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Races of the Galactic Federation — Playable alien species for BECMI games

by Cab Davidson from Threshold Magazine issue 34

System Log, Federation vessel FSS Endeavour.

Information provided to entity known as Averyx, patron Immortal of Alphatian Expansionist Movement, in return for safe passage through the Mystaran system as part of a mutual cooperation and information sharing treaty between the great library of Sagittarius Alpha and the Immortal Council of Exploration. Secure information exchange protocol Alpha Zeta employed. Data link established.

Subject: The Galactic Frontier, common sentient species. Subsections 1 (Core Federation Races) including humans, dralasites, vrusk and yaarians, and 2 (Frontier Races) including humma, ifshnit and osakar. At the request of Averyx, files to be downloaded to domestic Mystaran machine intelligence 1001, “Ninny”, Mek device of unknown origin, stationed in orbit around satellite Mystara II. Information dump commences.

The Federation

The Federation of worlds referred to in the classic DA (Blackmoor) modules of the 1980s is barely detailed, with but a few individuals and some examples of their technology being discussed therein. It has been established since the very earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons that some other beings exist elsewhere in the Universe of Blackmoor (which from its earliest days was considered to be concurrent with Greyhawk, later being included in the deep history of Mystara). All we know about this from official sources is that there is a science-fiction style civilisation called The Federation, from which events at the Temple of the Frog, the City of the Gods, and the rise and untimely fall of Blackmoor arise. Indeed, the events thereof resonate through both the Blackmoor and Mystara settings, having relevance from the very earliest days to the end of the Mystara product line, leading directly to the Great War in “Wrath of the Immortals”.

For such an influential faction to have so little published information seems more than an oversight, and it is the goal of this article to fill that gap.

This is not the only Federation of early TSR products. Another setting, the Frontier of the Galactic Federation of Star Frontiers¹, is an obvious parallel for the classic D&D because although it is mechanically a very different game its packaging and marketing was geared towards presenting it as akin to Dungeons & Dragons in space. In the interests of filling in the gaps and defining a greater setting in a way that can add interest to any campaign, this article presents the core (Alpha Dawn) and expanded (Zebulon’s Guide) races of Star Frontiers adapted to classic D&D and provides a context for The Federation that works within the wider Mystaran cosmology. These races may be employed either as PCs or NPCs in a campaign, used either as allies or (more likely in the case of the sathar) enemies within your game.

The Galaxy

Mystara’s galaxy resembles our own Milky Way in most ways, being around 100,000 light years across, spiral-shaped, and containing something in the region of 100 billion stars. The Federation is mostly located within the Galactic Core, a region of space surrounding the centre of the galaxy to a distance of around 15,000 light years. This highly civilised, advanced region is well organised and ordered, with the strong law enforcement capabilities of the Federation maintaining good order and allowing for stability and prosperity. Beyond this densely packed region of stars and the planets that surround them lies the region known as the Frontier, extending for another 10,000 light years beyond the Core. Most populated worlds of the Frontier are part of the Federation, but with populated worlds being further apart this is a zone where criminals (pirates, smugglers, even slavers) can operate more freely, and where rulership of worlds may be contested by local rulers, corporations, and the sinister, invasive sathar.

Mystara is found outside of this region, around 27,000 light years from the Galactic Core. This region (from 25,000 to 100,000 light years from the centre of the galaxy) is known as the Rim, and in this zone populated worlds are few and far between, with vast distances between stars mostly preventing contact between developing civilisations.

These regions are not merely conceptual: there is a huge practical difference in the laws of physics and metaphysics between worlds. In the Core, the usual rules of magic do not apply, this being a three-dimensional space in which most magic simply cannot operate. Thus, as races progress they tend to move towards technological solutions for all of their problems. Conversely, on the Rim space is four dimensional (see the original Immortals rules for how dimensions operate within space), facilitating magic but preventing the use of gunpowder and most explosives (see accompanying article on guns in BECMI), leading most Rim worlds to develop along magical and fantastic lines.

There is no clear dividing line between regions of space where magic predominates and where technology is dominant, and areas of the Frontier dominated by one or the other, or in which both are functional and contests between magic and technology are common, are known.

Federation Races

System Log, FSS Endeavour.

Data Supplied: Occupations within the Federation

On myriad worlds, every occupation imaginable is taken by the member races of the federation. While in the galactic core most menial work is conducted by robots, allowing individuals to pursue esoteric professions in art, science, design, and personal expression, in the wider frontier region specialists in agriculture, exploration, construction, mining and even adventure and combat are known. Outside of the frontier, in the Galactic Rim regions where complex magical civilisations are known, members of federation races are understood to be able to pursue professions more commonly known as ‘classes’ in those regions, and clerics, fighters, thieves, magic–users and other roles familiar to inhabitants there are taken up by individuals.

While within their own spacecraft and on their own worlds these races have many complex and powerful technological items at their disposal, when restricted to what is available on magical worlds they may take on any character classes (other than sathar, who cannot have a divine class) and use magical items and equipment as usual. They may learn skills and weapon mastery as appropriate to their class.

All citizens of the Galactic Federation speak their own racial language and Pan-Galactic, a simplified language of words and hand gestures. Note that sathar are not considered a playable race except in the most exceptional circumstances, but like other races they are believed to study both their own tongue and Pan-Galactic.

When generating non-human characters, modify their initial statistics as defined in table 1. Armour, if worn, is only useful when it provides an armour class better than the base AC of that race – so, for example, a vrusk gains no benefit from wearing leather armour. Due to having excellent racial abilities, most alien races require more XP to advance in level, the amount also being shown in table 1. For example, vrusk requires 10% more XP per level to advance. Likewise, while most characters gain hit points as human characters of the same class, some use different dice. Where +1 is shown for HP in table 1, the next larger dice is used, e.g., a humma fighter gains 1d10 (plus or minus any constitution modifier) HP per level, rather than 1d8.

Race	Str	Int	Wis	Dex	Con	Chr	HP	Base AC	Save As	XP
Dralasite	+1	-1	-1	0	+1	0	+1	7	Dwarf	+15%
Humma	+2	0	-2	0	+2	-2	+1	7	Lupin	+15%
Ifshnit	-1	+1	0	0	-1	+1	0	8	Dwarf	0
Osakar	+1	0	0	+1	+1	-3	0	6	Elf	+10%
Vrusk	-1	+1	+1	0	-1	0	+1	5	Elf	+10%
Yazarian	-2	+1	+1	+1	-1	0	0	9	Human	+15%
Sathar	0	0	-1	-1	0	+2	0	9	Dwarf	+25%

Core Federation Races

FSS Endeavour Data Log: The Federation Core.

Many hundreds of populated worlds make up the core of the Galactic Federation, mostly residing in the central part of the galaxy. Civilisations spread among those worlds thousands of years ago, with close proximity of star systems therein creating opportunities for both trade and conflict. Many empires emerged, and fell, before the four core species of what would become the Federation (dralasites, humans, yazarians and vrusk) agreed to form a political alliance for the mutual advantage of all.

Today, billions of individuals ply peaceful lives near the Galactic Core Region, either on one of the worlds therein or on countless routes between worlds, on any of thousands of ships or space stations that connect worlds together. Core worlds are found within 15,000 light years of the Galactic Centre, a supermassive black hole about which the galaxy slowly rotates. This region is physically different to the outlying regions of space (both the Frontier and the Rim) in that the tremendous forces of the black hole restrict this space to four dimensions, facilitating the full efficacy of all technological advances, meaning that as races develop they typically pass through black powder, steam, and petroleum eras before developing fission, fusion, and finally the quantum technologies necessary for inter-stellar transport and true artificial intelligences. Conversely, four-dimensional space is theorised to make the development of the paranormal more complex, hence there are few practitioners of what primitive peoples of the Rim refer to as ‘magic’ within the core.

The most numerous races of the core are dralasites, a plasmodial life form capable of taking on a number of shapes, humans and yazarians, both being bipedal, and vrusk, an arthropod species. It is through the cooperation and political union of these species that the Federation has grown to become the dominant civilisation of the Galactic Core.

Dralasite

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Dralasites

Dralasite

FSS Endeavour Data File: Dralasite.
Average Height: 1.5m
Average Width: 1m
Typical Mass: 65kg
Lifespan: 250 standard years
Reproduction: Hermaphroditic, budding
Body Temperature: 30°C

Dralasites are a spacefaring race of invertebrates, one of the core races of the Galactic Federation. They are rubbery, elastic creatures able to change their shape at will, earning the nickname of ‘blobs’ around other races. They are short, rarely taller than 4'6", and completely lacking in any hard body parts other than an outer skin which is somewhat rough and scratchy. A network of thin veins seems to cover their whole surface, and these come together to make two dark eye spots on the part of the body where their head may be assumed to be. Their internal structure is almost like a single sac in which there is a central brain, and other organs float within the liquid space. There are no identifiable lungs; dralasites breathe directly through their skins, and possess an excellent sense of smell (enabling them to identify creatures by scent alone).

Dralasites may form limbs based on their dexterity scores according to the following table.

Dexterity Score	Number of Limbs
3	3
4–5	4
6–15	5
16–17	6
18	7

They may freely choose as many or as few arms, legs, or flippers as they choose, and may use items in arms as they see fit, with no modifiers. With a single leg they may only move at a speed of 30' per turn, with two they may move at 90' per turn, and with 4 or more they can move at 120'. They may use arms to handle weapons as they see fit, and suffer no ‘off-hand’ penalties, so for example a dralasite with three arms can handle a two-handed weapon and a one-handed weapon with no penalties to either.

Dralasites are renowned for having an abiding interest in philosophy, and care little for treasures or trinkets, judging themselves by the quality of their thoughts and ideas rather than the value of their goods. They often carry many strange and exotic tools that can have use to others but have little intrinsic worth as such. They are also well known for having a terrible sense of humour, loving puns and word games. Their enjoyment of philosophical argument makes them excellent at detecting whether they are being lied to (thus all possess the detect deception skill in addition to any other general skills).

Dralasites are hermaphrodites, passing through male and female periods in their lives. The males exude spores, and when the females choose to become mothers they accept a spore and bud off a new young dralasite in around 4 months.

Dralasites may be of any character class, but most often choose to be thieves. On some worlds, they are known as plasmoids.

Human

FSS Endeavour Data File: Human.
Average Height: 1.9m
Typical Mass: 85kg (male), 65kg (female)
Lifespan: 200 standard years
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female), viviparous
Body Temperature: 37°C

It is unknown whether the humans of the galactic core originated on Mystara, or whether the humans of Mystara somehow found their way to the core millennia before individual groups there developed space flight, but it is clear that they are of the same species. Federation humans are found that approximate every colour and racial variation found on Mystara, and in many forms that are not known thereupon, with lineages having blue, green, purple, orange, yellow and bright red skin being known. Over thousands of years and despite many wars between different groups of humans (a trait that Federation humans have proven to be as susceptible to as those on Mystara) no significant differences in the capabilities or potential of different lineages of humans have been demonstrated.

Humans were the first Federation species to visit Mystara in the modern era, having discovered this world during the Blackmoorian era. However, the propulsion technology used by FSS Beagle was incompatible with the five-dimensional space in which Mystara was found, and after crashing thereupon no attempt to escape was successful.

Federation humans may pursue any character class.

Vrusk

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Vrusk

Vrusk

FSS Endeavour Data File: Vrusk.
Average Height: 1.5m
Average Length: 1.5m
Typical Mass: 85kg
Lifespan: 175 standard years
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female), ovoviviparous
Body Temperature: 38°C

Vrusk are a large (5' tall, around 5' long), spacefaring insect-like race. Eight legs grow from their abdomen, four on each side. Their torso is upright in front of the abdomen and vaguely humanoid, with two arms connected at the shoulders, and a head at the top of the abdomen. Vrusk hands are circular pads with five fingers spaced evenly around the edge. A vrusk’s shoulders are double-jointed, so they can rotate their arms in a full circle without straining any muscles. They can reach any point on their abdomen or behind their backs easily.

A vrusk body is covered by a carapace (hard shell). This shell is jointed at the elbows, hips, knees, etc. The carapace protects the vrusk from bruises, cuts, scratches, and other minor injuries. Unlike insects, vrusk have an internal skeleton to support their bodies. Young vrusk have a blue carapace with bright orange near the joints. As the vrusk get older, their carapace changes to dull green with yellow joints. Their broad spread legs and strong exoskeletons allow them to carry greater burdens than mere humanoids, allowing them twice the carrying capacity of humans and demi-humans. Vrusk have large, compound eyes that are protected by a hard, clear covering. Their mouths are surrounded by four eating mandibles. The two larger mandibles hold food while the small ones tear it apart and place it in the mouth. They are omnivores. Vrusk have lungs and breathe through many small openings under their abdomens. This arrangement makes it difficult for Vrusk to swim (effectively having to hold their breath when in water or trying to swim).

Vrusk are diligent and hard-working. It is customary for a young vrusk to take employment at a business, conglomerate or trading house and devote their life thereto, their loyalty being akin to a form of patriotism.

Vrusk are, at heart, lovers of order, law, and organisation. The laws drafted to govern the rules of business between corporations are so labyrinthine that no other species comes close to understanding them, and their tastes tend towards higher arts, music, and theatre. All vrusk are lawful, whether they are good or not.

It is a rare vrusk that seeks adventure, and typically such creatures are seeking business opportunities to do the most daring thing of all – start their own businesses. They may be any character class, and those who have settled on magical worlds make excellent merchants, magic-users, and thieves. On some worlds, an older race of vrusk with a lifestyle more akin to a social insect is still known. These primitives are known as rastipedes.

Yazarian

http://pandius.com/Yazarian3.png §
Modified by Senarch from Midjourney

Yazarian

FSS Endeavour Data File: Yazarian.
Average Height: 2.1m
Typical Mass: 50kg (male), 60kg (female)
Lifespan: 140 standard years
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female), viviparous
Body Temperature: 39°C

Yazarians are a spacefaring race of roughly man-sized creatures resembling short-furred simians, with tan to brown fur across most of the body and a thicker mane of fur around the shoulders and head. A flap of skin stretches between their arms and legs, allowing them to glide, at an angle of 30° downwards or less, at a rate of 180' (60'). They are the most intelligent of the core races of the Galactic Federation, a fact often masked by their tendency to be pushy, aggressive, and on occasion simply hostile. They train themselves to enter a rage in melee combat, giving them a bonus of +4 to hit and damage.

Yazarians have excellent infravision (90'), having evolved in near dark primal forests, and can suffer in bright light – they invariably wear darkened goggles in such conditions (if deprived of such goggles, in sunlight they gain no bonus to hit or damage in melee combat). They favour light, open, loose clothing, and rarely wear shoes (their feet being almost as dextrous as their hands). An interesting aspect of yazarian culture is the concept of ‘life enemy’ chosen at any time in a yazarian’s life. This may be a competing clan, an enemy race, or even a specific disease (if the yazarian is a doctor) or company (if the yazarian is in business). The more potent the selected enemy, the more honour there is in that choice, and it is seen as fitting and noble to try to defeat that enemy. If that enemy is defeated (a cure is found for the disease, the company folds, the enemy killed, etc.) that is considered a worthy achievement in yazarian society, and the yazarian might or might not choose a subsequent foe. Yazarians may progress in any character class, frequently preferring to be fighters or mystics. On some primitive worlds they are known as hadozee.

Frontier Races

FSS Endeavour Data Log: Frontier Races.

In theory humma, ifshnit and osakar share all of the rights and responsibilities of all frontier citizens, being recognised as full members now for decades. In practice, while most individuals who have transferred to Core worlds are now fully integrated therein, populations of these three species found on Frontier and Rim worlds do not always identify as Federation citizens, preferring their own forms of local governance and rejecting the notions of free movement and collective defence. The recent Sathar Wars changed this somewhat, with most Frontier worlds now being at least nominally affiliated to the Federation, and only those worlds on the Galactic Rim tending to favour independence.

All three species are now commonly found alongside the four core federation races on missions across the galaxy, bringing their own unique capabilities and perspectives. However, their recency within the Federation still leads to some difficulties for some gaining acceptance, with the problem of prejudice being a persistent problem among organic species.

All three frontier races are most commonly found on frontier worlds, with worlds dominated by each of the three being found across the region.

Humma

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Humma

Humma

FSS Endeavour Data File: Humma.
Average Height: 2.5m
Typical Mass: 90kg
Lifespan: 210 standard years
Reproduction: Hermaphroditic, viviparous
Body Temperature: 38°C

Humma have roughly pear-shaped bodies with long and powerful tails, short arms, and snouted heads that have qualities that seem both canine and feline at the same time. They have fine, usually matted hair in dull brown, with hairless hands and large, powerful feet. They roughly resemble 8'-tall humanoid kangaroos, walking rather more upright. They can handle missile weapons like crossbows and tech weapons, but their short arms make the manual use of melee weapons impractical, although they can wield a weapon with their tail.

They have an unusual life cycle, starting out as females but becoming male after around 60–100 years. Around 160 they become essentially genderless and live to an age of around 210.

The tail of a humma is 6' long and has a grip equivalent in strength to a human hand. They can stand on their tail alone for up to 10 rounds before tiring and do so to get a better view of the world around them. When wielding a melee weapon with their tail they cannot accomplish complex tasks (such as loading a missile weapon) with their hands, but they can instead use their tail as a club for 1d4 damage per round without losing concentration on objects in their hands.

Humma are boorish, aggressive, and violent, and rarely welcomed by other civilised peoples, but their presence in the Frontier is tolerated because they can also be inventive and fearsome enemies of the sathar (who they colloquially refer to as ‘meat’). Societally, they expect to live short and violent lives, being willing to throw themselves into battles against dangerous foes for the honour of their people. And in their free time they act with a devil-may-care attitude that might thus be expected, denying themselves no pleasure.

Humma may leap up to 60' to attack a foe in melee every round and for up to 10 rounds in a single combat before tiring and being unable to do so again without 3 turns of rest. Unless a foe is expecting this (and has gained initiative and stated that they are waiting for this attack) then they cannot return the blow, and if the humma gains initiative in the next round they may leap out again, up to 60', out of combat or to attack another target. The ‘battle wheel’ is a method of attack used by groups of humma who use this tactic cooperatively to surprise and isolate foes.

They have sight and hearing roughly equivalent to humans and speak a crude-sounding but complex language of their own. Their senses of smell and taste are muted, but they can digest nearly anything, being effectively immune to all non-magical poisons.

Humma may pursue any character class, but even on magical worlds few have the patience to become magic-users

Ifshnit

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Ifshnit

Ifshnit

FSS Endeavour Data File: Ifshnit.
Average Height: 1m
Typical Mass: 30kg
Lifespan: 150 standard years
Reproduction: Sexual (male and female), viviparous
Body Temperature: 32°C

Being roughly the size of gnomes, ifshnit are small, pinkish humanoids around 3' tall, covered in braided body hair (each clan having their own style). Men have long beards, usually a different shade to that of the hair on the rest of their body (which can be of nearly any colour); females have bald faces. Both sexes have bald heads. They have hairy 4-fingered feet and hands, with which they are only able to handle small weapons. They live around 150 years. The ifshnit are strict vegetarians, finding the thought of eating flesh disgusting. They tend to carry small sticks of vegetable matter with them wherever they go, from which (of necessity) they are constantly snacking.

Ifshnit have no sense of smell, but their sight, hearing, touch, and taste are equivalent to those of humans. Their eyes have an extra eyelid, which reflexively closes if challenged by bright light, venom, etc., allowing them to be immune to most forms of blindness.

Ifshnit are usually mild-mannered and friendly, with a language that is to others light and lilting. Most other races find them pleasant to be around, but they themselves tend to prefer their own company. They are typically a peaceful and highly mercantile people, but they hate the sathar and will usually attack them on sight. Their mercantile background allows any ifshnit to start with the appraisal and bargaining skills for free, in addition to any other skills, at character generation.

Philosophically ifshnit believe that they are living their final corporeal existence before becoming part of a continuum of pure energy in an afterlife. This leads to a reflective and generally peaceful way of seeing things, which can often be found in their favourite activities (trading, playing games, and storytelling).

Ifshnit may pursue any class, but no clerics (or paladins, avengers, or adherents of any other divine class) have been encountered.

Osakar

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Osakar

Osakar

FSS Endeavour Data File: Osakar.
Average Height: 3m
Typical Mass: 225kg
Lifespan: 100 standard years
Reproduction: Parthenogenesis
Body Temperature: 42°C

Standing on four long, spindly legs that spread evenly from their barrel-shaped bodies (and making up 65% of their height), osakar are 9' tall (although they can fold their legs downward and stand at 6'), with two similarly long arms ending in 5 digits, each with 5 knuckles, on each hand (the outer two digits forming a pair of opposable thumbs). Their legs have two opposing knees, allowing them to effectively fold to bend down.

The head is held on a powerful, muscular neck that can turn 180 degrees, meaning an osakar can as easily look backwards as forwards. Their large eyes are pure black, beneath which is a nose made of complex, baffled vertical openings. With this and their deceptively simple mouth containing two opposing tongues, otherwise constructed of hard, ridged plates for chewing, the osakar can make almost any sound, and thus they are regarded as great linguists (starting from level 1 they may choose any 3 extra languages and learn another language every 3 levels of experience). Their complex nose also gives them a tremendous sense of smell, and they can identify individuals by scent and gain a +3 bonus to any scent-based skills (such as tracking, food tasting, etc.). Other than taste and smell, which are exceptional, their other senses are roughly equivalent to those of humans.

The skin of an osakar is covered with hard, white, overlapping cells or scales, rather resembling clean white scale mail armour.

Osakar have only a single sex, each laying eggs that require no fertilisation. Strangely, to all other species, osakar appear to be functionally identical. This carries through to much osakar philosophy, and in their society they are truly equal, having identical rights and responsibilities. They do however have a greater desire to assert their individuality than other species, each developing unique modes of speech and intonation (which are identifiable to any creatures living) and seeking to adorn themselves in the most individual clothing styles. Frequently they incorporate concepts from other species and cultures in this personal styling. They also freely embrace religions of other species, and in magic-rich worlds many become clerics, devoted to any of a huge range of Immortals. They may pursue any character class.

Few like osakar. At an almost intuitive level, most find them to be creepy and strange. They tend to get on reasonably well with vrusk, and they have better relations with humma than most (both being generally disliked, they find some common cause).

Other Races, and the Sathar

FSS Endeavour Data Log: Other races.

While four core and three frontier races make up the Federation, hundreds of other sentient species are found on worlds across the galaxy, and it is estimated that if hyperspace (known to Mystarans as the Ethereal Plane), e-space (or the Astral Plane) and parallel spaces (outer planes) are included there may well be thousands of other species awaiting contact. It is Federation policy only to watch and observe such races until such a point as they show a capability to travel from the Frontier or Rim worlds on which they are found towards the Galactic Core, at which point contact is made and peaceful relations attempted. This policy was enacted after the disastrous Blackmoorian Experiment caused irreversible damage to the world of Mystara, with the Federation having adopted (and maintained) a strict non-interference policy since that time. Usually, this has proved successful, and Federation missions are found on dozens of worlds, observing (without interaction) until contact becomes necessary. As yet, none of those aspiring civilisations have reached a point where offering Federation membership would be appropriate.

One notable exception is the sathar. This species of worm-like humanoids is of unknown origin, but most commonly found on Rim and Frontier worlds, where they are found to be aggressive, disruptive, and are invariably violent, with few known encounters ending without combat. The Sathar Wars, through destroying many Frontier worlds, effectively united the Frontier against the sathar. Since that time, sathar have gained more victories against the Federation through bribery, trickery and employment of espionage than direct confrontation. One of the key missions for Federation ships exploring the Rim is to watch for sathar influence, and to protect populations of less developed worlds from being enslaved thereby.

Sathar

https://starfrontiers.fandom.com/wiki/Sathar

Sathar

FSS Endeavour Data File: Sathar.
Average Length: 3.5m
Typical Mass: 55kg
Lifespan: Unknown
Reproduction: Hermaphroditic, unknown
Body Temperature: Unknown, believed to be ectothermic.

The sathar are a strange extra-terrestrial race rather resembling limbed, segmented worms with reptilian features. Their long glistening bodies taper to heads with huge eyes containing twin pupils and thin mouths/snouts with round, toothed mouths. Their lower body tapers to a powerful, muscular tail. They have four limbs, capable of bending at any point, the rear two being thick and ending in larger pads, the forelimbs being thinner and ending in a cluster of tentacles useful for manipulating tools. In motion, they use their tails and rear limbs to propel themselves. Their motion is distinctly alien, possessing no kind of skeleton; their musculature works purely on hydrostatic pressure, giving them an eerie jerkiness in motion. Sathar skin is yellow to tan, with pinkish underbellies and green tones on their tentacles.

Their twin pupils and large eyes positioned on each side of their head gives them excellent all-round vision, and their wet skin is itself a sensory surface for smell. Consequently, they can only be surprised on a roll of 1 on 1d10 and can faultlessly track foes by scent.

Sathar are an aggressive spacefaring race with no regard for the desires, welfare, or safety of any other race. They are not part of the Galactic Federation and are in fact sworn enemies thereof. Their goals, collectively or individual, are unknown, but encounters with their horribly beweaponed battle convoys are always spectacularly brutal. No sathar has been captured alive; they have means of ending their own existences before any can be questioned, and in every encounter, should violence be the result, they will fight until they or, more likely, their foes, are dead.

They are immune to electrical attacks, paralysis, and charms, and while unarmoured they are relatively easy to hit (AC8) they also frequently don collapsium armour that confers an AC of 0. But perhaps their most deadly weapon is their capacity to charm – once per round a sathar can stare at any foe within 30', and if that creature is not actively looking away they must make a saving throw vs. spells at -2 or become charmed.

Sathar may pursue any non-divine character class (there are no sathar clerics or avengers, for example) and fighters, magic-users and thieves have been observed.

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