The Eorna Before the Day of Doom

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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:29am

Looking at the Ancient Eorna and the Zebulon System

One of the favorite topics it seems on the starfrontiers.us website appears to be the Volturnus modules, the Eorna and their “starspawn.”

Written by Mark Acres, Tom Moldvay and Doug Niles, these adventures provide a rollicking entry into the game, introducing the players to a planet of many wonders and dangers that lead to the climactic battle with the Sathar. But what is really the background of the Eorna?

Though the modules stress they are a peaceful race that worships beauty, they also had advanced weapons including the ability to make security and warbots. Just look at the Mechanons’ capabilities as an instance of where the Eorna’s past isn’t quite as serene as they present to the players.

What follows are some speculations about this ancient, high technology race based on examination of the canon materials in the Volturnus modules plus observations that have been in the Frontier Explorer and Star Frontiersman magazines along with the fan opinions on the starfrontiers.us website. Then I have a good dose of my own musings.

Joe Cabadas
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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:30am

What the modules tell us of Volturnus and its star system

As most fans of Star Frontiers probably already know, the “Crash on Volturnus” module provides a briefing to the players that the Zebulon system “was first investigated 20 years ago by an unmanned probe launched by Truane’s Star. This probe indicated that Volturnus was the only inhabitable planet in the Zebulon system. It also indicated that great mineral wealth might exist on the planet in the form of molybdenum, tungsten, gold and other heavy metals. Truane’s Star soon made a legal claim to the ownership of Volturnus and completed exploration of a star route to the Zebulon system one year ago.”

Its two moons, Leo and Lulu, seem to orbit very close to the planet. Leo completes an orbit in three days while Lulu only takes 27 hours.

The system briefing for the referee further mentions that the planet is “named after the Greek god of the southwest wind. Volturnus is a hot, dry world with many types of hostile terrain. The endless deserts, rugged mountains, volcanic wastes and dangerous salt flats are constantly scoured by the southwesterly wind. Despite these harsh conditions, rare patches of forest and even a few lakes have managed to maintain a perilous existence.”

Well, logically – if we one wants to sound like Spock from Star Trek – we know that not all of the planet would face a “southwest wind” since there’s a north and south hemisphere and plenty of weather patterns.  The original description is probably there for poetic reasons. The area map – which only covers a very tiny fraction of the planet – also includes a sea which is described as “the remnant of a vast salt sea that once covered the area.” So there is more water on the plant than just “a few lakes.”

The third module, “Starspawn of Volturnus” further tells the referee that the planet’s history “is so varied, and areas of it have been purposely left blank, that any number of adventures of the referee’s own making cold be fit onto this bizarre planet.” Of course, game masters always have the option of altering modules to fit their own campaigns.

The planet was devastated by the Sathar some 900 years ago, but enough life remained for the Eorna to manipulate to create the Ul-Mor, Edestekai and Kurabanda along with a wide variety of other creatures ranging from winged rippers to lopers, yernoids, land whales, etc.

Joe Cabadas

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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:31am

What the modules tell us of the Eorna                   

The modules say about the Eorna are a race of fur-covered dinosauroids with mentalist powers – in particular hypnosis with the ability to make characters forget an encounter. They had the ability to shape crystals to make large buildings plus were experts and genetic manipulation and cybernetics. This description sounds a lot like the Sathar, doesn’t it?

The referee is encouraged to stress how peaceful the Eorna are – but they have ready-to-use weapons. They also had a planetary defense headquarters that became the “Mound of the Mechanons” and combat robots. After the Battle for Volturnus a ship with some 50,000 Eorna eggs will be found, allowing for the survival of this old race.

With the publication of Zebulon’s Guide to the Frontier, the Zebulon system – with its G2 yellow star – suddenly had not just one but two inhabited world – Volturnus and Anker. Anker is listed first, possibly indicating it is closer to the star than Volturnus though this is unclear. The planets may just be listed in alphabetical order.

With one moon, Anker’s gravity is 0.9 and its day is 20 hours long. “The site of the University of Zebulon, the Frontier’s largest and most prestigious institution of learning,” Zeb’s says, “the entire planet has been set aside for the U of Z, as well as one of the Frontier’s largest zoos.”

Since this story is conjecturing about the ancient Eorna, I’ll refrain from making comments about the Zebs’ description of Anker… The largest and most prestigious institution of learning in the Frontier? Ha! What about whatever universities are on Gran Quivera, the center of the Frontier? What about any institutions on the Vrusk worlds? Opps, better get back on track…

One could argue that the description in Zeb’s seems to indicate that Anker might have a breathable atmosphere. Then again, as Jedion357 (Tom Verreault) has supposed, if the later day university and the zoo are actually contained in biospheres, maybe Anker doesn’t have a breathable atmosphere. Or at least it has one that needs to be terraformed or, perhaps due to the Sathar’s devastation, re-terraformed?[i]

For more information about the Eorna, R. Kevin Smoot wrote a story about them in Star Frontiersman issue 8 which provides information on how to use them as a player character race and their society during the time of the Frontier.



[i] http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/7779, “The Time Line Project: Anker, Zebulon,” jedion357, October 16, 2013.

Joe Cabadas

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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:31am

What were the ancient Eorna like?

A race with psionic powers, the Eorna are descendants of a furry-like dinosaur. They had access to high technology and were space-faring before the Sathar destroyed them. After that, we need venture off the canon materials and into fan speculations.

It is unclear what other Mentalist powers the Eorna may possess. Probably the hypnosis skill is an innate ability for most Eorna and maybe it was a way to lure in and capture prey. They probably don’t need to talk to an individual as a Sathar or a bio-social character using hypnotism. After all, the Eorna’s hypnotic robots use a device that flashes a rainbow of colors to accomplish its hypnotism.

Eorna with higher Logic scores probably can learn other Mentalist disciplines, but maybe telepathy is not something that comes easy to them. After all they created the “neural fungus” (See “Volturnus, Planet of Mystery,” p. 28) to try to allow for a direct mind-link between individuals. One would wonder if the old Eorna had perfected this technique, but the information was lost after the Day of Doom, hence the survivors were unable to create a neural fungus that didn’t cause extreme pain.

The basis for Eorna technology is the use of crystals, probably silicon-based lifeforms that the rogue crystals originated from. They could manufacture, shape and form large, artificial crystalline structures using vast processing factories. Maybe they also had a stone softening and shaping technology too – as speculated on programs such as “Ancient Aliens.” (Note, although I am a science fiction fan, I do watch that program with more than a bit of skepticism, but the idea that there is a technology or way to soften, shape and reharden stone seems interesting.)

What if the Eorna had access to Tetrarch technology and the Ul-Mor, Edestekai and Kurabanda aren’t the first time that they uplifted creatures to sentience? Could they have done that with the Sathar as an early experiment and then “The son rose up and displaced the father" in an Oedipus complex type of way? [i]

Maybe, but it seems a bit unlikely. According to the Dragon magazine story by game designer David “Zeb” Cook, the Sathar and S’sessu were separated by the Tetrarch some 20,000 years before the modern Frontier time period.[ii] So, if anything, it was the Tetrarch Societies that uplifted the Sathar or at least left behind technology that the worms later used to achieve space travel and a degree of high technology.

Let's say Volturnus was densely populated at the height of the Eorna civilization, that could mean anywhere from 6 billion to 12 billion with another few hundred million to a few billion on Anker (that could be the original Eorna name for the world). Most of the populace was located in the cities, which is where the majority of them died on the Day of Doom.

The Eorna had several nations of which Volkos was the capital of one of its more peaceful countries or territories. Perhaps they had developed a European Union-like super government, which was also headquartered at Volkos -- hence its importance and why the Sathar listening post is located near it and the planetary defense installation that the Mechanons eventually controlled. Likely, there would be a ruined starport near the capital as well.[iii]

Since the Sathar seem to be some distance away from the Frontier – one could surmise that because of the long delays between the First and Second Sathar Wars – the Eorna probably didn’t encounter them right away. Most likely, they had a chance to explorer around at least a segment of the Frontier and the Rim and probably had contact with the more primitive Humma, Osakar and Ifshnit. They may have had a role in “lifting up” these races with some DNA engineering or at least giving them a technological boost where they were able to survive against later-day Sathar incursions.

This early contact that the Eorna could have had with the Rim races would give game masters the option of a later-day encounter for the PCs to meet the Humma, Osakar and Ifshnit.

One could also see the Eorna having outposts on some of the Rim worlds as well as on New Pale, Laco and possibly elsewhere. These outposts probably weren’t large enough to survive independently or were subsequently destroyed by the Sathar. Frontier colonists may have found some of these ruins but didn't know the species that made them until after the Volturnus modules are played. Other Eorna ruins may still lie undiscovered on Frontier worlds such as Gran Quivera or Morgaine’s World (Prenglar).



[i]  http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/9304, “Encounter at Lizard Head Rock,” jedion357, May 20, 2016.

[ii] Cook, David. “The Coming of the S’sessu,” Dragon Magazine No. 96, p. 84.

[iii] http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/8361, “New Volturnus encounter location: 900 year old Eorna Starport,” Volturnus Revisited,” jedion357, October 5, 2014.

Joe Cabadas

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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:32am

The Sathar-Eorna relationship          

The Sathar’s genocidal assault on the Eorna along with the idea of “salting the earth” with attack monsters to prevent the “gentle dinosaurs” from ever again achieving space flight doesn’t seem to fully match how TSR presented them in other modules where they try to subvert Frontier societies with spies or conquering species such as the Mheme to use as a slave race. Or, perhaps, the Sathar just don’t like lizard-like races – see how they also treated the Saurians.

Maybe the Eorna and Sathar had previous contact for some time, but maybe it was secret dealings, unknown to most of the Eorna population, especially the survivors. Perhaps the Eorna and Sathar are both species that the Tetrarch’s raised up. Or the worms grew envious or fearful of the Eorna's mental powers, cybernetic/genetic engineering. In any case, they coveted the Eorna's technology, which led to the Day of Doom.

Iggy offered a few observations back on April 1, 2014: What if the Eorna are hiding a secret that they fought a civil war after a first Sathar invasion years prior to the Day of Doom?

The Eorna may have suffered a brief, surgical attack by the Sathar many years before the Day of Doom. This later led to the Eorna uniting to defend themselves and create planetary defenses while others pressed for low-key solution that did not alert the Sathar to their advances so as to keep the Sathar from ever returning.

Over time, the competing Eorna territories engaged in an economic war along with other squabbles that prevented them from implementing a coordinated defense. When the military faction took space craft and began exploring in the direction of Sathar space, the worms determined they were a threat and took action.

The Sathar invaded the Zebulon system and destroyed everything they found in space, resulting in the Day of Doom. One Eorna faction managed to put the egg ship in orbit around the star. Or, the egg ship was meant for one of the Eorna’s colonial efforts and somehow was overlooked by the invaders.

Joe Cabadas

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JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:33am

Volturnus Before the Day of Doom

We can conjecture that Volturnus had a much gentler environment than the Frontier adventurers found 900 years after the Day of Doom. My concept is that Volturnus’ climate was already moving from being a garden world to a post-garden world where it was getting progressively hotter.

At the height of the Eorna's civilization, they could control the weather and tapped the power of the planet's core. The Sathar bombardment also destroyed these artificial controls, helping to radically change the world's climate. To see my concept of Volturnus before the Day of Doom go to http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/9420 versus the planet when the adventurer’s found it http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/9418 .

The adventure map for Volturnus only covers a small segment of the planet. Imagine looking at Colorado and figuring that is what the rest of Earth looks like. There is still plenty of room for referees to put some more mystery into the “Planet of Mystery."

Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 11:35am
The story above comes from my effort to research the various discussions about the Eorna found on this website. If anyone has any other observations, please let me know.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 23, 2016 - 1:36pm
Here's one other thought I had, instead of the Eorna uplifting the Sathar, maybe they had learned they were a somewhat violent race and tried to introduce a kind of retrovirus aimed at pacifying them. Either the treatment backfired or the Sathar learned of it and extracted their vengence.
Joe Cabadas

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jedion357
August 24, 2016 - 6:51am
Sathar propensity is to enslave a client species if it can examples: zuraqor and Liberty System. They attempted this with the eorna but the eorna resisted and that resulted in Day of Doom. 

Eorna did release a retro virus that affected the sathar- this created the sessu which is why the sathar sought to destroy and salt the earth on Volturnus. Sathar aggression is really motivated by self protection. They fear another incident that led to the sessu. This is why they are constantly plotting the overthrow of the UPF. 

By the time of SW2 the worms are beginning to feel desperate. Volturnus is a UPF territory, the eorna clearly are in league with the UPF, and now the Sessu have made contact with the UPF. The worms are desperately worried. In the past it was difficult for a dominant sathar clan to organize a battle fleet for grand expeditions like the Day of Doom and SW1 hence the infrequency with which they happen but by SW2 the fear has strongly motivated all clans to descend on the Frontier.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 7:20am
jedion357 wrote:
Eorna did release a retro virus that affected the sathar- this created the sessu which is why the sathar sought to destroy and salt the earth on Volturnus. ...


That is an interesting idea except it conflicts with David "Zeb" Cook's own description... but, it could have caused a split in the Sathar anyway. A sub-group that are S'sessu-like or even more passive. Maybe ones that Clan X and Y don't consider to be Sathar, not even the lower caste.

Anyway, something to mull over and it would still fit your idea of the Eorna "creating" the Sathar.

jedion357 wrote:
Sathar aggression is really motivated by self protection. They fear another incident that led to the sessu. This is why they are constantly plotting the overthrow of the UPF...


I do like this idea, though, again, it wouldn't be the S'sessu...

Here's a thought, maybe Volturnus is like the Island of Doctor Moreau and has been the Eorna's playground for some time to improve various species. Maybe they created the weird creatures like the Land Shark to fulfill some sick Survivor reality TV program.

In helping the Eorna, the UPF are actually helping a bunch of Dr. Josef Mengeles -- at least the elder Eorna who started the Great Mission and were kept in stassis until their clueless descendants unfreeze them to help raise the 50,000 Eorna hatchlings.

Did you ever see the Stargate episode where SG-1 pops into a planet where some humans in an underground city claim they are fighting off robotic attack craft. Only later do they discover that the group they are helping actually started a genocidal war on their planet.

Of course, there are other similar episodes with other shows...

jedion357 wrote:
By the time of SW2 the worms are beginning to feel desperate. Volturnus is a UPF territory, the eorna clearly are in league with the UPF, and now the Sessu have made contact with the UPF. The worms are desperately worried....


I do like this line of thinking, though the worry might be that the UPF and the Rim Coalition have linked up and of course contact has been made with the long-lost S'sessu.

jedion357 wrote:
In the past it was difficult for a dominant sathar clan to organize a battle fleet for grand expeditions like the Day of Doom and SW1 hence the infrequency with which they happen but by SW2 the fear has strongly motivated all clans to descend on the Frontier.


That fits.

Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 8:19am
Here's another idea.

When the ancient Eorna encountered the Humma's homeworld, they found the Humma and the Boon'sheah locked in perpetual warfare -- the endless war. They were both at the level of the early 20th century technology.

Both sides were vicious and fairly evenly matched. Since the Eorna found them to be potential threats in the future, so they introduced a retrovirus to manipulate their DNA and pacify them. The effect was to neuter the Boon'sheah's warlike tendencies but only somewhat tempered the Humma's.

The result was the genocidal war against the Boon'sheah until a Humma king stepped forward to put an end to the conflict.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 9:05am
Wait! I just got struck with a duh! moment.

Maybe the Eorna's tampering with the Sathar didn't create the S'sessu, but rather it created the brain-damaged lower caste that is good for nothing but being lambs to the slaughter. The Eorna retrovirus infected 80-90 percent of the Sathar's population.

The Sathar now breed excessively to find those worthy to be upper and middle caste members. All others are assigned to the lower caste which can rank from those that are semi-functional -- the upper lower caste members -- to those that just get a laser rifle and are told to go out and do the will of the Great Worm. When one lower caste member falls in battle, another comes along to pick up its laser rifle and ammo and continue the fight.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 12:09pm
Oh, I believe someone else brought this idea up, but maybe there were actually more than 150 survivors from the Day of Doom, but the 150 are those considered special. The ones with the knowledge and ability to create the Great Mission. They sealed themselves away in the subterranan ruins of Volkos, the others, subject to the Sathar's revenge retrovirus mutated into the Yernoids... not the survivors themselves, but their offspring.

The 150 could have helped them, but found the other survivors just weren't strong enough -- or worthy enough -- to accomplish the task that laid ahead. Perhaps the number 150 has some great significance to the beauty-loving Eorna and bringing on an extra survivor, to make the number 151, didn't meet their aesthetic ideals.

Maybe they have a story about an unforseen death of one of the 150 but miraculously, another Eorna was found to replace the lost member... that could be a hint that there were more survivors on the planet.

Maybe then you could use the tunnel part of the first Volturnus adventure to feature a bit more of the Eorna instead of the healing room.

The fire pit of death -- the lava room -- could have a device that would raise a crystal bridge out of the lava... or drop it from the ceiling, that would lead to a vast survivalist shelter. There the remains of several hundred Eorna could be found along with records -- that would need to be translated later -- indicating that they had been abandoned by those at Volkos but had survived for years before finally succumbing to old age. Also the records would show that something terrible had happened with their hatchlings -- leading to the birth of the Yernoids.
Joe Cabadas

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jedion357
August 24, 2016 - 3:45pm
900 years is a short time for the eorna to de-evolve into yernoids. 

I like to think of the yernoids as the eorna missing link like chimpanzees with us. The yernoids were a small population on the day of doom but have filled the vacuum left by the removal of the eorna.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 4:13pm
jedion357 wrote:
900 years is a short time for the eorna to de-evolve into yernoids. 

I like to think of the yernoids as the eorna missing link like chimpanzees with us. The yernoids were a small population on the day of doom but have filled the vacuum left by the removal of the eorna.


Ah, but quick devolving is one of those sci-fi kind of things. They've done that in Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Gamma World, etc.
Joe Cabadas

jedion357's picture
jedion357
August 24, 2016 - 4:22pm
JCab747 wrote:
jedion357 wrote:
900 years is a short time for the eorna to de-evolve into yernoids. 

I like to think of the yernoids as the eorna missing link like chimpanzees with us. The yernoids were a small population on the day of doom but have filled the vacuum left by the removal of the eorna.


Ah, but quick devolving is one of those sci-fi kind of things. They've done that in Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Gamma World, etc.

Yes you just need to hand wave some unobtanium and presto. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 4:25pm
jedion357 wrote:
JCab747 wrote:
jedion357 wrote:
900 years is a short time for the eorna to de-evolve into yernoids. 

I like to think of the yernoids as the eorna missing link like chimpanzees with us. The yernoids were a small population on the day of doom but have filled the vacuum left by the removal of the eorna.


Ah, but quick devolving is one of those sci-fi kind of things. They've done that in Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Gamma World, etc.

Yes you just need to hand wave some unobtanium and presto. 


You just need a Sathar mutagenic virus that replaces the host's DNA in their reproductive system with something more primative... with a little Tetrarch tech thrown in for good measure.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 4:33pm
After all, we are also dealing with a module where the Eorna raise up three -- or four races if you want to thrown in the fan-created Arboreans and not counting the Mechanons -- to sentient status in 900 years, plus efforts to raise up the rogue crystals to sentience and who knows what other weird science.

So, why not have the Eorna who weren't part of the perfect, untouched 150 all get sick with the mutagenic retrovirus so their offspring devolve? It can't be any worse an explanation than what TSR gave us in the first place.

Sci Fi is part suspension of disbelief, is it not? Or at least Sci Fantasy like Star Wars.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 24, 2016 - 7:42pm
Oh, I checked out the population growth calculator that OnceFarOff had posted http://www.metamorphosisalpha.com/ias/population.php

If the Eorna started with a population of 150, assuming they all didn't go into stassis, at a growth rate of 0.012, they should have had nearly 6.8 million some 900 years later.

Now, let's assume the growth rate is lower because of the devastation and that not all 150 are of breeding age... if they had only 50 that could reproduce, with a growth rate of 0.005, they would have a population of 4.450. Since the module says a lot were inbreds, say 50 %, then they would still have 2,225. Say about 40 percent of those are of combat/working age...  that gives you 890 potential Eorna combat "soldiers" for the ground battle against the Sathar... of course not all of them could fight or be armed so I guess the 100 Eorna who fought with Col. Jameson would be about right.
Joe Cabadas

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JCab747
August 26, 2016 - 5:41pm
I just noticed that someone has a project from 2009 called Staging Ground: Volturnus with a downloadable rewrite of the Volturnus modules. Although I don't think I like the overall package -- it's incomplete in some parts -- I see it has some alternative thinking about the Eorna and a few other suggested encounters. I'll have to peruse it some more.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 26, 2016 - 5:46pm
JCab747 wrote:
I just noticed that someone has a project from 2009 called Staging Ground: Volturnus with a downloadable rewrite of the Volturnus modules. Although I don't think I like the overall package -- it's incomplete in some parts -- I see it has some alternative thinking about the Eorna and a few other suggested encounters. I'll have to peruse it some more.


The module gives an interesting system brief for Zebulon, an ancient Eorna space station and a few other things that definitely look salvagable including some thoughts on the original Eorna society.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 28, 2016 - 12:31pm
Staging Ground Volturnus was posted December 28, 2009 - 1:35am by Chris Putnam.

It provides a major rewrite of the Volturnus module concept, but as noted earlier is incomplete in parts.

Some of the plot revisions include making Colonel Jameson an ally with the Star Devil, the Sathar had bombed Volturnus to not only wipe out the Sathar but create a forward base to attack the Frontier, while the Ul-Mor, Edekesti and Kurabanda are slave races that the Sathar introduced to Volturnus.

Now, I rather like the original modules, so for me, I'd set those ideas aside, but Putnam has several other ideas that he presented that are definitely worth adapting such as how the Truane's Star government recruited the characters in the first place, fleshing out the Serena Dawn crewalong with ye olde hand-drawn deckplans for the ship that are much more of a Knight Hawks flavor, stats for the ship, an encounter with an abandoned Eorna space station with the great possibility of a Star Devil assault there, the abandoned Truane's Star mission base, etc.

There's even a few more flora and fauna to contend with and a chance to find some Eorna ruins before you even get to Volkos.

For the Eorna, Putnam provides a few detailed NPCs such as Tolicha... well, at least the creature's motives are detailed and you have a name to go with it.

Putnam's take was:

"Unlike the Edesteki (and Vrusks and Dralasites), I don't care for the default appearance of the Eorna as a hairy bipedal dinosaur-like race that lay eggs (I have similar complaints for the Kurabanda, which are frankly little more than intelligent monkeys/Yazirian-wannabes in my view). Unlike the
Edesteki that are completely alien, the Eorna fit a lot of fantasy tropes as "dinosaurs" that are an intelligent species. Another odd feature is the presence of the Yernoids (at the Mechanon mounds in SFAD2), which are never explained and seem odd in a world originally ruled by the Eorna.

"I also don't care for the rather simplistic role of the species as an art- and peace-loving race that was brutally savaged by the Sathar and doomed, yet retain their overall 'goodness and light'. The secret Eorna healer in the caverns in Crash on Volturnus that takes care of the characters but only after putting them to sleep bothers me. The ability of the Eorna to “uplift” the Ul-Mor, the Kurabanda, and the Edekesti is also really remarkable and substantially “higher-tech” than I feel comfortable with for the Frontier.

"(Although I've read some versions where the Eorna are placed as a “Tetrarch” race that have substantially advanced technology.) Frankly, the most interesting feature of the original versions of the Eorna are their manipulation of an alternative crystalline technology (making them quite
distinctive), and the potential effect the Sathar attack on the psyche of an originally non-belligerent species.

"Thus, the Eorna in this rewrite are quite different. They are a species that are angry at the brutality unleashed upon them and their civilization. The survivors from the attempted genocide faced with a future of only having the mentally deficient Yernoids as children are seeking to create a force to
strike back at the Sathar (that can persist even when the Eorna themselves are gone), which unintentionally has lead to the creation of the Mechanon race. The Eorna also see the other Sathar-introduced races on Volturnus (the Ul-Mor, the Kurabanda, and the Edesteki) as invaders. While they do not like them, some surviving Eorna are not above attempting to use them to get revenge against the Sathar. While individuals might retain some of the non-belligerency of their ancestors, these Eorna are the exception, not the rule.

"In addition, by making only the Eorna (and Yernoids) native species from Volturnus, we set the stage for making reptilian-inspired creatures an important part of the other native life forms (rather than having lots of species inspired by invertebrates and mammals as well). For me, the picture of Ul-Mor warriors on lopers is the perfect example of an introduced species adopting a native (reptilian) animal as a mount. Thus, in this rewrite of Volturnus, most of the native species have reptilian features (their ancestors dominated the creatures that conquered the land), making the Sathar introduced
species more distinctive (assuming the characters are paying attention to these details). This not only steals an idea from the Sundown on Starmist adventure, but also can give characters a clue that something else is going on on Volturnus.

"The Eorna technology itself was rather incompletely defined. If the Eorna really are technology adept at manipulating telepathy (such as their insanity machine, programmed illusion room, and hypnotic robots), then their interfaces with their technology ought to also use telepathy. This suggests
that there will be no keyboards, monitors, or other useful interfaces. The one described Eorna weapon, the psi stunner, is really equivalent to the sonic stunner with the sole exception that antishock isn't a defense.

"If the Eorna are given mentalist disciplines (as in Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space, the appropriate disciplines should include link, paralyze, shield, suggestion, telepathy-aliens, illusion, fear, empathy, confusion, detection, but probably not disciplines like teleportation."


I do appreciate Putnam's line of thinking. If someone was going to rerun the Volturnus series with a different perspective or wanted added details, this could certainly work.

Incorporating his idea about Eorna technology should definitely be worked into my story here about the ancient Eorna.

Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 28, 2016 - 12:37pm
Another gem in Putnam's version of the Volturnus adventure, as noted earlier, is a full system brief.

STAR: ZEBULON
Zebulon is a F-class main sequence star that is in an unusual system containing a number of asteroid belts and four major planets. The entire system appears to have been influenced by the gravitational capture of Star's Hope sometime in the distant past. (Zebs says Zebulon has a G-class main sequence star while the original modules just say it is a yellow star)

PLANET: ANKER (ZEBULON I)

Anker is a hot world, close to Zebulon; however, it has a nitrogencontaining atmosphere and fits a number of terraforming criteria laid out by GodCo.

PLANET: VOLTURNUS (ZEBULON II)
Volturnus (Zebulon II) is a habitable planet with infrared signatures of nitrogen, oxygen, water, and water vapor in the atmosphere.

ASTEROID BELTS: ZEBULON III, IV
These asteroid belts appear to have been generated by gravitational collapse of planets in the Zebulon system when Star's Hope was captured. A number of these asteroid belts are dense enough to be a problem for interstellar flight. All incoming vessels are suggested to enter the system between
Star's Hope and Zebulon VI before heading in system.

PLANET: STAR'S HOPE (ZEBULON V)
Star's Hope is a massive gas giant that is very close to the mass of a brown dwarf. The orbit of Star's Hope is in the opposite direction of all other objects in the system, suggesting that it is a captured.

PLANET: ZEBULON VI
Zebulon VI is an ice planet that may have been formed by a number of Kuiper belt objects.

Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 28, 2016 - 12:40pm
For lack of a better description of the Zebulon system, the ancient Eorna, etc. Putnam's idea seems to work for me...

Hey, does anyone have any other ideas or critiques?


Please. Comments are welcome!
Joe Cabadas

iggy's picture
iggy
August 28, 2016 - 2:13pm
I am intrigued by the idea that the Yernoid's are offspring from the Erona and that the Erona can no longer breed due to some Sathar meddling.

I also like Anker being a terraforming candidate and not an outright habitable world.  This makes sense why the frontier races would set up on Anker and not Volturnus after the Erona get an egg ship back of viable breeding Erona.

I would like TerlObar to give the idea of Star's Hope an astonomer's review.

I'm not keen on the Ul-Mor, Kurabanda, and Edesteki being Sathar introduced.
-iggy

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 28, 2016 - 2:19pm
iggy wrote:
I am intrigued by the idea that the Yernoid's are offspring from the Erona and that the Erona can no longer breed due to some Sathar meddling.


Agreed.

iggy wrote:
I also like Anker being a terraforming candidate and not an outright habitable world.  This makes sense why the frontier races would set up on Anker and not Volturnus after the Erona get an egg ship back of viable breeding Erona.


Agreed.

iggy wrote:
I would like TerlObar to give the idea of Star's Hope an astonomer's review.


Yes, I'm not an astronomer.

iggy wrote:
I'm not keen on the Ul-Mor, Kurabanda, and Edesteki being Sathar introduced.


Neither am I.
Joe Cabadas

JCab747's picture
JCab747
August 29, 2016 - 8:11am
One other thing is I like the idea that the first Volturnus expedition under Col. Jameson was set up to fail by others in the Truane's Star government and keeping him and his team as the "good guys." But anyone is free to change an adventure to their own liking. I just thought that Chris Putnam had some rather creative ideas that could be molded into someone else's campaign plus I like some of his ideas on Eorna technology.
Joe Cabadas

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 3, 2016 - 7:42pm
I like the star devil having an in with a government official and that there are political machinations going on. I also like the idea of an epilogue where the PCs go after said government official. This could be a role play encounter where PCs are wearing a wire and try to convince the official they are with the star devil and try to get the official to implicate himself. Or it could be a tactical encounter. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tollon's picture
Tollon
September 18, 2016 - 3:10am
Working on the ship, since my drawing skills are not that great, I've come up with a different design.  I just can't do the cargo pods on a 120 degree axis, therefore the ship will have four cargo pods.  I'm also designing the scientific module the ship would carry and the cargo pod. 

JCab747's picture
JCab747
September 18, 2016 - 10:45am
Tollon wrote:
Working on the ship, since my drawing skills are not that great, I've come up with a different design.  I just can't do the cargo pods on a 120 degree axis, therefore the ship will have four cargo pods.  I'm also designing the scientific module the ship would carry and the cargo pod. 


That would be interesting to see.

Joe Cabadas

Tollon's picture
Tollon
September 19, 2016 - 3:40am

Having issues will try later....