Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY59.395 to FY60.025

Here’s the next installment of the timeline. This section include the events that will be considered the first battles of the Second Sathar War, namely the Battles of Volkos and Zebulon between ground and spaces forces of the UPF and the sathar at Volturnus in the Zebulon system.

After posting the last installment, I was asked if it would be possible to provide references to the sources I’m using to create the entries. I realized that would be a good idea so I’ve started adding reference notes to all the entries that come from other sources other than me just making them up for the timeline. I also wrote a short introduction to the timeline that explains the references that I’ve reproduced below.

I’ve gone back an annotated all the previous entries in the downloadable timeline document and where a reference occurs in the blog post, I’ve included the key for those references at the end of the post.

Introduction

The following timeline represents the events of the Second Sathar War as I designed them to act as a backdrop to various campaigns I am running. I have a different timeline that runs the PCs though all the game modules in an appropriate order to progress their skill level but that is not this one. This is somewhat of a more fiction-oriented timeline rather than on specifically designed to run PCs through.

One major aspect of this time line is that I’m using the Knight Hawks rules for interstellar travel, namely that it effectively takes 9 day to make an interstellar jump between systems (ignoring astrogation calculation times). I also make the assumption that if you’re not stopping in a system, you only have to spend as much time in that system as the astrogation calculations take as you stay near jump speed during your transit. If you assume 1 day per light year per the original Alpha Dawn rules, it would change the timing of many of these events, possibly significantly.

If you’re familiar with the timeline in the Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, you’ll quickly notice that I don’t follow that much at all. I pull some of the names and ideas but the timing and actual events follow my own muse. Additionally, regardless of the source of the events, the exact dates are all of my creation.

In the events that follow, I’ve tried to annotate the source for names, dates, and events if they come from any of the material originally published by TSR. Although I’m not going to annotate the system, planet, and common megacorp names as I assume those are common knowledge. I will also try to annotate any material coming from the Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer Fanzines. If you notice that I missed anything, let me know so I can fix it.

Annotations that appear at the end of an entry refer to the entire entry. If it appears in the middle, it applies just to the name that the annotation follows. Each time an annotation first appears, there will be a footnote describing it. I’ve also added an Appendix listing all the annotation codes. If no particular annotation is associated with an entry you may assume I made the entry up out of whole cloth or extrapolated it from other events specifically for this timeline.

Timeline

As always, the data presented in this blog post cover only the new dates but the downloadable document at the end is cumulative over all the timeline posts up to this point.

Date (FY)	Event
59.395	Subspace signal received at Laco from unknown location in Sathar space. Images appear in the great pyramid showing a similar complex on a warm, swampy world with a large number of sathar and a bipedal insect race (Zuraqqor) working around the complex.
59.396	Despite efforts to keep the images contained, news and clips of the images race across the Frontier on the subspace network. Scientists, politicians, and the general populous speculate as to the cause and meaning.
59.397	A new group, calling themselves the Anti-Satharian League (ZG), stage demonstrations on the major population centers of the Frontier and at the Council of Worlds, broadcasting excerpts from the Laco pyramid images and demanding increased military buildup for Spacefleet.
59.398	Completing its time in the Cassidine system, SF Nova departs Triad for the Dramune system to spend some time cooling rising tensions between Inner and Outer Reach.
59.399	A CDC scout ship, the Twilight Moon, returns from charting a jump route to the Rhianna system. Due to preliminary geological findings, CDC decides to keep the route a secret and establish a mining outpost on the planet Alcazzar. (SF4)
59.400	Most businesses across the Frontier close a day early in anticipation of the big Founding Day celebrations tomorrow, allowing citizens and organizations some extra time to prepare.
60.001	– UPF Founding Day celebrations occur on most planets across the Frontier to celebrate 6 decades of peace. However, there is a subtle undercurrent of concern due to the recent events on Laco. – The first new sathar ship that will be committed to the coming conflict, a destroyer, emerges from Sathar Starship Construction Center (SSCC) #2, located in the as of yet unexplored (and unnamed) Liberty system.
60.002	– In wake of the Founding Day celebrations, the Frontier Peace Organization hold a rally outside the Council of Worlds headquarters demanding a reduction in Spacefleet and Landfleet operations. Some small altercations occur with members of the Anti-Satharian League. – Observance Day on Clarion (White Light) commemorates all who have fallen defending the system through history. This year it also continues the UPF Founding Day celebration on the planet for an extra day.
60.003	UPF PG Virgo, together with the Pale militia (a frigate and 3 assault scouts), depart for the Zebulon system. Streel additionally sends a frigate, 4 corvettes, and 3 assault scouts to assist.
60.004	Council of Worlds reconvenes for its 60th session. Initial topics of debate include events on Laco and Zebulon and their implications for the future of the Frontier.
60.005	Fighting breaks out between Frontier Peace Organization and Anti-Satharian League supporters outside the Council of Worlds headquarters. Local police have to resort to doze and tangler grenades and stun weapons to break up the fighting. Over 4 dozen beings detained.
60.006	Sathar SSCC#4, near Fromeltar and Klaeok, completes construction of a light cruiser and 4 fighters.
60.007	SF Nova arrives in the Dramune System. It will remain in system for 15 days as a show of force to help quell rising tensions between Inner and Outer Reach
60.008	Laco artifacts taken from the PGC chartered freighter, KSS Dawn’s Glow, anonymously arrive at the Triad Institute of Technology (TriTech) and are delivered to their originally intended recipients. (NCW)
60.009	The Sathar cleansing fleet arrives in the Zebulon system and begins decelerating towards Volturnus. (SF2)
60.010	The UPF fleet arrives in the Zebulon system and begins decelerating toward Volturnus and the sathar fleet. (SF2)
60.011	A small freighter, the KKSS Trader’s Gambit, misjumps travelling from K’aken-Kar to K’tsa-Kar and ends up in the Sundown system. Damaged engines force the crew to look for a planet to land on to effect repairs. (SF3)
60.012	– Battle of Volkos – Sathar ground troops advance on the ruins of the Eorna city of Volkos. A rag-tag army, composed of members of Volturnus’s native races and lead by members of the TSES Second Volturnus Expedition, manage to hold off the invaders. (SF2) – Battle of Zebulon – UPF forces engage the Sathar fleet around Volturnus. Although the UPF forces are mostly smaller vessels, the sathar are driven off with only a frigate, 2 destroyers, and a heavy cruiser surviving. UPF losses were 1 UPF LC and AS, 1 Streel Corvette, and 1 militia AS (SF2)
60.013	News of defeat at Zebulon reaches sathar space. Clan infighting begins around debate of invasion and who should lead assault. This will continue for several months. At the same time all the clans begin building up their military.
60.014	– News of victory over sathar forces in the Zebulon system announced across the Frontier to mixed reaction. Performance of the Assault Scout in its first major engagement with sathar forces is deemed a success. – Pale militia and Spacefleet given priority at the Pale and Gran Quivera starship construction centers to replace vessels lost in the battle at Zebulon.
60.015	– The KKSS Trader’s Gambit sets down on the planet Starmist in the Sundown system. (SF3) – Having effected repairs from the battle with the sathar, the Pale militia and Streel ships depart Volturnus (Zebulon) to return to Pale (Truane’s Star) while the UPF forces remain on patrol.
60.016	– The Anti-Satharian League stages demonstrations on Pale, Gran Quivera, Triad, and Clarion demanding increased militarization and growth of Spacefleet – The navigator and second master of the KKSS Trader’s Gambit, Maximillian Malligigg, makes contact with an intelligent race, the Heliopes, on the planet Starmist (Sundown). (SF3)
60.017	Leotia (SFKH0) Valentine Leotus, crown princess of Clarion (White Light), celebrates her 32nd birthday (18.5 earth years)
60.018	A listening station in the Kazak system in the Rim detect faint signals of sathar ships in the outer system. Flight vessels are dispatched to investigate.
60.019	Repairs completed, the KKSS Trader’s Gambit leaves Starmist to attempt to return to charted Frontier space. (SF3)
60.020	The Flight vessels in Kazak arrive at the location of the sathar signals but find nothing more than a faint indication that ships had passed through the area days before. Two ships are left on station while the rest return to base.
60.021	Winter begins in earnest on Alcazzar, delaying the start of CDC operations on the planet. The corporation hopes that this delay will throw off any competitor’s interest in the mineral rich system. (SF4)
60.022	SF Nova departs the Dramune system for the Fromeltar system
60.023	– The KKSS Trader’s Gambit successfully jumps back to the K’tsa-Kar system. – The Pale militia arrives back home from the Zebulon system.
60.024	Scouting through the Zebulon system, a UPF frigate and assault scout find an ancient vessel in a distant solar orbit. Investigation reveals it to contain a cache of cryogenically stored Eorna eggs. If still viable, the eggs will secure the survival of that species. (SF3)
60.025	Delegates from the Pale militia are dispatched to testify at the Council of Worlds regarding events on Volturnus.

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

References

NCW – A New Can of Worms on-line game events
SF2 – Starspawn of Volturnus module
SF3 – Sundown on Starmist module
SF4 – Mission to Alcazzar module
SFKH0 – Warriors of White Light module
ZG – Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, Vol 1

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY59.368 – FY59.394

Here is the next set of events from the detailed Frontier timeline. This covers the events that will eventually be considered the start of the Second Sathar War, namely the activation of the Glass Pyramid on Laco broadcasting a signal into sathar space as well as the activation of the sathar artifact on Volturnus calling the eventual sathar fleet to the Zebulon system.

The data presented in this blog post cover only the new dates but the downloadable document at the end is cumulative over all the timeline posts up to this point.

Date (FY)	Event
59.368	An enclave of sathar, ostensibly survivors from the Great Sathar War, found and eliminated on Pale. Based on intelligence gathered, it is believed that there may still be other enclaves on the planet. Citizens are warned to be alert.
59.369	Initial investigation of the “Kraatar Incident” completed. Those responsible for the severe Vist’Lat actions shown to be under some sort of cybernetic control by Legrange. Vist’Lat cleared and restored to Commercial Council.
59.370	The Streel interstellar shuttle, SCSS Laco Purveyor, shot down while landing on Pale. Origin of blast unknown. A skirmish over the downed shuttle results in over a dozen mercenaries dead but no loss of Streel forces or the injured shuttle crew.
59.371	News from investigations on Pale indicate that the new breed of Quickdeath was bred by local, long-time exotic creature supplier and bounty hunter, Trey Mulden, for unknown reasons. Mulden’s location is currently unknown. If seen, call Star Law immediately.
59.372	Several research institutions and zoos across the Frontier, expecting quickdeath shipments from Mulden, received multiple examples of the new variety. Forewarned of potential issues, most were contained but word had not yet reached Clarion and one handler was severely injured trying to contain the unexpected extra creatures.
59.373	Despite efforts of the Family of One (FoO), data on the newly discovered brown dwarf is now available. The FoO reaction to the news fuels speculation that the K4 star is Yazira, the “lost” yazirian home system.
59.374	The Cassidine Development Corporation’s new prototype paramilitary freighter, the CDCSS Nightwind, goes missing on its maiden voyage.
59.375	A small freighter, operating under a Streel charter, is attacked and destroyed in the Dixon’s Star System. Crew escapes in lifeboats and are rescued. Streel claims attack was by PGC vessels.
59.376	StarPlay releases the newest holovid movie in the Hawc, Star Law Ranger franchise.
59.377	UPFS Admiral Clinton completes its refit. As the remaining ships in SF Nova come out of refit over the next two days, the strike force prepares for another tour of the Frontier.
59.378	The governments of Kawdl-Kit (K’tsa-Kar) and Ken’zah-Kit (K’aken-Kar) sign a mutual trade and defense agreement. It is expected that the Zik-Kit (Kizk’-Kar) government with join the trade alliance in the near future.
59.379	The General Overall Development Corporation unveils the Yazira Dome on Hentz. This massive, 100 square kilometer habitat is claimed to enclose a biome identical to that on the lost Yazirian homeworld.
59.380	Strike Force Nova, after completing a long refit in Prenglar, departs for a tour of the vrusk loop of the Frontier. First stop, Cassidine.
59.381	Spacefleet dispatches several ships (1 AC, 8 F, 2 LC, 2 DD, & 2 AS), designated Patrol Group Virgo, from Prenglar to Dixon’s Star to help put a dampener on rising Streel-PGC hostilities.
59.382	A Vrusk-owned shopping complex on Kidikit (Madderly’s Star) is destroyed by the explosion of several bombs. Many beings injured but no fatalities. The Kraatar Liberation Corps claims responsibility. There is concern over rekindling the Free World Rebellion tensions.
59.383	Despite budget delays and squabbling over the need for upgraded defenses, Fortress Kidikit (Madderly’s Star) reaches the 75% complete milestone.
59.384	Tensions in Dramune on the rise as Outer Reach industries continue to ignore and violate Inner Reach trademarks and patents.
59.385	Astronomers on Hargut (Gruna Goru) claim to have detected artificial signals from a system several light years beyond the Frontier. They begin organizing a petition to request that the UPF send and exploration mission.
59.386	Galactic Task Force mercenaries, working under PGC direction, attack three Streel archeology sites on Laco. Two are captured while the third is successfully defended by Streel personnel. Streel personnel at the captured sites are not harmed but evicted from the sites.
59.387	Glass Pyramid on Laco begins glowing with an unidentifiable energy source. After 20 minutes of increasing brightness, it releases a beam of energy nearly vertically. Beam consists of both electromagnetic energy across the full spectrum and subspace signals.
59.388	Unmarked Streel ships attack the KSS Dawn’s Glow hijacking cargo. Crew is left on immobilized ship to effect repairs and await rescue.
59.389	Subspace signal from Great Pyramid received in sathar space. SF Nova arrives in Cassidine. It will be in system for 9 days exercising with Task Force Cassidine. A raid on a PGC dig site by unknown forces results in one dead and one PGC scientist captured. The PGC scientist, a former Streel employee, is later released and identifies the assailants as Streel employees.
59.390	A message, transmitted by an artifact left on Volturnus (Zebulon) is received at a sathar listening post alerting then to the space-faring activity in the Zebulon system and the detection and penetration of the artifact by technologically advanced races. A subspace message is received on Pale from the presumed lost Second Volturnus Expedition explaining the sathar and pirate presence in the Zebulon system and warning of imminent attack from sathar forces. Immediate assistance is requested. PG Virgo arrives at Laco and takes up patrol duties around the system. A raid on a PGC records vault on Laco results in the loss of all backup data related to the Glass Pyramid activation. Suspected corporate espionage by Streel but no concrete proof exists.
59.391	Streel sub-orbital shuttle shot down on Laco. Assault scouts from PG Virgo are sent to investigate. Injured crew taken to Tyrell’s Landing.
59.392	Fighting breaks out between PGC, Streel, and CDC forces near the site of the downed shuttle over a newly discovered Tetrarch ruins site on Laco exposed by a recent landslide. After several days of discussion, the sathar decide to send a “cleansing” fleet to Volturnus.
59.393	After deliberations between the Pale Government and the Council of Worlds about the message from the Zebulon system, UPF Patrol Group Virgo cuts its time in Dixon’s Star short and departs Laco for the Truane’s Star System on its way to Zebulon.
59.394	Sathar attack fleet (1 AC, 8 F, 2 HC, 2 LC, 6 DD, & 2 FF) depart sathar SCC#5 for Volturnus

Here’s the compiled file:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

Let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments on any of the events in the timeline.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY59.346 – FY59.367

I had hoped to get the records vault up this week but I’ll do that next week. In the mean time, here are the first three weeks of the Detailed Frontier Timeline as posted by the @StarFrontiers account on Twitter.

Dates are in the YY.DDD format with the digits before the decimal being the year since the founding of the UPF and the numbers after the decimal being the day of that year. There are 400 standard days in a year so the current events presented are coming at the close of of FY59.

FY	Event
59.042	First Volturnus expedition leaves Pale
59.346	Second Voltrunus expedition leaves Pale for Zebulon system.
59.347	Jack Legrange murdered on Kraatar. Rioting breaks out in Gozzorf City. (Fulborn-McKoy prize in bio-engineering)
59.348	Broadcast claiming responsibility for the Lagrange murder by the Vrusk Protection Force is released.
59.349	Vist’Lat, the employer of Legrange’s assassins, fires and forcibly evicts all Human workers from corporate offices and housing.
59.350	Medical Services Organization issues an alert that Ixiol, a new drug previously confined to Inner Reach, has begun appearing in other systems in the Frontier. Users develop a deep yellow tinge to their skin or carapace.
59.351	* Strike Force Nova arrives in the Prenglar system for its annual maintenance and refit. UPFS Admiral Clinton moves immediately into drydock for maintenance. It will be tied up for 26 days. * Vist’Lat expelled from the Commercial Council on Kraatar – “The council feels that much of the recent unrest can be attributed to VL’s policies. Its latest move to sack its human workers and evict them from their homes in untenable. The council cannot condone or accept this behavior.”
59.352	Funeral announced for Jack Legrange to occur in 6 days (59.358)
59.353	Vist’Lat shuts down all spaceport operations effectively cutting Kraatar off from the rest of the Frontier.
59.354	Contact lost with second Volturnus expedition. Suspected pirate activity in the Zebulon system. Pale government officials begin investigation into possible leak of jump data.
59.355	Rumors leak about a secret Spacefleet starship research and training center in an “unexplored” system within the Frontier.
59.356	* Attack by KLC troops on monorail headed to Quazzt’s Depression where Legrange’s funeral is to be held. Train crashes. Rescue teams dispatched * Legrange’s funeral moved forward and held today. Body is cremated, not a common practice on Kraatar
59.357	Survivors of train crash arrive in Quazzt.
59.358	WarTech unveils its new line of “Ke” laser weapons to be available in the new year.
59.359	Missile launched from Kraatar’s moon, Setarz. It self-destructs en route.
59.360	Information released by the Kraatar government reveals that the missile contained a bio-weapon designed to kill all vrusk on the planet. Also revealed is that Jack Legrange is still alive and orchestrated the unrest on Kraatar and faked his death. Unfortunately, the team that was able to stop the missile and gather the information were not able to capture Legrange and he is currently at large.
59.361	Based on information obtained from Artemis Base, Ral’Ik’Ka security forces stop a planned uprising by the KLC on the surface of Kraatar. The planet returns to an uneasy peace.
59.362	Astronomers on Histran (Scree Fron system), release news of the discovery of a previously unknown brown dwarf approximately 100ly from the Frontier. Its motion indicates that it had a close encounter with a K4 star some 175 years ago. Initial news of the discovery is quickly suppressed by the Family of One.
59.363	Sathar cybernuk creature (Frontier Explorer #6) discovered on Pale with cyber implant. It was thought that the nuks were confined to New Pale. The cyber implant seems to be of recent construction and not a relic from the war.
59.364	Pan Galactic unveils a new “Thunder” line of hoverbikes with nods to early PGC models. Old-time bike enthusiasts praise the antique styling coupled with modern safety features but others complain that the bikes live up to their name and are too loud.
59.365	TransTravel’s newest luxury starliner, the TTSS Destiny, emerges from the starship construction center at Gran Quivera. It will begin a “Grand Tour of the Frontier” starting with a run to Truane’s Star in a few days.
59.366	New breed of quickdeath discovered on Pale. Descended from creatures released during the Great Sathar War, this new variant is smaller but travels in packs unlike the solitary or pair hunters of the original strain.
59.367	With both Strike Force Nova and Task Force Prenglar in the Prenglar system, Spacefleet begins a series of training exercises to last until the UPFS Admiral Clinton completes its refit.

The events presented will either be specific events I have in the timeline, events from my various campaigns happening during this time, or fluff pieces to provide some background and color to the Frontier on days when no significant events are happening. This first bit of material only involves events happening in the Frontier. As the timeline progresses, there will also be events happening in sathar controlled space. I’m still debating where to put those into the published tweets and include them in these posts.

In addition to posting the timeline as a table here on the blog, I’ll also be providing it as a PDF that can be downloaded. In future posts, the body of the post will only present the new material since the last post. The file, however, will always be the cumulative timeline starting from the beginning. Here’s the first installment of that:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

Feel free to let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions below. Do you want to see the sathar related events as well?

Expanded Frontier Map

Happy Halloween! In my “State of the Frontier” post last week, I mentioned that I was working on updating an old map that I had created many years (i.e. decades) ago for use as my main campaign map of the Frontier region. Today, I’m posting the (near) final version of that map. Along with a bit of history and explanation.

Background

The original map was hand drawn in the late 80’s on six 8.5″x11″ pieces of quad-ruled graph paper and then taped together. I’ve kept it in a cardboard poster tube all these years when I haven’t actually been using it. Right now it’s rolled up inside out to try to get some of the decades of bend rolled out the other direction.

The map was drawn back before I acquired a personal copy of Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, Vol 1. I didn’t get my first copy of that until 1992, many years after Star Frontiers went out of print. My copy was actually a gift from some fellow role-players.

I had, however, looked at a Zeb’s Guide and its beautiful map at some point before I drew mine. There are too many similarities between the area just around the Frontier in my map and the Zeb’s map to chalk up to mere coincidence. The two most noticeable are the star cluster to the upper left of the Frontier and the neutron star just below it. I would have had zero reason to put a cluster like that (I had four stars and the Zeb’s Guide map had 3) anywhere, let alone there, if I had not seen the published map at some point. And I had exactly the same use for the neutron star system at the location of Lynchpin as the published timeline had. I had a different route to it but the idea was there from a perusal of Zeb’s Guide in a bookstore.

I have now updated my map to better match the map in Zebulon’s Guide as well as included some additional fan created maps of the areas of space the Saurians and S’sessu come from. These changes mainly affect the area below the Frontier and to the right of Liberty system (from the Beyond the Frontier modules).

There are a few differences. Most importantly is the location of the new systems described in the published modules. I place the Rhianna (Mission to Alcazzar) and Starmist (Sundown on Starmist) systems in the locations specified in the modules, not where the Zeb’s Guide map places them. I always thought it was strange that they would move them from the published locations. In truth, only Rhianna was given a general location (inside the loop formed by Cassidine, Timeon, and White Light) but given the way Starmist was discovered (by emergency landing which I took to mean from a mis-jump), I don’t think the Zeb’s Guide location (outside the main Frontier) makes sense for that system and I like mine better (and the system I chose was left off the Zeb’s map completely!). My location for the Belnafaer system (Bugs in the System) only differs by one star from the Zeb’s map and both correspond to the module description. For now I’ve left it where I originally placed it but might move it for consistency. Finally, the location of the Tristkar system (Dark Side of the Moon) is exactly where Zeb’s Guide places it. From the description in the module, the location of the Solar Major system would make a little more sense but since I didn’t actually have this system on my map originally, using the Zeb’s Guide location works just fine.

Second, I don’t have the plague worlds from Zeb’s Guide (the system I choose for Rhianna is actually Zeb’s Delta plague world). On my map they are just unexplored systems.

Finally, while I don’t normally use the MegaCorp systems in my campaign I’ve included them for completeness. I’ve also redrawn the nebulae in the Frontier region to more match the ones drawn in the Zeb’s Guide map and added in the Rim planets.

On the side of fan produced materials, I’ve added in the locations of the Saurian and S’sessu worlds from maps published in issues 4 and 16 of the Frontier Explorer and adjusted my map accordingly.

The New Map

So with that introduction, here’s the updated map.

Expanded map of the Frontier Sector with the systems from Zeb's Guide, the modules and some fan creations added in. — Updated map of the Frontier. Click for the full-sized image.

The smaller blue box is the area covered by the original Frontier map and the large blue box is the area covered by the Zeb’s Guide map.

This is very much a “player-facing” map. It doesn’t contain secret jump routes (with the exception of the one between Truane’s Star to Cassidine that I forgot to remove 🙂 ) that are known to the UPF, MegaCorps, pirates, or the sathar. If I was using it for my game, there are even parts of this map that I would not use (i.e. the MegaCorp planets, and S’sessu and Saurian space) at least not to begin with as those are discovered in game. I’ve set the map up with all these bits and pieces on separate layers so that I can turn them on and off as needed.

The map extends more upward from the Frontier than down because the Vast Expanse, an area that I consider to be fairly devoid of stars, is “down” and exploration is easier (due to shorter jump distances) in the “up” direction. You can see the much lower density of stars in that direction. It gets even worse going further off the map.

While I still have some small tweaking to do on this map, mainly with labeling, it is completely usable.

Future Work

While this is a completely functional map, it’s not super pretty. One of the things I’d like to do is give it a color makeover so it looks more like the maps that my star sector generator program produces. Those maps look like this:

However, that might have to wait for a while. Although when I get to it, it will make a pretty awesome poster.

The actual next step is to work out the logistics of the Second Sathar War and the sathar assault on the Frontier. The sathar are out there on that Extended Frontier map although I didn’t show their systems and jump routes. Given that I know know all the jump routes, I can start figuring out how long it would take for them to maneuver and launch offensives and resupply their ships from their starship construction centers. Some exploration by the UPF and well placed raids could significantly influence the outcome of the conflict.

If you have any thoughts or comments on the map, let me know.

Update: Just saw today that the RPG Blog Carnival topic for November (hosted by Nuketown) is “All These Worlds …”. My post was a day early (and I didn’t know the topic or I might have waited) but it’s close enough that I think it applies. So this post is part of this month’s blog carnival and I might have some more related posts in the coming weeks.

Duergan’s Star

Duergan’s Star system is where the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure takes place. Part of the module is a short write-up of the system. Presented here for you enjoyment.

There might be a few tweaks to this after Bill looks over it but for the most part this is the final description of the star system. Bill wrote most of the background, I primarily did the astronomical data.

Duergan’s Star System

History

In -391 GFT, a starship from a distant point of origin crashed on a terrestrial world orbiting a yellow star. The Hawthorne was a rather large science research vessel that supported a crew of 100 Human scientists and technicians. The captain of the vessel, Dr. Duergan Mindner, identified it as a safe place to set down the failing ship, saving its crew but stranding them far from home. This was the first time Humans set foot on any of the worlds of the Frontier sector, and would become the start of their long legacy of influence. Just under 40 years later, Human migration vessels began their voyage from afar to make these worlds their homes.

Today, Hawthorne and Parnell have heavy Human populations. These two habitable planets reside within the habitable zone of the system’s primary Star. Its people share a cultural and economic brotherhood with those of the Kassel and Bhant Systems, the three comprising a region known as “The Ring,” a central hub of cultural, corporate, industrial, and economic activity for the Galactic Federation.

The local government of Duergan’s Star, headquartered on Parnell, is a member of the Galactic Federation and has been since its founding. The Federation keeps a naval garrison here and operates three navigational buoys, providing secure trade routes to Kassel (4 LY away), Bhant (4 LY away), and Krighton (11 LY away, gateway to the Asimaar Prelacy).

Star System

The star itself is a yellow G7V main sequence star with a mass of 0.9 galactic standard solar masses (1.795×10³⁰kg). It has a luminosity of 0.693 stellar luminosities (2.69×10²⁶ W) and a diameter of 0.93 standard diameters (1.29 million km). Its surface temperature is 5472K.

Most of the star system is relatively close to the planet (less than 13 AU) but it has one distant world in the outer reaches. The Duergan’s Star system contains two asteroid belts, two habitable planets, an ice giant planet, and three other worlds. The FTL horizon is at 1.5 AU, 0.38 and 0.65 AU beyond the two habitable planets.

Inner Belt

The inner belt is a very high density asteroid belt filled with smaller objects that orbit between 0.2 and 0.4 AU from Duergan’s Star. There are considerable resources to be found by those that work the belt and numerous ships can be found here.

Wescott

Wescott is a large terrestrial planet orbiting 0.5 AU from the star. It has a surface gravity of 1.6g and is 1.34 standard diameters in size. It has six small moons that are asteroids captured from the inner belt. Its surface is covered with large impact craters – witness to regular bombardment by strays from the inner belt.

Hawthorne

Hawthorne was the first planet settled by humanity in the frontier. Despite its long history and large urban sprawls, Hawthorne is a remarkably clean planet. Founded by scientists who understood the need to be careful with their new world, the people have maintained that tradition over the centuries.

Hawthorne is a higher than average density world, Although it has a diameter of 11,097.9 km (0.87 standard), it has a surface gravity of 1.1g. It orbits 0.85 AU from the primary and has a warm pleasant climate with a day lasting 26.5 standard hours. It has four small moons.

Parnell

Parnell was settled much later after the Hawthorne colony was well established. Parnell is an ocean world with only a few very small island continents. These islands are completely covered with cities and overpopulated. The climate is very mild but not cold. The large oceans result in a bit more greenhouse warming and the planet is warmer than a typical terrestrial planet at this distance from its primary.

Parnell orbits 1.12 AU from Duergan’s Star and has a diameter of 8164 km. Its surface gravity is 0.9g and it rotates once every 21.3 hours. It has two moons. The mild climate, low gravity, and abundant beaches make tourism a major industry on the planet.

Outer Belt

The outer asteroid belt is not as dense and the inner belt (rating only a moderate density) but the individual objects in this belt are individually very large, often bordering on being minor planets themselves. Outpost Osiris is located on a medium sized asteroid in this belt. The belt is fairly wide with objects in this belt having orbits ranging from 1.6 to 2.8 AU from the star. Like the inner belt, there are considerable resources here and many mining operations are scattered throughout the belt.

Dungannon

Orbiting at a distance of 5.24 AU from Duergan’s Star, Dungannon is a dwarf planetoid 6250.5 km in diameter. It has a surface gravity of 0.53g and spins on its axis once every 75.5 hours. Dunganon has single large moon that is tidally locked to the planet (orbiting and also rotating once every 75.5 hours). This moon has a surface gravity of just under 0.1g. It has a diameter of 1722.2 km.

Coombs

Coombs is the system’s only Jovian planet and is classified as an Ice Jovian being composed of more methane and ammonia than pure hydrogen gas. It orbits 12.12 AU from the star, and has a diameter of 44646.7 km. It rotates once every 18 hours and has 37 moons ranging in size from small asteroids to o jects that are small worlds in their own right.

Winterbourne

The final, distant object in the system to be classified as a planet is the small dwarf planetoid Winterbourne. This cold, frigid planet orbits 78.83 AU from the star. It has a diameter of 3954.4 km and a surface gravity of only 0.21g. Like Dungannon, it rotates very slowly completing one rotation every 76.2 hours. Winterbourne is a solitary object with no moons. Lost in the clutter of small objects in the outer system, Winterbourne has only been considered a full plant for the past 43 years.

The following table summarizes the planetary data for the primary objects in the Duergan’s Star system.

Name	Type	Distance (AU)	Diameter	Gravity (g)	Moons	Period (hrs)	Description
Inner Belt	Asteroids	0.2-0.4					small, very dense asteroid field
Wescott	Terrestrial Planet	0.50	1.34	1.60	6	44.1
Hawthorne	Terrestrial Planet	0.85	0.87	1.10	4	26.5	Walled, urban sprawls. Clean
Parnell	Terrestrial Planet	1.12	0.64	0.90	2	21.3	Vast Oceans. Overpopulated island cities
Outer Belt	Asteroids	1.6-2.8					Huge, moderate density
Dungannon	Dwarf Planetoid	5.24	0.49	0.53	1	75.5
Coombs	Jovian:Ice	12.12	3.50	4.60	37	18.0
Winterbourne	Dwarf Planetoid	78.83	0.31	0.21	0	76.2

The Village of Rosegard

Originally, I had planned to have one more Mapping Rosegard video here that covered adding in the labels for the roads and making the black and white version of the map you’ll see below but for some reason, the audio didn’t record, only the video. Since I didn’t want (or really have the time) to do a voice over, and it’s not that important of a topic, I decided just to drop it. Also, it is something I can easily cover in a future series.

So instead, you’re getting the post that I had originally planned for the beginning of next week, the final maps along with the write-up on the town proper.

Rosegard

History

Rosegard is located about 400 km northwest of Point True. It was founded shortly after the Great Sathar War as part of the resettlement effort initiated by the Pale government. It originally consisted of six human families that set up homesteads in the valley using the agriculture subsidies the government provided to encourage development of farming to supply food for the population. Over time, the small village has grown to include 13 families, many of the additional families are children of the original settlers that went away to school and then returned.

While there is no shortage of technology in the village, it is still primarily an agricultural center. Most of the actual agriculture work is done by robots but supervised by the towns inhabitants. The technological specialists in town keep the robots, vehicles, and computer systems running to manage the farm production. Every week, trucks arrive to pick up crops to take into the larger population centers to sell.

About 18 years ago, one of the villagers was up exploring in the mountains and discovered a vein of gold that had been revealed by some recent erosion. Lacking the infrastructure to properly mine the valuable resource themselves, the village brokered a deal with Streel (formerly known as Streele Mining before the war) to lease the company the rights to the mine. The mine proved to be more lucrative than either party imagined and is still active to this day.

The village’s income from the mine amounts to several million credits every year. That money is held in trust and used to maintain the village infrastructure, pay for primary and secondary education for all of the village youth, and other expenses as needed.

There is a very good relationship between the workers at the mine and the city. In addition to providing additional revenue to the village, the mine employs the village’s technical workers (the technician, roboticist, and computer specialist) to help assist with work at the mine in addition to their own staff. The mine staff also takes advantage of the medical facilities provided in the village. Reciprocally, the village invites the mine staff down for any town activities and has integrated them as part of the community. The youth often go up to the mine to see operations there and the mine staff often come down to teach mini-lectures in the village school.

Inhabitants

Original Homesteading Families

These are the senior members of the community who originally founded it. Their houses are located around the circular loop at the north end of town. These families primarily work the agriculture portion of the village’s activities.

Genio & Kathy Washy – Genio is the town mayor. They have two older children living at home. They live in the home on the same plot as the General Store. Kathy is a horticulturist and is responsible for tending the rose hedges in the central part around the gazebo. It is these rose gardens that gave the village its name.
Martin & Jenne Lexand – They have two children living at home. They live in the home on the same plot as the Technician shop/Garage.
Steven & Janie Hite – They have three kids living at home.
Matthua & Julie Colly – They have three kids living at home.
Jon & Jessa Smeson – They have a single child living at home
Reme & Kayelyn Marte – The youngest of the original settlers, they still have four children living at home

Newer Families

These families are younger, many of them being the older kids of the earlier settlers. Their houses are built around the block on the west side of town.

Rickern & Mikaela Bennez – Mikaela is the second child of Jon & Jessa Smeson and the town’s roboticist having studied at Pale University. Rickern helps manage the Smeson farm. They have three children.
Mese & Braealyn Washy – Mese is the oldest child of Genio & Kathy Washy. They run the town’s General Store and have three kids, ages 17, 14, & 12 who also help out at the store when not in school.
Larroy & Camryn Tinnett – Camryn is the daughter of Steven & Janie Hite and is the town’s computer specialist having studied at the Triad Institute of Technology. Larroy is a veterinarian and works with the village doctor. They have a single daughter, Allyssa, age 12.
Rickey & Ilana Cooker – Rickey and Ilana met Camryn at school and she convinced them to move to Pale when she returned home. Ilana is the town doctor and also has some veterinarian skills. Rickey helps work the Hite farm with his in-laws. They have four kids.
Benjoe & Abbil Leray – Benjoe is a childhood friend of Rickern Bennez and became enamored of the quite life in Rosegard when visiting one year. Both he and Abbil are teachers and work at the village’s school. They have five children
Joshua & Miya Welley – Josh and Miya are the newest members of the village and the only ones that didn’t have an immediate connection when then arrived. As the village grew, the need for a city clerk arose and Miya was hired to handle the administrative affairs of the growing village. She works in the City Center handling a wide variety of tasks for the town. Joshua is a teacher and works with the Leray’s in the town’s school.
Mikkel & Danielle Lexand – Mikkel is the son of Martin and Jenne Lexand and is the town’s technician running the garage/tech shop in town. Danielle helps out on the Lexand farm. They have one child.

City Buildings

General Store

This building contains a wide variety of goods that are used regularly by the small village. While a lot of the supplies are foodstuffs and farming supplies, there are a number of small high tech wares as well. Larger items, such as robots, most weapons, and vehicles, have to be special ordered in from Point True but the store has access to the full Streel and PGC catalog and anything ordered will arrive in 2-4 days.

Technician/Garage

This is where Mikkel keeps all the village’s vehicles and equipment running. It has room inside to work on three vehicles at any one time. It is a fully equipped and modern repair shop and any Technician skill checks performed using this area gain a +10% bonus.

City Community Center

This large building consists of two stories, unlike all the other buildings in town. The lower level is a large gathering hall used for town activities and celebrations. The upper level contains the city offices where Miya works as well as the village’s central computer system. There are also half a dozen guest rooms that function as the village’s inn when they have overnight visitors. While most of the rooms can be used by any race, one of them is specifically appointed with furniture designed for the Vrusk anatomy. Across the street to the north, and directly east of the building are large grass fields used for outdoor activities as well.

School

The village’s school is where the younger kids spend their day getting their primary education. It is divided into several small classrooms where specialized classes can be presented dependent on age and ability level. Because of the small number of children in the village, there are not really “traditional” classes and each child has a workstation where they receive individual and tailored instruction based on their needs and interests. The school is very high tech and state-of-the-art. A lot of the village’s mine revenue has gone into its education facilities. As such the children in the village are often smarter and sharper than would be expected for their age.

Computer/Robotics Shop

Mikaela and Camryn share this building to work on the villages computers and robots. While the building is mostly given over to tech space to work on the various agriculture robots used by the village, there is also some space given over to computer repair as well. This building also houses a backup computer system for the village. If PC’s are looking for computer or robotic parts, they are more likely to find them here than at the General Store. The facilities here are top notch and any computer or robotics repair or upgrade attempts receive a +10% skill bonus.

Doctor’s Office

This small office has a small operating room, and three patient rooms in addition to the foyer and waiting area. Dr. Cooker has a small office here as well. The building is designed for patients of the core four races and while they do handle veterinary duties, those occur on location outside the office. Like the other areas in the town, the facilities here are of an higher than average grade and all medical checks made in the facility gain a +10% skill bonus.

Alternate maps

In addition to the main map above, I created one with no labels and another one in black and white. These two maps are presented below.

No Labels

Final full color map with labels removed — Final map with the labels removed. Click for full sized image (~6MB)

Black & White

Black and white version of full map with labels — Final Rosegard map in black and white (with labels) – Click for full sized image (~2MB)

And that’s it for Rosegard for now. Next up I’ll be shifting gears back to the Ghost Ship Osiris module and you’ll be getting some information on the star system the adventure takes place in.

Pale Background Information

What follows is player background information for the Death at Rosegard adventure. This is information that it is assumed the PCs would know from living in the Frontier and on the planet Pale where the adventure takes place. It covers a bit bit of history, planetary data, and socio-political information.

The adventure is written as if it takes place after the first sathar incursion into the Frontier but before the Second Sathar War begins. As such, instead of referring to the initial sathar invasion as the First Sathar War as is common in the rule books, the text refers to it as the Great Sathar War since there hasn’t been a second one yet. Expeptions occur when providing GM information designed to help modify the adventure for a different time period.

History

Pale is a new old planet. It was first colonized 176 years before the founding of the United Planetary Federation. It had a medium population before the Great Sathar War that led to the founding of the UPF. At that time Point True had a population of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

During the war every major population center other than Point True, as well as most minor population centers were destroyed by orbital bombardment. Even small villages and farmstead were destroyed by aerial bombing. There is basically just a big crater at the location of every city, town, village, or farm that existed before the invasion. In Point True, the old military base was nuked leaving several large craters and damage to remaining structures but the rest of the city was left relatively intact. There are still signs of the Sathar occupation that can be seen throughout the older portions of Point True.

The sathar were in the process of exporting the inhabitants off-world when the Frontier forces arrived and the sathar were defeated and driven off. Many thousands of the inhabitants of Point True were taken away in sathar ships and have never been heard from since.

After the war, the planet rebounded, partially due to the influx of people coming to help rebuild and partially due to aggressive development by Streel Corporation (known as Streele Mining Corp before the war). At the time of the adventure, about 40-50 years after the invasion, the population has grown to nearly its pre-war level. While the population is predominantly human, there is a significant representation of the other three major Frontier races. The racial breakdown is 46% human, 23% Yazirian, 18% Dralasite, and 13% Vrusk. However, since the war, the population is much more concentrated around Point True. Some portions of the planet are still completely uninhabited.

Planetary Rotation and Timekeeping

Pale orbits its primary, Truane’s Star, in the outer portions of the star’s habitable zone. This causes the average temperature on Pale to be fairly low resulting in cold and severe winters and cool summers. Pale is also a slightly smaller world with a surface gravity of only 0.9 g.

In addition to the cool weather, Pale rotates very slowly on its axis, completing one revolution every 55 standard hours. As such the local population has divided the day into four working time periods:

Day-day: Corresponds to the 13 hours starting roughly 1 hour after sunrise on the planet’s vernal equinox at Point True. This is the typical working time when the sun is up.
Day-night: This corresponds to the next 14 hour period and is typically a rest period although the sun is still shining. Because this rest period occurs during daylight hours, all houses on Pale have windows or curtains allowing rooms to be completely “blacked out” to simulate darkness and nighttime even though the sun is still up.
Night-day: This is the 13 hour work period occurring during the local night. Since this is a time of major work and transportation, all the streets and buildings of Pale are well lit to provide a semblance of daylight during this work period. When seen from orbit, the cities and towns of Pale in the Night-day part of the cycle blaze with light.
Night-night: This is the final 14 hour rest period that occurs during the local night time.

The extra hour is added in to either the Day-day or Night-day period depending on the season, the hour being added to the Day-day in the summer when the days are longer and the Night-day in the winter when the nights are longer.

Typical work periods are 10 hours long during the Day-day and Night-day periods although there are many graveyard and swing shift positions that run during other hours.

Sathar Presence on the Planet

As part of their invasion, the sathar seeded the biosphere around the planet, especially around Point True, with a number of their bio-constructs and attack monsters. Despite efforts to clean up after the war, some of these creatures are still loose on the planet. While quickdeaths and slithers are the most common, there are also a few other creatures that can be encountered when ranging away from the population centers. There are even still some cybodragons (and their descendants) running around although the cyber features are no longer functional due to lack of power. There are bounties for the elimination of these creatures paid for by the Pale government.

In addition to sathar bio-constructs, there are rumored to be some small pockets of sathar still living on the planet. These are remnants from the sathar army that was driven off and mostly destroyed when the planet was liberated. They survive by foraging and by hypnotizing and controlling members of the population to provide food and materials as needed. It is unknown how many of these sathar still survive and how active they are but the numbers range from a few dozen to several hundreds.

While rare, it is still possible to find some sathar technology from the war. It is rarely intact or functioning but any such finds are almost immediately collected by Star Law as soon as the discovery becomes known.

Politics and Corporations

Streel is by far the dominant force on the planet. After the war, Hilo Headrow took over Steele Mining and expanded its operations – first on Pale and then across the Frontier. While Streel doesn’t officially control the government, the government and its policies are fairly favorable towards the company and it is rumored that a majority of the government’s officials are “owned” by Streel in one way or another. Despite the potential negative aspects of this situation, Streel’s touch on the government is surprisingly light-handed given the tactics the company employs elsewhere around the Frontier. Much of the work of the government is environmentally sound and intelligent. Thoughtful practices are put into place that benefit all companies on the planet not just Streel. In fact, the planet is strong on fostering new ideas and companies.

While Streel is the dominant player, Pan Galactic Corporation still has a sizeable presence and even dominates in a few areas on the planet’s surface. In addition, a number of new emerging corporations have offices and operations on the planet. Names like StarPlay, WarTech, TransTravel, and Universal Households are becoming more common.

Miscellaneous GM Notes

The adventure takes place during the events of Laco’s War, the corporate war between Streel and PGC. While that conflict actually has no impact on the adventure, it should be kept in mind when PCs are interacting with outside agents. There is some tension between to two corporations.

Most of the other corporations listed in either the Knight Hawks Campaign Book or Zebulon’s Guide to the Frontier exist at this point although they are not yet considered mega-corps. Only Streel and PGC currently have that status. That said, they are growing and their presence is being felt on Pale.

By the time of the Second Sathar War, the population has rebounded to its pre-war level and is pushing into the heavy population category. If you set the adventure at another time period, adjust the size/number of towns and the population accordingly.

That’s it for the general background. I have a whole other section of background and detail information on the village of Rosegard itself but that will be another post. Feel free to share your thoughts on the planetary background in the comments below.