt to yazirianize it a bit more, zamragitha, which is the words zamra (the thrown weapon), gi (to throw), and tha (gliding yazirian). Now, I just made the other words up to make it all sound like it was spoken with a mouth blessed with sharp teeth. I do this when I make up other yazirian, dralasite, and vrusk words. I realy ought to keep a dictionary of words I have created. So, the idea I am presenting here is to take zamraratta and twist it a bit more to something a yazirian would say that humans could easily borrow. I feel humans are the best at being able to speak yazirian. -iggy |
May 22, 2016 - 7:55am | Zamraratta still has a human language suffix to it. Here is my attempt to yazirianize it a bit more, zamragitha, which is the words zamra (the thrown weapon), gi (to throw), and tha (gliding yazirian). Now, I just made the other words up to make it all sound like it was spoken with a mouth blessed with sharp teeth. I do this when I make up other yazirian, dralasite, and vrusk words. I realy ought to keep a dictionary of words I have created. So, the idea I am presenting here is to take zamraratta and twist it a bit more to something a yazirian would say that humans could easily borrow. I feel humans are the best at being able to speak yazirian. We could start a alien words dictionary. Joe Cabadas |
May 24, 2016 - 10:43am | My only issue with Zamaratta/Zamragitha is one rolls off the tongue more than the other. But I do like the construction of Zamragitha. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 25, 2016 - 2:15pm | My only issue with Zamaratta/Zamragitha is one rolls off the tongue more than the other. But I do like the construction of Zamragitha.
we can invent any suffix we like that rolls off the tongue good and yazirian like. -iggy |
May 26, 2016 - 12:57am | I'm open to suggestions though I like what you did working gliding in. It might be be very appropriate since a zamra duel involves gliding. (I also like zamaratta) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 28, 2016 - 9:14am | Ah, here's a solution: Zamragitha could be the name in one of the Yazarian languages... maybe the official name. Zamaratta could be the Pan-Gal version. For example, I would think GODCo (Galactic Overall Development Company) probaby had some other Yazarian name. Once they figured out what they could do in Pan-Gal, they renamed it so it had that "GOD" part in big capital letters. Joe Cabadas |
