Legends and Lore – Yazirians

This is the second part of my post on the history, legends, and lore of the yazirians in my Star Frontier universe. Part one, Yazirian History, was posted last week. Both of these posts are part of February’s RPG Blog Carnival, Legends and Lore, being hosted by the Enderra blog.

In last week’s post, we looked at the history of the yazirian species in relation to their arrival in the Frontier region and colonization of the worlds they now occupy. Most of the material presented there is both fact and general knowledge in the Frontier that most characters would either know or be able to discover with just a little bit of research. In this post, we look at things that may be true but unknown, true but hidden, rumor, speculation, or conjecture, the latter three may be true or false. I’ll try to flag each of these items as I discuss them.

Some of this information is part of the ideas I have for an major campaign where the PCs go in search of the yazirian homeworld, the fate of those that remained behind, and the Warhon’s ship. They are definitely spoilers for anyone that may play in that game if I ever run it.

I think the best way to do this will be to organize the ideas by general topic, possibly with a miscellaneous section at the end. In each section, I’m just going to provide a bulleted list with the relevant information. Let’s get started.

The Fate of Yazira

The last exodus ship that arrived in the Frontier departed Yazira some ten years before closest approach of the interloping brown dwarf. (fact, known)
Millions of yazirians remained on Yaziria unwilling to leave their world. (fact, known)
No ship has ever returned to the Yazira system. (fact, known)
In the early days after yazirians arrived in the Frontier, several ships attempted to go back to Yazira to see what happened. None of these ships have ever returned. (fact, obscure)
Most of these ships that failed to return were destroyed by agents of the Family of One. (fact, deeply hidden) Some simply disappeared and their fate is unknown, but none made it to Yazira.
There is no known jump route data back to Yazira. (false rumor). Deep within the archives of Clan Anglann and the Family of One, there is a stored set of routes back to Yazira. They are known only to a few yazirians and heavily guarded and obscured. They are also nearly a century out of date at this point and may not be valid.
Modern yazirians don’t even know which star is their homeworld, just the general direction in the sky. (fact, known) There are some members of the Family of One who know, but this knowledge is a closely guarded secret as well.
Predictions of Yazira’s fate, based on the path of the brown dwarf, indicated that the planet would be hurled out of the system into deep interstellar space. (fact, obscure)
Instead of being spun out into interstellar space, Yaziria was actually captured by the brown dwarf as it passed through the system and now circles that object in a wide orbit as it continues on its journey. (fact, unknown)

Fate of the Warhon and his Guard

Of all the exodus ships, only the Warhon’s ship failed to make the trip to the Frontier (fact, known)
The Warhon’s ship was sabotaged by agents of Clan Anglann so that it wouldn’t arrive and they could seize power. (discredited rumor, but true). There is no evidence to support this anywhere in the Frontier but Clan Anglann did sabotage the Warhon’s ship. All records possibly relating to this were lost in a computer “crash” early after the exodus. Only two living yazirians, seniors elders in the Family of One, know the truth and they aren’t saying anything.
Most of the Warhon’s personal guard that were part of the early exodus died soon after arriving in the Frontier. (fact, obscure) Most of these deaths were “accidents” caused by Clan Anglann (obscure rumor, fact). Most modern yazirians have moved on and just don’t care.
Some of the Warhon’s Guard survived the purge and quickly emigrated to the Prenglar, Triad, and Truane’s Star systems where they went into hiding from the Family of One. (fact, obscure)
The survivors of the Warhon’s Guard formed a secret society named “True Yaziria” that word to oppose or diminish the influence of the Family of One (fact, obscure)
Despite the sabotage of the Warhon’s ship, it was not destroyed and managed to survive long enough to make planetfall on an unknown world. (fact, unknown) Rumors exist that it is still out there, spread by True Yazira, but it is all speculation. No facts exist to support it.
The genetic Ark on the Warhon’s ship survived and is completely intact in the remains of the ship. (fact, unknown)
All of the conspiracy against the Warhon was a very small slice of Clan Anglann. (fact, unknown/hidden) Most clan members were not involved and would be horrified to know the truth.

The General Population

Very few living yazirians actually remember their homeworld as most were born in the Frontier. There is a small and dwindling population (maybe 10%) of older yazirians that actually lived on Yazira. (fact, known)
There is a fairly large generation gap between this older population and the next wave of yazirians. In the final years leading up to the exodus, the birthrate dropped off significantly. (fact, known)
The yazirians of the Frontier, while aware of Yazira, don’t give it much thought except as it is used in holovids and expressions about how things used to be. (fact, known)
The problems with terraforming operations on the worlds in the Scree Fron, Athor, and Gruna Garu systems are intentional problems caused by the Family of One and the General Overall Development Corporation (GODCo) to keep those systems in line. (false, rumor). The problems truly are technical and result from GODCo being overextended trying to work on five different worlds instead of just the one they original planned for. Despite having nearly a century to grow, they still don’t have the resources and manpower they need. These issues provide openings for rumors to be spread by the True Yazira society in their effort to undermine the Family of One.
Interaction with the other species of the Frontier dealt a serious blow to the yazirian cultural identity as a warrior species. (fact, obscure) They discovered that despite their history, they were neither the strongest nor the nimblest species in the area. Although it is slowly fading away, ripples of this are still seen throughout yazirian culture, especially among older yazirians.

Lost Scoutships

There were many scout ships sent out from Yazira shortly after FTL travel was discovered, most of these never returned. (fact, obscure)
Several of these lost starships made it to systems in or near the Frontier, including Volturnus in the Zebulon system. There may be survivors, possibly descendants of the crews, in primitive societies to be discovered. The crew that made it to Zebulon did not survive. (fact, unknown)
Some of the scoutships penetrated into sathar space and were captured or destroyed. (fact, unknown)

Family of One and GODCo

All of the upper management of GODCo are members of the Family of One (fact, discoverable).
All of the upper management of GODCo are members of Clan Anglann (false, rumor). While a significant portion are, not all of them are from the same clan.
The Family of One is using the work done by GODCo to attempt to control all of the yazirian populated worlds. (false, rumor). While the upper leadership of GODCo are members of the Family of One, they are not ideological power-mongers. At least not any more than leaders of other mega-corps. While some fervently believe in the idea of a unified yazirian species according to the Family of One precepts, many are only interested in helping their fellow yazirians and are members of the Family of One out of necessity – they couldn’t hold their position if they weren’t.
Many members of the Family of One are members in name only and only minimally hold to many of the tenants of the religion. (fact) They are members because you need to be to hold any significant position on Hentz (Araks).
Family of One members on worlds other than Hentz tend to me more fervent as membership is optional on those worlds. (fact)
The Family of One is watching all aspects of yazirian culture, everywhere. (partially true, rumor). While the Family of One tries to keep abreast of everything going on, they don’t have nearly as many spies, inquisitors, and informants as the rumors (spread by the True Yazira society) would have you believe.
The Family of One is preventing GODCo from deploying all of its technology and releasing all the flora and fauna from Yazira on the worlds other than Hentz. (fact). Debates about this practice arise regularly in yazirian society. GODCo claims that it is because the environment are not ready or suitable, but most of the restrictions come from the Family of One and their effort to ensure that Hentz is the only “New Yazira”.

HSS History’s Hope

In my Detailed Frontier Timeline, one of the story threads is covering the travels of the HSS History’s Hope, a small exploration ship registered on Hakosaur (Scree Fron) that is currently trying to chart a route to a star system believed to be Yazira. If you want to use this little storyline in your campaign, there are some rumors about it, even though the project has just started.

The Family of One tried to cover up and suppress the discovery of the star system with the nearby brown dwarf because they knew it was Yazira. (fact, rumor) This rumor popped up almost immediately and is based in fact. The star system is Yazira and the Family of One doesn’t want people poking around because no one knows what they will find.
The HSS History’s Hope is being financed by True Yazira. (partially true) While many of the original supporters of the expedition, and and many that provided initial funding, are members of True Yazira, not all of them are and it isn’t a project being directed by the secret society. It just aligned with the society’s goals and many members independently jumped on the opportunity.
Most of the entire crew of the HSS History’s Hope are members of True Yaziria (fact, obscure rumor). Since the society’s membership is very obscured, it is hard to tell for sure who is and who isn’t a member. The rumor circulates among upper members of the Family of One. Most others don’t know about the secret society or don’t care. The fact is that about 80% of the crew are members of the society simply because they have an interest in finding Yazira. It wasn’t intentionally planned.
The Family of One has sent ships to eliminate the HSS History’s Hope. (fact, hidden). This one is a spoiler for the timeline. As I’m writing this, the History’s Hope has had a bad string of calculations and made some misjumps. When they finally get back to the known space lanes, they are going to have to deal with this.

Outstanding Questions

The points above provide some ideas and background but they also raise a number of questions. These are either things I’m going to flesh out in the future as I develop the storylines more or things that someone using this information could expand upon as well. Some of these are:

What exactly happened to the Warhon’s ship?
- How did it fail? What was the damage?
- Did the crew survive? All enter freeze fields?
- What happened to the Warhon’s family?
If they made it to a planet surface, what is their current state?
- Another yazirian colony?
- What tech level are they at?
- What happened to the genetic ark?
What is the “True Yaziria” society doing?
- How to you become a member?
- How well known is it?
- What resources does it have access to?
- I invented this organization just recently as I was working out the detail of these two posts so this is an area I plan on expanding on. This may very well show up as an entry in June when I’m hosting the Blog Carnival.
What events and consequences will the HSS History’s Hope expedition trigger? What will they find?

Final Thoughts

That’s what I have for now. There is still a lot of legend and lore for the yazirians that could be explored. I intentionally didn’t cover much in regards to the daily life of a typical member of the species and current events in the Frontier, just items that are part of their cultural heritage. Some of these other ideas will undoubtedly show up in future posts. Other bits may show up in the pages of the Frontier Explorer.

What legends and lore do you have for the yazirian species? Share your ideas in the comment section below.

Yazirian History

The RPG Blog Carnival this month is being hosted by the Enderra Worldbuild & Role-playing Games blog and the topic is Legends and Lore. You can follow that link to find all the other posts people have made on the topic.

When I read this topic, my mind immediately went to the Yazirians in the Star Frontiers setting. They were a natural choice to pursue in greater depth, especially based on much of the fan material that has been developed for that species. And while I’ve been thinking about these ideas for all of the Star Frontiers species, the yazirians are particularly relevant to me right now since part of my Detailed Frontier Timeline (most recent post as of this writing) is currently dealing with a plot line exploring this history directly, namely a ship, the HSS History’s Hope, that is headed toward a system that they think might be Yazira, the yazirian homeworld.

A lot of the foundation for this background is set in two articles that we published in the Star Frontiersman nearly a decade ago in issue 16, back in December 2010. The first is an article written by my friend Tom Verreault entitled “Origin of the Species & the UPF” on page 34 of that issue. In this he gives his version of how the various species in the Frontier got there. The second article, which I wrote to support the ideas he presented for the yazirians in that article, is entitled “Interstellar Interloper (Brown Dwarf)” (p. 46), and discusses what could happen to a planetary system if a brown dwarf sized object passed close through the center of a star system. I recommend you grab issue 16 and read both articles.

This is going to be a two part series. In this first post will look at the background and history of the Yazirian race as I conceive them when running games. The next one will look at the Legends and Lore as it exists at the current point in the campaign. Some of the material is fact, some is common knowledge, some is belief, and some is propaganda. I’ll be looking at it from all those angles.

The Loss of Yazira

The yazirian homeworld, Yazira, orbited a K4 star that is located some 100 light years “west” of the Frontier in an area known as the Vast Expanse, so named because of its low stellar density and large distances between neighboring star systems. Interestingly, very, very few yazirians living today actually know the location of this star system. More on that in the next post. To start let’s go back to about 200 years ago.

It was a time of relative peace and growing industrialization and prosperity for the world. The world had been united under a single government for several centuries and was beginning to develop spaceflight and really start looking into the universe beyond the Yazira system.

A Threat Discovered

It was at this point, as they began to survey the cosmos, that the yazirian astronomers noticed something in the sky that would completely change the course of their specie’s history. When it was first discovered, it was a curiosity. An object extremely bright in the infrared but extremely faint in the visible, even with the yazirian’s definition of visible light that extended somewhat into the infrared. It wasn’t long before a theoretical model was developed for the object, something we today call a brown dwarf.

The astronomers were excited. Based on the observed characteristics, they realized it had to be very close to Yazira. It would allow them to study this type of object up close. As the object was studied more, the distance, a mere 1500 AU, was established.

However, what was also established was that it was coming closer. Over the next few years, the orbit of the object was refined and it was realized that the brown dwarf was falling nearly directly toward their star and would pass very close to their world in the process. Simulations showed that depending on the mass of the object and its exact path, their world and species was in for a major catastrophe ranging from severe and drastic orbital and therefore climate change to complete ejection from their solar system. If something wasn’t done, they were probably doomed as a species.

The bad news was that they were in trouble. The good news was that they had nearly 140 years to prepare. To the Warhon’s credit (the leader of the yazirians), he took the news in stride and neither dismissed it since it wouldn’t happen in his lifetime, nor panicked. Rather he understood the issue for what it was and began charting a course for his people.

The general populace wasn’t so stoic. Many denounced the scientists as alarmists. Others claimed the discovery to be a hoax. Still others used it to as an excuse to hoard survival gear, food, and other essentials and drop out of society. Many just ignored it due to the long time scale. The most troubling, however, were those that took the news to mean that society was over and reverted to lawlessness and anarchy. It was these latter groups that would plague yazirian society for the next century.

A Plan Takes Shape

Over the next decade, as the Warhon’s troops dealt with the anarchists and the astronomers worked to refine the object’s trajectory even more, the government began investing heavily in space technology. While yazirians had already visited their two moons and had many low altitude orbital flights, the extra push from the government allowed them to set foot on other worlds in the system for the first time before the decade was over.

With the development in space technology well under way, the government also started a few other projects. One was increased medical research, especially related to long duration spaceflight and how the yazirian body would adapt and change under different conditions (gravity, stellar flux, etc).

The other was called the Ark Project. This had two areas of focus. The first was to catalog the genomes of every species on the planet, plant and animal, and collect this into a large database as well as collecting samples of as many species as possible. The second was a push into cloning technology that would allow the recreation of those species from the database.

The ultimate goal was to move the yazirian population off of their homeworld to somewhere else. Where was yet to be determined. The initial plan called for the creation of huge generations ships that would travel to likely star systems looking for a world to inhabit. Astronomers had already begun looking for worlds around other suitable stars.

A Change of Plans

Some thirty years after the original identification of the brown dwarf, a discovery occurred that would change the very foundation of what had come to be called the Exodus project.

Using a variety of propulsion technologies, a major break through had been achieved that would allow them to accelerate small probes fast enough to reach some of the nearer star systems before the generations ships would have to leave the Yazira system. The first probes were launched, and as they achieved speeds of about 1% the speed of light, only a fraction of their final velocity, they vanished.

At first it was believed that the probes had broke up or otherwise become inoperable. However, deep radar scans of the region of space they should have been in returned no data. And having five probes, all going different directions, vanish in exactly the same way was more than mere coincidence.

Another set of probes were launched as a test which ended with the exact same result. Yazirian scientists realized that this was some fundamental aspect of physics that they had not suspected or known about. Hundreds of researchers started working on the problem.

It was nearly a decade before a breakthrough was made and a theory of hyperdimensional travel was discovered. In the mean time, work had been going on to improve technology to the point that a crewed vessel could achieve the speeds necessary to invoke the effect.

It would be another decade before a ship was ready to make the first attempt at testing this theory. With a total delta-V of 5% of the speed of light, the ship should be able to achieve the hyperdimenional travel speed, slow down and do it again. Thus is should be able to make a trip and return. In theory.

A Historic Flight

With an all volunteer crew, the YSS Grand Voyager set out on its maiden voyage in an attempt to make history. It took a month of acceleration to get up to near the 1% speed of light threshold and then another agonizing month of small bursts of thrust to precisely measure and cross the threshold. Then just like the the probes, the Grand Voyager vanished.

It would be months of anxious waiting before the fate of the Grand Voyager would be learned. Most people had given up hope when a faint radio signal was received from the ship coming from high out of the orbital plane of the system. They had survived the trip and hyperdimensional travel, which would come to be called Void travel when they met the other species in the Frontier, was possible. There was still much to learn about this new form of travel, but the travel time for the exodus had been greatly reduced.

Looking for a Place to Call Home

Over the next two decades, propulsion technology was innovated and improved and more and more ships were launched to scout out the nearby star systems looking for a world that they could move the population of Yazira to. Most of these ships would eventually be lost as they explored further and further from Yazira. It was not known if there were troubles with the Void travel, mechanical failures with the ships, or they had suffered misfortune in the systems they visited.

As ships did return, they learned much about the nearby stellar systems but no suitable world was found. Finally, after nearly two more decades of searching, a ship returned from a two year journey reporting that a suitable world had been found, nearly 100 light years away. The star was significantly brighter and yellower than Yazira but the world itself was nearly Yazira’s twin in climate and gravity.

During this time, the designs of the exodus ships were rebuilt from the ground up to use this new mode of faster than light travel. With a destination finally established, exploration ceased and construction began on the first ship, the YSS Yazira’s Ark, that would take a select crew, along with a copy of the genetic archive, to this new world to start preparing it for the arrival of the rest of the population.

The Exodus Begins

It took five years for the YSS Yazira’s Ark to be completed. Crewed primarily by members of Clan Anglann, it departed for the new system which had been dubbed Araks to colonize and begin yaziriforming the planet Hentz.

By this time, the brown dwarf was visible to the unaided eye on Yazira and was year by year growing brighter. The world began to focus almost completely on the construction of the exodus ships. While there were some that decried the damage being done to the environment due to the industrialization of the planet, most understood that the world was doomed and so accepted the changes.

Five years after the YSS Yazira’s Ark left, five more ship were completed with nearly twenty-five more in some stated of completion. These later ships were gigantic, nearly ten times the size of the Yazira’s Ark. It would take nearly two hundred more to move the entire population. With the first five ships complete, the exodus of the yazirian population to Hentz began in earnest.

It had been decided early on that when the time came, ships would be populated by clans. While the crews were often from Clan Anglann, the passengers were drawn from a single clan or possibly two. Depending on the size of the clan, it could take two or three ships to hold the entire clan population.

Over the next two decades, a steady stream of ships departed the Yazira system. Finally, the last ships were completed, three of the giant colony ships and a final, smaller ship modeled on the original Yazira’s Ark. This last ship contained the Royal Court, the Warhon and his family, who was the son of the Warhon who had started the project, 120 years earlier. It also contained a final copy of the genetic database including all the additional data that had been collected since the Yazira’s Ark had left. It was the last ship to leave their doomed world. The interloping brown dwarf was clearly visible in the night sky and only 18 years away. It was the last ship to leave.

Trouble at the Destination

As the second wave of colony ships were arriving at Hentz, the yazirians detected signals from other spacefaring species not too far from their new world. Concerned that they might be hostile, Clan Anglann, which had been organizing the exodus, diverted ships from waves three and four to several new worlds in systems nearby. These ships went to the Athor, Gruna Garu and Scree Fron systems. The worlds there were not as desirable as Hentz, but the yazirians wouldn’t have all their eggs in a single basket if these new species proved to be hostile.

Loss of the Warhon

The trip from Yazira to Araks was a long one requiring nearly twenty Void jumps along the way. As the final fleet of ships made the journey, disaster struck. On the 5th jump, the Warhon’s ship didn’t arrive in the destination system. The other three ships waited for nearly two months but the Warhon never reappeared. Finally, they completed their journey and delivered the news to the yazirians on Hentz and it was related to the others in the Athor, Gruna Garu, and Scree Fron systems.

A week of mourning was held for the Warhon’s family. And then political chaos erupted. With the entire royal family gone, a power vacuum was created. In the end, Clan Anglann and the Family of One, who had been organizing the exodus on behalf of the Warhon, took control of the yazirian government.

Fallout

Many suspected foul play. Of the nearly 250 ships built, only the newest ship with the most up to date technology was unable to make the trip. Coincidentally, it also happened to contain the Warhon and his family. The most vocal opponents of the Family of One’s rule was the Warhon’s personal guard that had arrived in advance. Their voices were quickly surpressed. Many just vanished. Others emigrated to the Prenglar, Cassidine, and Truane’s Star systems, integrating with the other races in the Frontier who the yazirians had established contact with some years before.

It wasn’t too many years later that the sathar first appeared in the Frontier. This effectively put an end to the inter-clan conflict as the species in the Frontier united to fend off his new foe. With the formation of the UPF, the yazirian race started looking forward instead of back. Some still remember the old days but most have accepted the new order and are working toward the future.

Next Time

That represents the history of the Yazirian people as most people know it. There are a few things in that narrative that are not widely known (such as the suppression of dissension by the Family of One, but that information should be familiar to most yazirian characters and many non-yazirians as well.

Next week we’ll look at lots of details behind the scenes and outside the Frontier that impact the store and contribute to the lore of the yazirian species.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY60.360 to FY60.390

This is a busy month in the time line with lots of events happening simultaneously. If I had realized how much overlap there would be in some of the story threads, I might not have started the Bugs in the System (SFAD5) thread last month. The timing of the Warriors of White Light events, however, have been scheduled since the beginning of the project.

Things are coming to a head relative to the Sathar Starship Construction Center in OFS019. I haven’t really decided how that will resolve out yet so we’ll just have to wait and see. Also, the HSS History’s Hope is making regular, if slow progress toward it’s goal. They’ve been lucky recently. I roll with each newly charted jump to see if they make it and they’ve made a few by just a couple of percentiles. Moving into the Vast Expanse the jumps are going to get significantly longer with much lower probabilities. At some point I’ll post a star map with the systems in what I’m calling the Yazira Sector.

If you follow along on Twitter (@StarFrontiers) you may have noticed that I fell behind a bit a couple of times this month as well as dropping some of the story lines and having to get caught up. That’s what I get for just working a few days ahead recently. I’m going to try to get a bit ahead of this again in the next few days. Anyway, on to the timeline.

Date (FY)	Event
60.360	– The TransTravel assault scout arrives at Terldrom (Fromeltar) – Strike Force Nova, joined by the ships of Patrol Group Virgo, leaves orbit around Volturnus (Zebulon) and starts accelerating for their jump to the Capella system in the Rim.
60.361	Sathar SCC#2 (Liberty) completes a destroyer.
60.362	Discovery Squadron successfully jumps into the OFS017 system coming in high out of the plane of the system. With two near misses, they decided to take some downtime in this system to allow the astrogators to rest.
60.363	Just 10 days after the buyout, the Groth Energy Corporation (GE) has reopened all their operations. They also announce a major hike in energy prices. There is much grumbling but due to the nature of the Groth (Fromeltar) infrastructure, most customers are locked into to GE as their only provider and must pay the higher prices or be cut off.
60.364	The HSS History’s Hope successfully jumps to the system designated YS001 and begins deceleration in preparation for their return jump to OFS222. They are the first ship to leave the Outer Frontier Sector into the Vast Expanse in over five decades, none before have ever returned.
60.365	Repairs on the starship construction center orbiting Triad (Cassidine) restore capacity back to 80% of maximum.
60.366	Sathar SCC#4 completes 5 fighters
60.367	Confident now that the danger to the newly hatched eorna is past, another cretch of fifty eggs is hatched.
60.368	– A freighter, the HHSS Sojourner, traveling from Scree Fron to Araks, stops over at Snobol (Belnafaer) due to engine trouble. The freighter has several passengers in addition to its regular cargo (SFAD5) – After several days of rest and time for some needed maintenance, the ships of the Discovery squadron begin accelerating for a jump back to Kazak. This will be their last uncharted jump.
60.369	Strike Force Nova arrives at Faire (Capella). Fleet officers meet with leaders of the Flight and the Rim Government to discuss plans for the OFS019 system.
60.370	– Responding to a mayday call from the PSS Prenglar Doll, the CMS Osprey engages the pirate ship PVSS Raven, a Streel manufactured corvette that was attacking the PSS Prenglar Doll. The Raven escapes the battle after damaging the Osprey’s engines but the crew and cargo of the Prenglar Doll survive the encounter. (SFKH0) – Having completed their deceleration, and jump calculations, the HSS History’s Hope begins acceleration back to the OFS222 system.
60.371	Captain Akizk of the Moneyspider recruits some of the passengers of the HHSS Sojourner to remain in the system and help him get Jetsom working again and rescue any crew still trapped there.
60.372	Sathar SCC#5 completes a light cruiser
60.373	Discovery Squadron successfully jumps into the Kazak system and begins decelerating toward Stenmar Station. They transmit all their navigation data to the UPF and Rim Coalition forces.
60.374	Construction of second assault scout for the K’aken-Kar militia is completed at the Terldrom (Fromeltar) shipyard. It begins it’s journey to it’s home system.
60.375	– The GLLR-5 recreation robot on the Moneyspider goes haywire attacking Daqor Klarr (vrusk) and Fiator Geauis (dralasite) in the rec room. A symptom of the Matrix infecting the Moneyspider, it is considered a simple programming glitch. (SFAD5) – The HSS History’s Hope arrives back in the OFS222 system and begins deceleration. They transmit jump data back to the UPF.
60.376	– The team recruited by Captain Akizk of the Moneyspider descend to Jetsom to investigate the problems there. They find the platform operating but the life support is keeping the temperature very cold (-10 C). (SFAD5) – After a week of discussion, no consensus has been reached between the Rim and Strike Force Nova as to how best deal with the sathar in OFS019. Strike Force Nova leaves Faire (Capella) to continue on to the Kazak system.
60.377	– Construction completed on the UPF light cruiser in the Gran Quivera (Prenglar) starship construction center, replacing the one lost at the Battle of Zebulon. – Exploration of the Jetsom platform reveals one crew member in a freeze field, the body of another in a freeze field whose power failed, and the remains of a third that was killed by the sapes on the platform. The sapes are still alive and the fourth crew member is missing. (SFAD5)
60.378	– The body of the fourth Jetsom crew member (Akord Zon – vrusk) is found, dead and slumped over her computer terminal in the reactor room. A tear in her insuit resulted in a radiation overdose that killed her. (SFAD5) – After two days of work, the rescue team can still not get control of the life support system on the Jetsom. While attempts to correct the system seem to work, they always revert to the very cold temperatures after a few hours. (SFAD5) – Discovery Squadron arrives at Stenmar Station. The commanding officer of Patrol Group Flint deputizes the ships to be part of the patrol group until Strike Force Nova arrives and decides the next course of action
60.379	On its one year anniversary, the Yazira Dome has received over 5 million visitors. During a special celebration, GODCo announces its intent to build a second dome on Hakosaur in the Scree Fron system. Many believe that this is in response to the pressures to allow non-yazirian visitors into the dome on Hentz (Araks).
60.380	– A wildcat miner in the White Light asteroid belt reports the location of a pirate base in the asteroid Planaron to the Clarion Royal Marines. Plans begin immediately to neutralize the base. (SFKH0) – Deceleration complete, the HSS History’s Hope begins acceleration back toward YS001 to continue their voyage into the uncharted space.
60.381	– On board the Jetsom, hatches start randomly locking and alarms start randomly going off reporting dangerous conditions when none exist. (SFAD5) – Strike Force Nova arrives in the Osak system. They maintain velocity near jump speed and begin plotting jump to Kazak.
60.382	The four Clarion Royal Marine militia vessels (1 frigate & 3 assault scouts) engage the pirate forces (3 corvettes) at the pirate base. The CMS Wasp is destroyed in the fight and all the militia vessels take damage. The frigate, the CMS Leo, is nearly destroyed as well. The pirate vessels and base are all eliminated. (SFKH0)
60.383	An order is placed at the Minotuar starship construction center (Theseus) for two new assault scouts for the Clarion Royal Marines, the CMS Flitter and the CMS Swallow.
60.384	Construction completed on fifth Saurian Ark Ship which begins its shakedown cruise.
60.385	Based on Akord Zon’s notes and their experiences over the past week, the rescue crew on the Jetsom establish that the computer and electrical failures are due to the action of a semi-sentient computer virus that Akord had named “the Matrix.” (SFAD5)
60.386	Using Akord Zone’s notes and after much experimentation, the rescue team on Jetsom are finally able to wrest control of the life support system from the control of the Matrix. They reset the temperature on the platform to a more comfortable 20 C. (SFAD5)
60.387	Construction of the CMS Flitter begins
60.388	The rescue team on Jetsom start experiencing issues with their equipment that they brought with them, especially any power packs that they have recharged recently. They register as charged but provide no power. (SFAD5)
60.389	Having arrived back in YS001, the crew of the HSS History’s Hope begin maintenance work on the ship while the astrogators work on plotting the jump route for the next leg. The target is a small M dwarf 5 lightyears away.
60.390	Strike Force Nova arrives at Stenmar Station (Kazak). Patrol Group Flint is merged back into the Strike Force. Together with Discovery Squadron and the Flight forces in the system, the warships represent the greatest collection of ships since the Second Common Muster to face the sathar six decades previous.

Download the full file :

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

Worlds of Origin for Star Frontiers Races – part 1

This week we’re going to begin looking at determining the origins of any given character or NPC in the Frontier. I’ve labeled this as part 1 in a series as it is a preliminary draft that I plan to tweak and expand on in the future. This is really a preliminary, first pass but still quite usable in its current form.

This is the post I had planned for last week but didn’t quite have it ready in time so you got the UPF Minelayer a week early.

This project is something that’s been kicking around in the back of my mind for years now and I was inspired to look at it again as part of the RPG Blog Carnival this month which has the topic “Random Encounter Tables“. While this isn’t necessarily a random encounter table per se, it can be used to randomly determine information about someone you encounter in the game. It’s a bit of a stretch, but still relevant. I encourage everyone to visit the main topic page for this months carnival and read all the posts linked to in the comments. I’ll be hosting the blog carnival in June so I’m going to make an effort to write a post each month for the carnival this year and become more active. It tends to be more focused on fantasy gaming so sometimes I’ll really need to stretch the topic but we’ll see how it goes.

We’re going to start right with the table and then I’ll talk about how it was generated. If you’re interested in a slightly different take on this same topic, we published an article, “Star Frontiers Birth Locations” by ExileInParadise, in issue 19 of the Frontier Explorer back in Jan 2017 as part of our Star Frontiers 35th anniversary issue. This article will be a first pass at my take on that same topic.

Where Are You From?

To randomly determine the world of origin of one of the “Core Four” Star Frontiers species, roll d100 on the following table. Find the value rolled in the column for the species in question and the line tells you the origin world and system for that character. This version of the table is ordered by system and not the name of the world.

Planet (system)	Dralasite	Human	Vrusk	Yazirian
Hentz (Araks)	1	1	1	1-12
Yast (Athor)	2-3	2-3	2-3	13-19
Rupert’s Hole (Cassidine)	4-6	4-10	4-5	20-22
Triad (Cassidine)	7-18	11-20	6-17	23-33
Laco (Dixon’s Star)	19	21-22	18	34
Inner Reach (Dramune)	20-27	23-24	19-21	35-37
Outer Reach (Dramune)	28-35	25-31	22-28	38-44
Groth (Fromeltar)	36-40	32	29	45
Terledrom (Fromeltar)	41-52	33-35	30-41	46-49
Hargut (Gruna Goru)	53-56	36-38	42-45	50-61
Ken’zah Kit (K’aken-Kar)	57-59	39-40	46-52	62-63
Zit-Kit (Kizk’-Kar)	60-62	41-42	53-59	64-66
Kawdl-Kit (K’tsa-Kar)	63	43	60-64	67
Kdikit (Madderly’s Star)	64-65	44-50	65	68-69
Gran Quivera (Prenglar)	66-78	51-61	66-76	70-81
Morgaine’s World (Prenglar)	79	62-63	77	82
Histran (Scree Fron)	80	64	78-79	83
Hakosoar (Scree Fron)	81	65	80-82	84
Minotaur (Theseus)	82-85	66-75	83-86	85-87
Lossend (Timeon)	86-87	76-79	87-88	88
Pale (Truane’s Star)	88-95	80-86	89-95	89-95
New Pale (Truane’s Star)	96	87-90	96	96
Clarion (White Light)	97-100	91-100	97-100	97-100

If you just want to use the table, you’re done. Enjoy. If you want to learn a bit more about how I created it, read on.

Building the Table

First off, this table just covers the original systems presented in the original (Alpha Dawn) ruleset, and doesn’t include Volturnus (Zebulon) as there is no indigenous core four population there in that rule set. Also, that rule set left Kawdl-Kit (K’tsa-Kar) out of the data table so I’ve used the values from Zeb’s Guide for that system.

Design Decisions

One of the decisions I made in creating the table is that it is possible for any of the core four races to be from any planet, although the chance may be very small.

Another decision I made was that I didn’t want either a d1000 table (although that’s easy enough to do in Star Frontiers that only uses d10s) and I didn’t want a series of sub-tables. One roll and you would be done.

The result of those decisions is that the smallest probability of having a race/homeworld combination is 1% and for certain situations this is probably a bit (or even a lot) higher than it would really be given the demographics and politics of the Frontier. An example is a non-Yazirian race from Hentz, a world controlled by the Family of One where non-yazirians are second class citizen. There just aren’t that many there. Similarly, vrusk from Kdikit (Madderly’s Star) after most vrusk were driven off world by the Freeworld Rebellion. Although you could also argue that those situations drive up the chance that those beings would be off-world and increase the chance. So in the end, it’s all good.

Getting the Base Numbers

The rules give a dominant population and a population density for each world in the Frontier. The dominant population could be one of the core four races, a mix of two (Terledrom, Fromeltar with a D/V designation for dralasites and vrusk) or an asterisk (“*”) meaning relatively equal mix of all species. The population codes were either outpost, low, medium, or high.

To determine the relative number of each species on each planet I used the following formula. First, an outpost was given a value of 1, low population given a value of 3, medium population a value of 5, and high population a a value of 8. Next, if a species was not listed as a dominant population on a world, it just received the value above. If it was the dominant population, I multiplied that value by three. For the systems marked with an asterisk, I gave all the species the x3 multiplier. Since these planets are the core planets of the Frontier, typically with high populations, this just helps to concentrate the population density there.

For example, Inner Reach, Dramune, is listed as a medium population and the dominant species as Dralasites. So for this world, humans, yazirians, and vrusk all receive 5 points while dralasites receive 15.

This was done for each planet in the Frontier which gave me a large table that listed points for each race on each planet.

Calculating the Table Percentages

Next I tallied up the points for each race. Depending on the species, those totals ranged from 190 to 226. Using those values I scaled the points for each species so that the total came to 100. This effectively gave me the percentage of each species that came from each planet. Some of these, especially on the outpost worlds, end up with percentages less than 1 but given my assumptions, those all get rounded up to 1%.

After that, it was just a matter of tallying up the percentages to make the table. I built a cumulative table first by just adding up the percentages. Due to the small fractional percentages of the low probability planets, this resulted in some planets having the same value.

To fix this, I fixed some of the percentages to 1. This in turn, pushed the totals above 100 for some of the species. To fix that, I then adjusted the percentages down on a few of the worlds based on physical characteristics and game lore.

I started by reducing the percentage of non-yazirian races on Hentz to one. This reflects (as mentioned above) the fact that that world is very rigidly controlled by the yazirian Family of One and non-yazirians are practically, if not in fact, second-class citizens. Next I reduced the percentages of yazirians on high gravity worlds. This is based on the idea that those worlds are less desirable to yazirians because their gliding ability is greatly diminished on these worlds and so the populations would be smaller. For the vrusk, I set the percentage on Kdikit (Madderly’s Star) to one to reflect the expulsion of the vrusk after the Freeworld Rebellion. Finally, I reduced the percentage of non-yaziran races on the worlds in the Scree Fron system because it is far from the core of the Frontier and deep in yazirian space.

After making these changes, and a few other small tweaks, I ended up with the results presented in the table above.

Thoughts and Discussion

This is definitely a first draft. It will probably get tweaked a bit as I flesh out the lore of the worlds a bit more. I may change the relative populations of the the various species as well as the overall population numbers for any given world (i.e not making all medium populations a value of 5 or every high population world a value of 8) That said, this is definitely usable to get a rough idea of where any given member of each species is from. Future versions will also include the Zeb’s Guide systems as well as generate tables for the Rim races, at the very least.

One thing that this doesn’t do is show the relative percentages of each species on any given planet. Since I renormalized the values for each race, that changed the relative percentages of the races on any given planet. As I refine those relative values a bit more, they will get reflected into the raw data used. I may start presenting that information in separate posts on each world.

What are your thoughts on the table? What other information would you like to see? What is missing? What would you do differently? Let me know in the comments below. And be sure to head over to the Random Encounter Tables post to check out the other posts in this month’s RPG Blog Carnival.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY60.329 to FY60.359

A new month and new set of events in the Frontier. This month’s timeline includes events from the Warriors of White Light module (SFKH0), the beginnings of events from the Bugs in the System module (SFAD5), and more exploration beyond the edges of the known Frontier Sector.

Date (FY)	Events
60.329	Patrol Group Flint arrives make the jump to the Kazak system and begin decelerating toward Stenmar station
60.330	The TransTravel corvette is completed at the Terldrom (Fromeltar) starship construction center.
60.331	– The TSS Dark Shadow is detected smuggling weapons provided by Streel to the Liberation Party on Clarion (White Light). A firefight breaks out between the new boarding party of the CMS Osprey and the Dark Shadow’s crew. The smugglers are taken into custody and the ship impounded. (SFKH0) – Deceleration complete, Discovery Squadron, realizing they are no match for the numerous sathar and other unknown vessels in the system begin accelerating for a jump out of the system back to OFS031 system. Luckily, they seem to not have been detected.
60.332	The HSS History’s Hope successfully makes the jump to OFS222, a bright blue main sequence star, even more massive than Belnafaer. They begin decelerating to prepare for the return jump to OFS221.
60.333	Patrol Group Flint arrives at Stenmar station (Kazak) they spend two days refueling and preparing for the jump to OFS019.
60.334	– Strike Force Nova departs Laco (Dixon’s Star) for the Truane’s Star system. – The TSSS Searcher departs Pale station with a shipment of titanium to attempt charting the return jump from the Truane’s Star system to the Cassidine system.
60.335	– Patrol Group Flint departs Stenmar station (Kazak) for their jump to OFS019. – Discovery squadron successfully jumps back to the OFS031 system completely charted the route between OFS031 and OFS070. They begin plotting a return jump to the OFS030 system
60.336	– Sathar SCC#4 completes a frigate – Shakedown cruise complete, the fourth Saurian Ark Ship begins loading supplies and passengers
60.337	Having killed their velocity, the HSSS History’s Hope begins acceleration for the return jump to OFS221.
60.338	The TSSS Searcher successfully jumps into the Cassidine system completing the jump route between the Cassidine and Truane’s Star systems. They decided to not report the jump to the UPF immediately and exploit the shorter jump times to move cargo between the two systems for higher profits.
60.339	– During a magnetic storm, the Matrix infection on Jetsom mutates and takes over the ship’s computer system, killing or incapacitating all members of the Alpha team on the ship (Belnafaer) (SFAD5) – Patrol Group Flint arrives in OFS019 on high alert. They immediately detect sathar radio signals and begin cataloging the sources. Deceleration starts along a vector away from the inner system. They begin the calculations for the return jump.
60.340	Four crew members from the Moneyspider are killed in an attempt to reach the crew on the stricken Jetsom when their shuttle is damaged in the descent and destroyed. Only six crew remain on the Moneyspider. (SFAD5)
60.341	– After two days of data collection, Patrol Group Flint has identified nearly 20 different ships in the OFS019 system including two each of frigates, destroyers, light and heavy cruisers, and assault carriers. There are numerous fighters and two of an unidentified new class of ship. – The HSS History’s Hope successfully jumps back to the OFS221 system completely charting the jump between OFS221 and OFS222. Details are relayed back to the UPF to collect the bounty. They begin decelerating in preparation for returning to the OFS222 system and continuing their exploration.
60.342	– Sathar SCC#5 (OFS019) completes a cutter – The 4 sathar destroyers from Liberty system arrive in OFS019.
60.343	– Deceleration complete, Patrol Group Flint begin accelerating back toward jump speed to return to Kazak as the jump calculations are finalized. – Strike Force Nova arrives at Pale (Truane’s Star). They will have a five day layover to cross train with the Pale militia before heading out to Zebulon.
60.344	– The PGCSS Marionette, which vanished from Terledrom (Fromeltar) without its crew 28 years ago, suddenly appears in the White Light system headed directly for Clarion Station (SFKH0) – The decelerating sathar destroyers pass very close to the accelerating Patrol Group Flint. Relative velocities are too large to allow for an engagement but there is now doubt that the sathar are now aware of the presence of the UPF ships. – Discovery Squadron successfully jump back to the OFS030 system completely charting the route between the OFS030 and OFS031 systems. Work begins on engine overhauls and plotting the jump to the OFS026 system.
60.345	– Attempting to approach the PGCSS Marionette, it repeatedly veers away and the the CMS Osprey is forced to disable its engines and maneuvering jets in order to board the ship. – The crew of the CMS Osprey find that the ship is being controlled by a deranged cybot calling itself the Puppetmaster. After a zero-g battle with robots controlled by the Puppetmaster, the cyborg is destroyed and the crew takes control of the ship. (SFKH0)
60.346	Repairs to the PGCSS Marionette’s engines allow it to be diverted from its collision course with Clarion station. The ship is impounded for inspection.
60.347	Loading complete, the fourth Saurian Ark Ship departs the Sauria system for destinations unknown
60.348	– Training with the Pale militia complete, Strike Force Nova departs for the Zebulon system. – Patrol Group Flint successfully jumps back to Kazak. Flight forces in the system go on high alert.
60.349	TransTravel corvette arrives at Terldrom (Fromeltar)
60.350	After an amazingly long string of bad luck in several of its ventures, the Groth Energy Corporation, the major power supplier on Groth (Fromeltar) declares bankruptcy. While they maintain power generation, all other corporate activities are frozen.
60.351	After nearly half a year of investigation and the death of seven more of the young eorna, the cause of the mysterious deaths is finally uncovered. One of the “Great Plan” eorna had been sabotaging the endeavor and subtly poisoning the children. He is taken into custody.
60.352	Patrol Group Flint arrives at Stemnar station where they will remain on alert with units of The Flight until Strike Force Nova arrives.
60.353	Three days after declaring bankruptcy, the Groth Energy Corporation (Groth, Fromeltar) is purchased by an undisclosed off-world organization for a fraction of its actual value. The new owners immediately begin restoring complete operations.
60.354	Discovery Squadron successfully jumps back into the OFS026 system although they end up much further out in the system than intended. The decision is made to try to get to OFS017 directly and not take the detour caused by their misjump to OFS025.
60.355	Sathar SCC#3 (OFS138) completes a frigate.
60.356	The HSS History’s Hope arrives back in the OFS222 system and begins plotting their next jump. This jump will take them beyond the Outer Frontier Sector. Their target star is a white dwarf, 6 light years away. They designate this region of space as the Yazira Sector and their destination as YS001.
60.357	Strike Force Nova arrives at Volturnus (Zebulon) and joins up with Patrol Group Virgo. The crews are given three days shore leave on Volturnus before they leave the Frontier.
60.358	After several days of investigation and analysis, the eorna responsible for the poisoning of the children is diagnosed with a subtle mental illness that caused him to be unable to accept the new direction the species was going with the discovery of the egg ship.
60.359	In light of the subtle nature of the discovered mental illness, all eorna associated with the eorna egg project undergo a deep psychological analysis.

And here’s the updated full timeline file:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

Obar Enterprises

I don’t have the UPF Assault Carrier done yet so this week you’ll be getting a new organization you can use in your game.

Those of you who follow along with the Detailed Frontier Timeline, either on the monthly posts here on the site or via the @StarFrontiers Twitter feed, may have noticed the introduction of a new organization into the timeline: Obar Enterprises. Anyone that has played in my online games in the last few years has also probably run into, or worked for, Obar Enterprises. And anyone that participates on any of the old online Star Frontiers forums might recognize the name since my handle on those forums is Terl Obar, the name of one of my early Star Frontiers characters and one of the founders of the company.

Obar Enterprises in My Games Today

The following description is the basis I use when players encounter Obar Enterprises in game, whether just in passing or as employees. This is not how the characters were originally created, as that involves the module adventures and the PCs might run through those. The section at the end of this post, entitled “The Real Story”, tells how they were created and advanced in real life.

Background

The company is owned by two couples: Terl and Yala Obar and Leelab and Reesta Lar. Terl and Yala are yazirians while the Lars are dralasites. It’s an unlikely pairing given their races, but they form a tight group.

Terl and Leelab, or Lee as he typically goes by, originally met years ago when they were hired as troubleshooters for the Cassidine Development Corporation (CDC). Terl was a medic with psycho-social skills and Lee was a weapons expert. Lee would often joke that he “took ‘em apart and Terl put ‘em back together.” Despite the general prejudices of their races, the two hit it off and were often assigned on the same team. Over time, Reesta became part of their core team bringing environmental skills and Yala joined as a technician and computer expert. Others came and went from the team to fill in needed skills but the four of them formed the core.

Over time romance blossomed and the two couples were married. While this could have potentially been an issue, CDC was willing to bend the rules due to the effectiveness of the team. Had their performance dropped, they might have been split up, but since their performance stayed high, and even possibly improved, they had no problem staying together as a unit.

CDC, especially after very successful missions, allows its employees to purchase stock in the company. The four took advantage of that to greater or lesser extents over their time with the company. CDC has done well over the years and this allowed the Obars and Lars to build up a very sizable nest egg. After many years with CDC, the four decided that they were ready for something else. They had made many contacts over the years and decided it was time to work for themselves.

While at CDC they had picked up starship skills: Yala was a capable Pilot, Lee an Energy Weapons gunner, Terl had picked up the Rocket gunnery skill, and Reesta had picked up a lot of computers over the years and had become a passable Astrogator. They lacked an engineer but figured they could hire one.

Cashing out a small portion of their CDC stock, combined with a sizable chunk of their savings, they were able to purchase an old, used hull size 7 tramp freighter, the TSS Searcher, and get it up and running. Hiring a pair of engineers, they started hauling freight primarily between Dramune, Cassidine, and Prenglar with the occasional run out to Truane’s Star as well. They organized their new endeavor under the name Obar Enterprises, Leelab and Reesta not wanting to put their name on it.

After about a year, they decided to take a gamble and chart a route through the Xagyg nebula from Cassidine to Truane’s Star cutting the travel time between those two systems down from three weeks to just one. This would allow them to move desired commodities between those two systems quickly and turn a tidier profit. With that in mind, they loaded up the Searcher with a cargo at Triad, made sure the main and backup life support were topped off, and picked up several extra jumps’ worth of fuel, just in case things went wrong. Ready to go they set off on this new adventure.

Luckily, nothing went wrong and they safely arrived in the Truane’s Star system. Similarly, the return jump to Cassidine went off without a hitch. With the new jump fully charted, they decided to keep the route as a “company secret” figuring they could make more money having the private jump route than they could from reporting the route to the UPF. This turned out to be the case and they made a sizable profit over the years before someone else charted the route and reported it, making it a standard route on the UPF maps.

Not long after the new route was charted, Reesta decided that the merchant life was not for her. They had had several close calls with pirates over the years and especially since they had struck out on their own and she wanted to do something about that. She also missed the more structured life working for CDC but, not wanting to go back there, decided to use her starship skills to secure a commission as part of Spacefleet and help fight the pirate problem directly. She retained her partial ownership in Obar Enterprises but left the day to day operations to enroll in Gollwin Academy. Given her existing experience, she was fast-tracked through the program graduating in only a year.

In the intervening years, Terl, Yala, and Lee have continued to grow Obar Enterprises as Reesta has begun working her way up through the ranks of Starfleet. While still primarily a freight company, having expanded their ship roster to include several freighters and escort ships, they have also diversified some of their endeavors to include mining operations and, drawing on their experiences at CDC, some for-hire troubleshooting teams. It’s also rumored that they have an exploration branch that is cataloging the unexplored systems in the Frontier but there is no public mention of this portion of their business. Reesta currently commands an assault scout as part of Task Force Cassidine.

Current Activities

Terl, Yala, and Lee still typically make the run between Cassidine and Truane’s Star, although now in their company’s flagship, mobile headquarters, and their home, the TSSS Morning Glory, hull size 20 freighter. In addition to their freight hauling activities, they have a couple of mining operations on Pale and New Pale in the Truane’s Star system, as well as one on Rupert’s Hole in the Cassidine system.

From their time at CDC, they still have many contacts in that corporation as well as contacts in Spacefleet (through Reesta) and in the Pale government on Truane’s Star. They will often contract with those organizations to do specific jobs that those organizations don’t want to be associated with directly or don’t have the manpower to pursue. As part of this portion of their business, Obar Enterprises maintains a small band of troubleshooters that they can assign out to various missions and assignments much like a small mercenary company.

The rumored exploration activity is also a reality although it is not something they talk about. OE has purchased a Moraes class exploration vessel and have a crew exploring all the systems between Truane’s Star and Scree Fron. As part of this they have discovered a habitable, although uninhabited world, that they are working on a plan to develop and colonize. The TSS Searcher often disappears from the Frontier for weeks at a time to deliver supplies to this system. All of this is a secret company project.

Current Resources

Ships

Obar Enterprises has a number of ships operating around the Frontier. In addition to the Morning Glory, they still have the TSS Searcher in operation, along with a hull size 6 Pacific class freighter, the TSSS Dark Rose. They operate two Stiletto-class assault scouts, the OESS Courage and OESS Excalibur, that typically serve as escorts for the Morning Glory.

For their troubleshooting teams, they developed a small, hull sized 2 spacecraft. The prototype, the TSSS Dart (StarFrontiersman issue 11) has now been in operation for about 3 years. They currently have three of these ships commissioned, the Dart, Bolt, and Quarrel, with a fourth, the Flechette, scheduled to be built in the future.

Their exploration ship is registered as a yacht, the OESS Enterprise.

In addition to the ships above, they have another hull size 20 freighter currently under construction in the Triad starship construction center. The OESS Dusk’s Radiance will be Lee’s primary ship when it is completed in the next year.

Installations

To support their shipping operations, Obar Enterprises maintains offices on the major stations in Truane’s Star, Dixon’s Star, Cassidine, Prenglar, Dramune, and Fromeltar. Being a registered corporation on Pale, they also have an office in Point True but it is minimally staffed as their true headquarters is onboard the Morning Glory.

As mentioned above, they have mining operations on Pale, New Pale, and Rupert’s hole. Additionally, they have a mine on an asteroid somewhere in the Truane’s Star system and it’s rumored they have a compound on Laco in the Dixon’s Star system. There are also rumors of another complex built into an asteroid in the Cassidine system but nothing is know about that complex if it exists (GM Note: it does, but it’s in the Truane’s Star System, not Cassidine, and it’s different than the mine).

Finally, they have a small science installation on the surface of a planet in the FS42 system and are in the process of constructing a small station in orbit around that planet.

Responses

Obar Enterprises is a fairly typical small business but has very deep pockets when it comes to resource acquisition. The nest egg from their time at CDC is very large although they don’t really need to tap into it for regular operations due to successful business over the years and careful resource management.

The Obars and Lars don’t need to work. They have so much money that they could retire and live extravagantly at any time. They work because they want to and endeavor to make sure that their employees are well taken care off. Because of this, their employees are quite loyal.

Individually and as a company they are much more willing than would be expected to take on risky or adventurous endeavors just for the excitement of it. Since money isn’t an issue, a material loss is not a major setback. On the flip side, they don’t hold back when defending their own and will bring all available resources to bear on any threat to their assets and especially to their people.

Overall, Obar Enterprises is a friendly, upright organization but are willing to take on risk and expend resources to achieve their goals. They will not start a fight but if one breaks out, they will end it as quickly and overwhelmingly in their favor as possible. I’ll probably go into more detail about Terl, Yala, Lee, and Reesta themselves in a future post.

Plot Hooks

PCs might interact with Obar Enterprises in a number of ways if you include the company in your game. These include, but are definitely not limited to:

Employment – As former adventurer’s themselves, they look for those type of beings to fill the ranks of their workforce, especially their troubleshooter/mercenary division. The PCs could be hired as a troubleshooter team for the company and assigned missions for the company or contracted out to other organizations. Or they could be recruited in the exploration division. They will have fairly wide latitude in how they proceed. They will be given objectives, not processes.
Competition – Maybe the PCs will be going after the same cargo, target, or other objective as a team from OE. They’ll have to use ingenuity and resourcefulness to win out as the OE team will be well funded and equipped.
Collaboration – Maybe the PCs work for an organization that has contracted OE for help and some number of NPCs from OE will be working with them.

These interactions could occur in any of the areas where Obar Enterprises have interests or activities.

The Real Story

So that’s Obar Enterprises as I currently use them in my games. If we were playing D&D, the company would probably be considered Neutral Good. They want the Frontier to be a better place and follow the rules when possible but are not afraid to color outside the lines when that gets better results.

While the history given works in a generic campaign, that isn’t how the characters got to where they are. Terl, Yala, Lee, and Reesta were some of my earliest characters when I first started running and playing Star Frontiers, along with four others, a human couple and a vrusk couple, that I used sort of as test cases for all the modules. As a group of eight, I ran them through all the published modules, very much in the order that I talked about in my Module-based Campaign posts. They left CDC sooner than described (and joined it later), joined the Clarion Royal Marines, and participated in the Beyond the Frontier series. I’ve removed those references from their current form so that those adventures can be used for PCs in the game. If you don’t plan on using those adventures for the PCs, feel free to add those details back into the background of the OE crew and give them contacts and connections in those systems. They might even be local celebrities in certain parts of the Frontier.

The CDC investment came from the Mission to Alcazzar module. That module has a table you can roll on to see how their investment does. It’s way too generous with only a 20% chance that something bad will happen (90% loss or 50% loss – 10% chance each), a 20% chance there will be no change, and the other 60% of the time the investments will multiply by 2 (20% chance), 5 (20% chance), 10 (10% chance), or even 50 (10% chance). So if you invest the 5,000 Cr. the module allows and let it ride for a few years, you’re probably going to have a lot of money. I’m sure I fudged some rolls in my early teens toward positive results. The listed value of that “nest egg” on their character sheets is in the hundreds of billions of credits. Each. But given the generosity of the table, that can be achieved in just 10-15 years of random rolling which is why I spread it out over more time in the write up. They really can buy anything that they want if it is for sale.

In the character and ship sheets, the TSSS Dark Rose is really the Gullwind, acquired as part of the Dramune Run module. That was the ship they started with and used to plot the jump from Truane’s Star to Cassidine. The Searcher came later as their second ship. Also, they have never cashed out their CDC stock. Acquiring the Gullwind for free, plus the money saved from the other KH adventures where they were well paid, provided enough capital to get started and they’ve done well and grown their resources. I used to play out running cargos around the Frontier. Each ship sheet has a strip of cellophane tape across to top with its operating budget written in wet erase marker (dry erase wasn’t a thing). I’d worn out the paper writing and erasing all the time that I hit on that as a solution.

I have a folder full of papers detailing the characters, their ships, and their installations. A lot of those probably need revising from the wild imaginations of my teenage self and updated with a dose of realism. There’s also a notebook containing the full plan for the FS42 system. I had originally placed their system where Belnaefar is located on the Zeb’s Guide map but that was before I owned a copy of Zeb’s guide. I had placed Benaefar in the system down to the left (FS22) originally. With the move of Belnaefar, I’ve simply moved the location of the OE system (named Sadar in my notes).

Otherwise, the outline provided is pretty true to how I originally envisioned and ran the characters. The only other major difference is that Reesta never really participated in the OE endeavor other than to be a part owner, she, plus the other four from the group, went right from the Beyond the Frontier series of adventures into Spacefleet. They get together as often as they can when the Morning Glory is in Cassidine and she’s not on patrol.

That’s Obar Enterprises as it currently exists in my game and how it came to be. I’m sure there are details or other information that I left out. Let me know what you like about the write-up and where it could be improved in the comments below.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY60.299 to FY60.328

Here’s the next installment of the timeline. As always, you can get these daily as I post them on the Star Frontiers Twitter feed. This month sees the Discovery Squadron arriving at their destination, Strike Force Nova setting out to deal with the sathar presence in OFS019, and the HSS History’s Hope continuing its journey well beyond the Frontier. We also see the beginning events of one of the modules and the emergence of a new small corporation that will play a role later on.

Date (FY)	Event
60.299	Star Law agents at foil an attempt to explode a bomb at the Council of Worlds headquarters on Gran Quivera (Prenglar). The suspects claim to me members of the Anti-Satharian League but the League leaders deny their involvement.
60.300	Further investigation and interrogation of suspects captured at the Council of Worlds bombing reveal that they are actually members of the Free Frontiersman Foundation, a radicalized political faction bent on overthrowing the UPF.
60.301	Sathar SCC#2 (Liberty) completes an assault carrier
60.302	Strike Force Nova arrives back at Morgaine’s World (Prenglar). Crews are given a week of shore leave while Spacefleet decided how to best utilize the Strike Force given the recent discoveries.
60.303	Discovery Squadron successfully jumps into the OFS030 system but arrive much further out than anticipated. However, the jump is considered a success. They begin immediately monitoring for sathar signals and plotting a jump to the OFS031 system, just five light years away.
60.304	HSS History’s Hope arrives in OFS221. Calculations begin for jump back to OFS224. The crew hopes that the second attempt will be more successful than the last.
60.305	After a long investigation, the security leak at Nesmith Enterprises of Triad is attributed to a shadowy faction know as the Investors. Little is known about this organization beyond that it appears to be supported by very rich financial backers.
60.306	Calculations complete, the Discovery Squadron begins accelerating toward their jump to the OFS031 system.
60.307	Calculations complete, the HSS History’s hope begins accelerating for the jump back to OFS224.
60.308	The two destroyers from Patrol Group Virgo, still stationed in the Zebulon system, are tasked by Spacefleet with a reconnaissance mission to OFS019 and charting the return jump from OFS019 to Kazak. The two ships depart immediately for Capella.
60.309	Crew of the Jetsom start experiencing minor issues with the ship’s electronics (Belnafaer) (SFAD5)
60.310	– Repairs of the Streel starship construction center (Pale, Truane’s Star) completed restoring the SCC to full capacity. – An assault scout for the TransTravel corporation is completed at the Minotaur (Theseus) starship construction center. It begins its maiden voyage headed to Terldrom (Fromeltar). – Successfully arriving in the OFS031 system, the Discovery Squadron begins decelerating toward the inner system searching for sathar signals.
60.311	– Construction of CDC mining base on Alcazzar (Rhianna) complete, full scale operations begin. (SF4) – The two TransTravel assault scouts arrive at Terldrom (Fromeltar).
60.312	The HSS History’s Hope successfully jumps back to OFS224 and begins decelerating in preparation for a jump back to OFS221. Details of the full jump route are transmitted to Spacefleet.
60.313	Strike Force Nova is ordered to the Zebulon system while the UPF negotiates with the Rim Coalition to allow the large fleet to traverse Rim space. The Strike Force leaves orbit around Morgaine’s World and begins accelerating toward a jump to Dixon’s Star.
60.314	After four days in system with no detection of sathar presence, the Discovery Squadron decides to spend an extra week in the system before making their final jump to the OFS070 system. This will allow them to catch up on repairs and maintenance for their ships before the final push and allow the astrogators extra time to work on their calculations.
60.315	Having fully recovered from their trek, the Spire Dragons team holds a final press conference on Gran Quivera to recount and discuss the expedition and answers questions about the trip. Thousands attend to hear the details.
60.316	Sathar SCC#2 completes a destroyer
60.317	Deceleration complete and engine overhauls finished, the HSS History’s Hope begins accelerating for jump back to OFS221 to start the next leg of their journey.
60.318	The two UPF destroyers tasked with charting the route from OFS019 to Kazak, now dubbed Patrol Group Flint, arrive in Capella. The crew takes two days of shore leave on Faire before continuing onward.
60.319	Construction of TransTravel corvette complete at Prenglar and the new vessel begins its maiden voyage to Fromeltar.
60.320	Obar Enterprises, a small independent freight company successfully charts the first half of a new jump route from Cassidine to Truane’s Star with their small tramp freighter, the TSSS Searcher.
60.321	After only a week of deliberations, the Rim Coalition authorizes the entry of Strike Force Nova into Rim space. This will be the largest Spacefleet presence to ever enter a Rim system.
60.322	– Repairs, maintenance, and calculations complete, the Discovery Squadron begins their final jump to the OFS070 system which was the destination of the transmission from the Glass Pyramid on Laco (Dixon’s Star) nearly a year earlier. – Strike Force Nova arrives at Laco (Dixon’s Star). They will have a twelve-day layover before continuing on. There is some concern in the Council of Worlds about sending such a sizable portion of Spacefleet out of the Frontier.
60.323	Fourth Saurian Ark Ship is completed and begins its shakedown cruise.
60.324	Patrol Group Flint jumps into the Osak system, they remain near jump speed while traversing the system and plotting the jump to Kazak.
60.325	The TSSS Searcher arrives at Pale station over two weeks ahead of the time it would typically take to make a run from Cassidine to Truane’s Star and begin unloading their cargo. They immediately begin looking for a cargo and working on calculations for the direct return jump.
60.326	– Discovery Squadron successfully jumps in to the OFS070 system. Signals from sathar vessels are immediately detected upon arrival. A deceleration vector is chosen to attempt to minimize the signal reaching the inner system and work begins immediately to calculate a jump out of the system. – Messages are dispatched via subspace radio to both the UPF and Rim Coalitions with all the jump data and news of the sathar presence.
60.327	HSS History’s Hope arrives in OFS221 without incident. Work begins on plotting the next leg of their jump to OFS222, only 4 lightyears away. They decide to make small jumps to improve their chances of a successful jump.
60.328	Alpha team descends to Jetsom while Beta team returns to the Moneyspider. Their shuttle brings the Matrix to the ship infecting the systems in the Moneyspider and Snobol (Belnafaer) (SFAD5)

Here’s the full Timeline document:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

The full timeline document is starting to get pretty big. It’s up to 27 pages at the moment. We’re approaching the end of Frontier Year (FY) 60 in the timeline. Would you like to see a new document for the new year or should I just keep growing this one? Let me know in the comments.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY60.268 to FY60.298

Here’s the next installment of the timeline. This month sees the Sathar consolidating some of their forces, the Discovery Squadron bypassing the sathar starship construction center to press on to their target system, and the Saurians continue their exodus from their home system. We also see the incidents that will kick off the events of a couple of the game modules (SFAD5 – Bugs in the System and SFKH0 – Warriors of White Light).

Date (FY)	Event
60.268	An order is placed for a second assault scout for the K’aken Kar system at the Fromeltar starship construction center.
60.269	Crown Princess Leotia Valentine of Clarion (White Light) celebrates her 33rd birthday.
60.270	Discovery Squadron arrives at Stenmar Station where most of the crew takes a week of shore leave.
60.271	The sathar starship construction center in the Liberty system completes a destroyer and 6 fighters.
60.272	Errors in the astrogation calculations cause the HSS History’s Hope to misjump and not return to the OFS224 system. Luckily, they end up in the Araks system. While not disastrous, the misjump emphasizes for the crew the risk involved in their endeavor.
60.273	Deciding not to risk trouble with the Family of One authorities on Hentz (Araks). the HSS History’s Hope decides to not stop at the station and head straight back to Histran (Scree Fron)
60.274	Businesses on both Inner and Outer Reach (Dramune) lodge formal complaints against the new inspection of cargo arriving at Inner Reach from Outer Reach claiming it is hurting trade and damaging business. The government refuses to make any changes to the process.
60.275	Strike Force Nova arrives at Hentz (Araks). It will spend just 4 days here before heading on to the Athor system.
60.276	A new assault carrier is completed in the sathar starship construction center near Fromeltar.
60.277	After 20 days backtracking though their original path, the Spire Dragons reach their coastal camp. All told it took just over half a year (202 days) to make the full trek and cost the lives of fifteen of the team’s members.
60.278	– Newest saurian Ark ship completes its checkout and passengers begin shuttling to the ship. – In order to avoid OFS019 and the sathar forces there, the Discovery Squadron decides to try skirting the edge of the nebula near Kazak and jump to the double star system OFS017.
60.279	Strike Force Nova departs Hentz (Araks) for the Athor system
60.280	After four weeks of the increased inspections of ships arriving at Inner Reach (Dramune) from Outer Reach (Dramune), authorities have seized millions of credits worth of the drug Ixiol and reported cases of the drugs use on the planet has dropped significantly.
60.281	As news of Inner Reach’s (Dramune) success on limited the import of Ixiol spreads around the Frontier, other systems consider similar sanctions. However, many of the systems lack the militia enforcement necessary to make it successful.
60.282	– A heavy cruiser is completed in the sathar starship construction center near Zebulon (OFS19). – The frigate, light cruiser, assault carrier, and fighters arrive in OFS19 from OFS111. The forces in the system are now on par with, if not exceeding, the strength of any of the UPF Task Forces. – Mistakes in the astrogation calculations, possibly due to the presence of the nebula, send the Discovery Squadron off course and they end up in a single star system instead of the binary system they were shooting for.
60.283	The HSS History’s Hope arrives safely at Histran Station (Scree Fron) where it will resupply before reattempting to complete charting the jump route between OFS224 and OFS221.
60.284	Construction on the second K’aken-Kar militia assault scout begins.
60.285	– After three days of observations, the astrogators of Discovery Squadron determine that they are in OFS025 instead of OFS017, having jumped further than intended. No sathar signals have been detected. – After much discussion, the decision is made for Discovery Squadron to press on. They prepare to jump to OFS026 which would have been the next system after OFS017.
60.286	The HSS History’s Hope departs Histran Station (Scree Fron) headed to OFS224 to resume its attempt to chart a course to the suspected Yazirian home system.
60.287	PGC shipyards around Gran Quivera attacked by militants claiming to be Streel supporters, using access derived from the Nesmith Enterprises breach earlier in the year. Production capacity reduced by 38%. Several hulls destroyed but the Spacefleet battleship escaped unscathed.
60.288	Strike Force Nova arrives in the Athor system. Originally scheduled to spend seven days in the system, the news from the Discovery Squadron cut that short to only 2 days.
60.289	Strike Force Nova detects extremely faint signals from OFS200 in the Athor system. The detection confirms that the signals have been being broadcast for years undetected.
60.290	Strike Force Nova departs the Athor system to return to Prenglar.
60.291	Construction of two TransTravel assault scouts completed at the CDC starship construction center orbiting Triad (Cassidine) and begin traveling to Terldrom (Fromeltar).
60.292	PGC and Star Law release a joint statement that autopsies of several of the saboteurs killed at the PGC shipyard contained the same sathar parasite as the sathar agents that attacked the armed station orbiting Triad (Cassidine).
60.293	Loading complete, the third saurian Ark ships departs the Sauria system for destinations unknown.
60.294	– The Discovery Squadron successfully arrives in the binary star system OFS026. No sathar signals have been detected while decelerating into the system. – The Discovery Squadron begins plotting a jump to the OFS30 system, another binary star system 9 light years away. This will be the longest uncharted jump of their journey.
60.295	– Sathar SCC#3 completes a heavy cruiser – HSS History’s Hope arrives in OFS224 and immediately begins trip to OFS221
60.296	Unbeknownst to the crew, the Matrix virus infects the Jetsom’s electronic systems in the Belenafaer system. (SFAD5[1])
60.297	Boarding party of the CMS Osprey killed by smugglers during a routine cargo inspection. The freighter is destroyed as it tries to flee toward a Void jump. The Clarion Royal Marines post a job opening for new staff. (SFKH0)
60.298	Calculations complete and verified, the Discovery Squadron begins accelerating toward OFS030.

[1] SFAD5 – Bugs in the System module

Here’s the full timeline document:

DetailedFrontierTimeline Download

Extended Frontier Map Star Systems

This posts provides a table of all the systems on the Extended Frontier Map and provides the spectral types of the stars that were used to generate the images on the map. The named systems are listed first, in alphabetical order, followed by the FS designated systems and finally the OFS designated systems. The two latter sets are ordered by number

For the Frontier Sector systems (UPF & Rim), the spectral types were take from the following sources listed in decreasing order of importance. If a source higher up on the list conflicted with a source lower down, the higher sources was used.

Star Frontiers Expanded Rules book – this didn’t give exact spectral types but they could be inferred from the colors given.
Published modules – for most of the systems that were detailed in the modules, a spectral type was given although some just provided colors like the Expanded Rules book
Zebulon’s Guide to the Frontier: Volume 1 – This source provided spectral types for all the systems although some conflicted with the information from above.

With the exception of the neutron stars, all other spectral types were randomly generated and drawn from a realistic distribution of spectral types. The neutron stars were placed either where they appeared in the Expanded Rules or Zeb’s Guide maps or were specifically placed by me.

In addition to the spectral types, the table gives some notes and references for the various systems indicating features of the system and/or the source where the name/spectral type came from.

I realized after the fact that I never went through the Dragon and other “offical” magazine articles to find any systems listed there. I knew there was an Ebony Eyes system with a pair of binary black holes but I never put it on the map. Looking at that article, the FS38 system is almost in the position listed for Ebony Eyes so I put a note about that in the table below.

A quick perusal of all the other articles didn’t reveal any other star systems not already included so it turns out it wasn’t too much of an oversight. So with that, there’s the full table. At the end of the page is a link to a PDF of the table as well that you can download.

System Name	Spectral Types	Notes
Named Systems
Araks	G4
Athor	K2
Belnafar	A0	SFAD5: Bugs in the System
Capella	G6
Cassidine	G8
Cryxia	K5
Dayzer	G4	FE004 – The Saurian Sector
Devco	F9
Dixon’s Star	G0
Dramune	K1
Fochrik	F9
Fromeltar	G5
Gamma Hydrus	K6	FE016 – Phri’sk Anyone? Detailing the S’sessu Homeworlds
Gruna Garu	G8
Imdali	G7	FE016 – Phri’sk Anyone? Detailing the S’sessu Homeworlds
K’aken-Kar	K8
Kashra’sk	G4	FE016 – Phri’sk Anyone? Detailing the S’sessu Homeworlds
Kazak	G1
Kizk-Kar	G2
Klaeok	G8
K’tsa-Kar	K0
Liberty	G1	FS30, Sathar Starship Construction Center #2 – SFKH4: The War Machine
Lynchpin	NS
Madderly’s Star	G3
Mechan	K7
Minan	K1	FE016 – Phri’sk Anyone? Detailing the S’sessu Homeworlds
New Streel	G2
Osak	G4
Padda	BD, M1	SFKH2: Mutiny on the Elanor Moraes
PanGal	G8
Precipice	K4	FE004 – The Saurian Sector
Prenglar	F9
Rhianna	G6	SF4: Mission to Alcazzar
Sauria	G8	Saurian home system – FE004 – The Saurian Sector
Scree Fron	K7
Sessar	F1	FE004 – The Saurian Sector
Solar Major	F3
Solar Minor	F8
S’seuden	F9	S’sessu home system – FE016 – Phri’sk Anyone? Detailing the S’sessu Homeworlds
Sundown	K9	SF3: Sundown on Starmist
Theseus	G1
Timeon	G5
Tischen	G6	FE004 – The Saurian Sector
Tristkar	K0	SFAD6: Dark Side of the Moon
Truane’s Star	G7
Waller Nexus	G0	SFKH2: Mutiny on the Elanor Moraes
White Light	K1
Zebulon	G2
Frontier Sector Systems
FS08	M6
FS13	BD
FS15	BD
FS16	M2, M4
FS18	A4, M0III
FS19	G8, M1
FS21	M1, M2
FS22	BD
FS26	K4, M9
FS28	M7
FS29	NS
FS35	M2
FS37	M3, K1
FS38	M0, M3	This is in the approximate location given for the Ebony Eyes system (it should be down one and right two squares) so you could replace the two stars with black holes.
FS41	M2, M4
FS42	M8
FS43	BD
FS44	K2, M3
FS50	BD, M7
FS53	NS
FS56	M9, M4
FS57	M3
Outer Frontier Sector Systems
OFS001	M9, BD
OFS002	M3, M3
OFS003	M6, M0
OFS004	M8
OFS006	M9
OFS007	M6
OFS008	M4
OFS009	M4
OFS010	M9, M7
OFS011	BD, M2, M9
OFS012	M5
OFS013	BD, BD
OFS014	A6, G1
OFS015	M4, M7
OFS016	M3
OFS017	BD, BD
OFS018	M7
OFS019	M1	Sathar Starship Construction Center #5
OFS020	F0, M4
OFS021	M0
OFS022	M1, M4
OFS023	M9, M9
OFS024	M4
OFS025	M7
OFS026	M4, M3
OFS027	M6, K7, M2
OFS028	M1
OFS029	M4
OFS030	M4, K3, BD
OFS031	M6
OFS032	M5, K6
OFS033	K8, M7, M5
OFS034	K2, M5, WD
OFS035	M3
OFS036	M2, M3, M1
OFS037	M7
OFS038	BD
OFS039	WD
OFS040	M3
OFS041	M4, M8
OFS042	M8
OFS043	M0, M9
OFS044	G8
OFS045	M4, K4
OFS046	M4, G2
OFS047	M7, M7
OFS048	M3
OFS049	WD
OFS050	BD, BD
OFS051	F1
OFS052	M6, M2
OFS053	BD
OFS054	M7
OFS055	K9
OFS056	BD
OFS057	M1, BD
OFS058	M8, M2
OFS059	WD
OFS060	M6
OFS061	M7
OFS062	M8
OFS063	M4
OFS064	M2	Sathar Starship Construction Center #9
OFS065	M6, M8
OFS066	M1
OFS067	K3, M7, M2
OFS068	M0, M5, M0, BD, M7
OFS069	K6, M8
OFS070	M3	Tetrarch Complex (similar to one on Laco, Dixon’s Star)
OFS071	M3
OFS072	M1
OFS073	M4, K8
OFS074	WD, M1, M4, M4
OFS075	M8
OFS076	M1, M9
OFS077	M6, M4
OFS078	M4
OFS079	BD, M9
OFS080	WD, M0
OFS081	M9
OFS082	M6, M4
OFS083	K5
OFS084	BD
OFS085	M6, M8
OFS086	M9, M7
OFS087	M7, M6
OFS088	K3, M8
OFS089	M7, M3
OFS090	M0
OFS091	BD
OFS092	K5
OFS093	BD
OFS094	BD
OFS095	M8
OFS096	M8, M3
OFS097	M6	Sathar Starship Construction Center #8
OFS098	M2
OFS099	M8
OFS100	M8, M5, M7
OFS101	F2	Sathar Starship Construction Center #7
OFS102	M5, K8
OFS103	BD
OFS104	M9
OFS105	M4, M4
OFS106	M2
OFS107	M0
OFS108	M1
OFS109	K6
OFS110	M4, M8, BD
OFS111	BD	Sathar Starship Construction Center #4
OFS112	M6, BD
OFS113	M4, M0
OFS114	M3
OFS115	M7, M5
OFS116	WD
OFS117	K4	Sathar Homeworld, Sathar Starship Construction Center #6
OFS118	M8
OFS119	M2, M4, M3
OFS120	M7, M4
OFS121	BD
OFS122	M7, M5, BD
OFS123	K6
OFS124	M6, M5
OFS125	M3, M7
OFS126	M8, K5, M5
OFS127	M5, M5
OFS128	M6, M0
OFS129	K9, M4
OFS130	M5
OFS131	M2
OFS132	M2
OFS133	M1, WD
OFS134	BD, M7, M3
OFS135	M4
OFS136	F3
OFS137	M2
OFS138	M0	Sathar Starship Construction Center #3
OFS139	M4, M7
OFS140	WD, M5
OFS141	WD
OFS142	M9, K8
OFS143	M1
OFS144	M5, M4
OFS145	M6
OFS146	BD
OFS147	M1, M1
OFS148	M9
OFS149	M6, M8
OFS150	G0
OFS151	M2
OFS152	K1, M0
OFS153	G1
OFS154	K6, M4
OFS155	M8
OFS156	M8
OFS157	M0
OFS158	M0
OFS159	M9
OFS160	F0
OFS161	M1
OFS162	G5, G1, M3
OFS163	K5
OFS164	M3, M8
OFS165	M5, M6, M1
OFS166	NS
OFS167	G7
OFS168	M7
OFS169	BD
OFS170	BD
OFS171	M4, K5
OFS172	M5
OFS173	K9
OFS174	M9, WD
OFS175	M7
OFS176	M8, K2
OFS177	M9
OFS179	M0
OFS182	M1, K9, M4
OFS183	M3, M5
OFS184	BD
OFS185	K4
OFS186	M7
OFS188	M2, M8
OFS190	M8
OFS191	F8, BD
OFS192	NS
OFS193	M1, M6, M2
OFS194	BD, M8
OFS195	M4
OFS196	M2
OFS198	WD
OFS199	M1, M8, M7
OFS201	M3
OFS203	BD, M6, M3III, K3	Sathar Starship Construction Center #1
OFS203	NS
OFS205	WD
OFS206	M6
OFS207	M7
OFS210	M6, BD
OFS211	M5
OFS212	G0, M8
OFS213	M9, BD
OFS214	NS
OFS215	K1, K6
OFS216	M9
OFS217	M1
OFS218	M9, M9
OFS219	M8
OFS220	M2
OFS221	NS
OFS222	B8
OFS223	M6
OFS224	M6
OFS225	WD, M7
OFS226	BD
OFS227	M2, M9
OFS228	M9	Sathar Starship Construction Center #10

Here’s the PDF file to download:

ExtendedFrontierMapData Download

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY60.238 to FY60.267

Here’s the next installment of the timeline. This month sees the Frontier races start to explore a bit outward. Unfortunately for them, they stumble upon a heavily defended sathar starship construction center almost immediately.

I’m also trying out a new layout/design for the table let me know if you like this one or the old one better.

Date (FY)	Event
60.238	Discovery Squadron arrives at Stenmar (Kazak). This is their last stop in known space and the squadron will spend a week here making sure the ships are fully repaired and stocked for their journey.
60.239	Work begins by the Discovery Squadron astrogators to plot the first new jump route of their trip. Their destination is the star system OFS19, five light years away just above the jump route to the Cryxia system.
60.240	Resupplied, the HSS History’s Hope leaves Histran Station (Scree Fron) to return to the OFS224 system and then begin charting the next new jump in its journey.
60.241	Sathar starship construction center in the Liberty system completes another destroyer.
60.242	The assault scout for the K’aken-Kar system is completed at the Fromeltar starship construction center. It begins its travel to its home system.
60.243	After six days of waiting, the storm on Mt. Spire clears and the members of the Spire Dragons team begin their descent from the mountain.
60.244	Having made no detections of signals from OFS200, Strike Force Nova departs Hentz (Araks) for the Scree Fron system.
60.245	After over thirty days in the Kizk-Kar system with no further sign of sathar ships, the assault scouts from Kaken-Kar and Fromeltar begin their return trips to their respective systems.
60.246	Discovery squadron begins accelerating toward Void speed on its first jump out the Frontier and Rim region of space.
60.247	Investigations into the source of Ixiol have definitively linked it to Malco Enterprises on Outer Reach (Dramune). Unfortunately, the UPF charter prevents any direct action against the operation without express consent of the planetary government which denies the allegations.
60.248	Based on the findings regarding Ixiol production on Outer Reach (Dramune), Inner Reach (Dramune) implements a strong inspection policy against any ship coming from Outer Reach to search and inspect all cargo from that planet before it can be delivered on Inner Reach.
60.249	HSS History’s Hope arrives safely in the OFS224 system. Work begins to chart a jump to the neutron star in the OFS221 system, a jump of 7 light years.
60.250	Streel starship construction center (Pale, Truane’s Star) reaches 90% original capacity as repairs continue.
60.251	Discovery Squadron successfully jumps to the OFS19 system, a small M1 red dwarf star.
60.252	– After a day of deceleration into the OFS19 system, the Discovery Squadron detect radio signals from the direction of one of the inner planets. They appear to be sathar in origin. Subspace radio messages are dispatched back to the Frontier and Rim. – The squadron immediately changes vector to not be decelerating directly toward the inner system and the astrogators begin working on calculations for a return jump to Kazak.
60.253	After a day of collecting signals in the OFS19 system, at least 10 different sathar ships have been detected by Discovery squadron. Composition is unknown.
60.254	– Strike Force Nova arrives at Histran (Screen Fron). It will spend 11 days in system exercising around both Histran and Hasokar before departing back to the Araks system – Eight sathar ships begin accelerating out toward Discovery squadron. Two new ships have been identified but four have gone silent.
60.255	– The militia assault scouts that had been deployed to the Kaken-Kar system arrive back at their home systems. The crews are given some needed shore leave. – Calculations complete for the return jump to Kazak, and apparently detected by the sathar vessels, Discovery Squadron begins a hard acceleration to stop and reverse direction for a jump out of the system.
60.256	Discovery Squadron completes the stopping maneuver and begins acceleration out of the system. The sathar vessels are nearly half-way to their position and have a sizable speed advantage. It is questionable if the squadron can reach jump speed before the sathar ships catch them.
60.257	With a known path, the Spire Dragons team make it back to their camp at the base of the mountain after only fourteen days of hiking. All that is left to complete their expedition is to make it back to the coast.
60.258	– After two days of grueling high-g acceleration, Discovery Squadron manages to enter the Void for the jump back to Kazak just hours before the sathar vessels overtake them. Unfortunately, due to the haste of their departure, the Discovery Squadron, misjumps into a binary star system rather than Kazak. – Prior to their jump, the Discovery Squadron identify the sathar vessels as 1 heavy cruiser, 1 assault carrier, 1 light cruiser, 2 destroyers, 1 frigate, and 2 ships of a new design approximately the size of the Streel corvettes.
60.259	The HSS History’s Hope jumps into the OFS221 system. While they arrive much further out in the system than planned, the jump is considered a success. They will spend a week in the system studying the neutron star before returning to OFS224.
60.260	After two days of rest from the grueling jump and observations by the astrogators, the Discovery Squadron determines that it is in FS50 system between Kazak and Osak, having overshot their target. Work begins on calculating a jump back to the Kazak system just 4 light years away.
60.261	With preliminary jump calculations done and the crew mostly recovered from their days of high-g acceleration, Discovery Squadron begins accelerating toward jump speed for their return to Kazak.
60.262	– While they don’t know if the UPF ships detected the starship construction center in OFS19, the sathar high command decide to shift some of the assets there to increase the defenses. – Four destroyers from the Liberty system are dispatched to OFS19. Even with a high-speed traversal of the jump routes, this will take approximately 80 days. – A frigate, light cruiser, assault carrier, and eight fighters are dispatched from the sathar SCC#4 (OFS111) to reinforce OFS19 as well. Much closer, it is only a 20-day trip.
60.263	The new assault scout arrives in the K’aken Kar system. After a brief checkout, it takes up regular patrol duties.
60.264	The third saurian Ark ship is completed and begins its shakedown cruise.
60.265	– Strike Force Nova departs Hasokar (Screen Fron) to return to Araks. No signals from OFS200 were detected while in the system. – Discovery Squadron successfully jumps back to the Kazak system. They immediately begin broadcasting the details of their findings in the OFS19 system to both Rim and UPF contacts.
60.266	With receipt of the information about the sathar forces in OFS19, both Spacefleet and the Flight begin discussions on how best to deal with the sathar presence. While discussions are occurring, the Flight dispatches several ships to both Cryxia and Kazak.
60.267	HSS History’s Hope begins accelerating to return to OFS224 and chart the return leg of the jump connection the OFS221 and OFS224 systems.

And here’s the full timeline file:

DetailedFrontierTimeline-1 Download

The Fate of Yazira

Fate of the Warhon and his Guard

The General Population

Lost Scoutships

Family of One and GODCo

HSS History’s Hope

Outstanding Questions

Final Thoughts

The Loss of Yazira

A Threat Discovered

A Plan Takes Shape

A Change of Plans

A Historic Flight

Looking for a Place to Call Home

The Exodus Begins

Trouble at the Destination

Loss of the Warhon

Fallout

Next Time

Where Are You From?

Building the Table

Design Decisions

Getting the Base Numbers

Calculating the Table Percentages

Thoughts and Discussion

Obar Enterprises in My Games Today

Background

Current Activities

Current Resources

Ships

Installations

Responses

Plot Hooks

The Real Story

Named Systems

Frontier Sector Systems

Outer Frontier Sector Systems