   Seeking Coder/Artists/Animators
  Specifically, those with experience with the Torque Game Engine, which is what is being used for this project. It should also be noted that the payment is(as most independent projects are) royalty-based.Epic Frontiers(www.EpicFrontiers.com) is a realtime online persistent world game of completely unique content. Not trying to copy the fantasy genre that is so prevalent in the current persistent world market(nor trying to compete with the large persistent worlds on the market), Epic Frontiers plans to change that by adding it´s own unique style and gameplay.Based on high-level real world social dynamics, Epic Frontiers is about the inevitable conflict of emerging civilizations. Play as one of over a half-dozen playable factions, all with allegiance to seperate empires and kingdoms, or play a criminal that has allegiance to none. Rich content ensures that explorers are rewarded for exploration as much as warriors are rewarded for combat. Crafting, guilds, community projects, and scheduled events are all present, as are player versus player combat.The current stage of the project is holding steady on the verge of a playable alpha. Gameplay elements are almost done for the current milestone(scheduled combat, dice-roll-based rules, etc), and the terrain for the world is in place. Scenery objects are being created and placed, the main GUI is in place, and other gameplay elements are being implemented(tradeskills, inventory system, etc). A test database is implemented and up and running, while the "live" database has it's structure refined.DigitalFlux Entertainment, LLC(www.DigitalFlux.com) is currently seeking additional staff to help finish this project(we're trying for an end-of-the-year "small area" launch). Artists are needed to help our smaller early-production art staff to ramp up content production. Animators are needed to get our player character templates moving. Coders/Scriptors are also needed to help implement gameplay features and code in certain features not present in the engine such as DTS morph target systems for character creation. Applicants should meet the following minimum requirements:1) Must be 18 years old or older, and be willing to sign NDA and work-for-hire agreements. To clarify, these agreements will not prevent you from working on other projects.2) Must be able to perform in one or more of the three areas of low-poly modelling, texture creation, or animation. Please have samples.3) Coders and scriptors must have a copy of the TGE, and the knowledge to work with it(C++, Torque-Script). Samples appreciated.4) Must be able to dedicate time to the project in order to be productive, and have a good work ethic.If you are a qualified applicant, then the Epic Frontiers team hopes to hear from you soon!Email Ted@DigitalFlux.com for a set of design documents and more details.    Ted SouthardDigitalFlux Entertainment, LLCTed@DigitalFlux.comwww.DigitalFlux.comwww.EpicFrontiers.com[edited by - digitalflux on May 26, 2004 1:07:10 PM]
  Bumping ;  LOLWow, that just made my day. You say all of that, and expect people to devote tons of time to your project and have samples and experience and bla bla bla and sign contracts. But you forgot something: money. People will not work for you on a project like this without money (at least in most cases). It looks like it''s progressing well and for that I salute you. Unfortunately, your expectations are too high and things like an NDA and the 18 years old deal turn people away from your project. ;  There''s plenty of talented people out there who aren''t 18 yet, but that just makes legalities more complicated, so it''s something I''d rather avoid. The NDA, as stated, is designed to not interfere with anyone''s chances of working on another project. It''s actually for the protection of network security and user information. If *that* turns people away, I''m not so sure I''m going to miss them.As for the experience bit, I didn''t say industry experience(though if that is how it''s coming across, then I do apologize, for that wasn''t the intent). I want people who have experience with the TGE if they''re a coder, or else what''s the point of waiting months for them to get up to speed? Maybe someone can get up to speed faster, and that would be welcomed, but I haven''t seen it yet. And samples, yes, because without that then people who cannot do what they want to do will want to join the team, and I need people who can do their part.I didn''t forget the money because there''s no moeny to be had right now, or else I''d be paying people. So in the end, yes, I do expect people to devote time and have experience and samples and sign a contract, if they want to work on this project. The terms are very reasonable, and are not designed to restrict anyone''s rights or to screw anyone over. It''s just the way that things should be done for a project, whether or not money is paid up front for services. Just as people do not want to join a team that will fail, I don''t wish to put a team together that will fail. So far, I''ve gotten a handful of people that have taken the game this far, and will see it to conclusion, but I don''t want to bring on people that can''t do the work, or won''t sign a straight-forward contract. I''d rather shoot for the stars and hit the moon than aim for the ground straightaway ;  To bad you don''t have some real in-game screenshots on that site. The site got my attention sparked and maybe the people looking here should  visit  it  before they make out their opinions.Your post though was imo formulated rather unfortunately. It kinda sounds like every 6yr-old wanting to create the new next-gen blockbuster hit without having a clue of what that really means. No offense but maybe some carefull rephrasing could do wonders on your responses   The ever vigilant... ;  No offense taken... I think we would have to agree to disagree on the wording of my post sounding like a six-year old''s though, lol. I thought it was better than the usual "Make lodes of CA$h dude!" posts that pop up here. Actually, I had expected to get thoroughly flamed for the post because of those other posters. Nothing like being pleasently surprised Anyways, yes, there''s no real in-game screenshots. Part of that are the animation issues encountered using trueSpace(been using it for 9 years, and no money to switch to Max), and thus the need for animators. Artists I can always use on this project, and getting a TGE coder would allow me to get back to creating more content over scripting and coding things so the project would move faster.For an idea of where we are, here''s the current milestone document:Milestone 0: Project Assembly1)Assembly of Initial Design Documents.(Done)2)Assemble, list, and analyze code snippets to be integrated into TGE.(Done)3)Creation of website.(Done)4)CVS, Bugzilla, and Mailing List resources.(Done)5)Test application for snippet testing compiled.(Done)Milestone 1: Test App1)Begin integration of code snippets, priority to fixes.(Preliminary snippets Done)2)Creation of heightfield for test application use.(Done)3)AI/NPC support integrated into game.(NPC support done, AI will take some time)4)Finish concepts of main playable races.(Done) Done for Single Player!5)GUI HUD placeholder elements.(Done, working on final elements)Milestone 2: Engine Specs1)Multiple height field blocks for testing first entire planetary map.(Bump to Milestone 3)2)First buildings and objects integrated into app for testing.(Tested)3)Preliminary combat rules(automatic).(Dice Rolls and Strike/Dodge rolls in script)4)First in-game character with animations and textures.(Reset again!)5)Equipping and Inventory support.(Database server testing task)6)Database schema and testing.(Initial Schema Done, db server creation/testing needed-next milestone)7)Continue Adding code snippets.(Generic Snippets done)Milestone 3: Content1)Database server testing(Can query in Access, with native setup for mySql,done).2)Small area objects and buildings.(Buildings 99% done, rocks done, objects in progress)3)Preliminary tradeskill mechanics.(Simple QL combining)4)Revised combat rules.(select target, kill it)(Done)5)Preliminary skillpoint system.(Done)6)Preliminary dynamic mission generation system.(Done)7)Multiple heightfield blocks for testing first entire planetary map. Possible solution in zones and triggers.(Tested with multiple zones via triggers)Milestone 4: Playable Alpha 0 ****Current Milestone****1)Character choice screen(Window elements and tabs, need sliders and arrangement-In Progress)2)Small Area objects, buildings, and NPC’s.(In Progress)3)Receive missions from NPC’s. (Upon request, called from command-line, bug stomping, but it works)4)Resurrection/Spawning from death.(bindpoint assignment/spawn function tested, bindpoint triggers done, need respawn testing)5)Vehicle binding.(Works in stock TGE, need to test)6)Revised tradeskills. (Drag n Drop)(Drag n drop implemented, need to integrate with inventory/tradeskill system)7)Revised skillpoints. (Done for tradeskills, wait for Drag n Drop snippet to retest)8)Revised combat. (Timers done, bots know they’re being attacked, need to fight back and close with targets)9)Continued mission generation system(Tiles/export done, need big rooms, .mis files done)8)Looting of monsters.(Implement through DB)9)More Content(All terrain blocks in with skyboxes/triggers done, zoning function done, grass, rocks and trees needed)Milestone 5: Playable Alpha 1 ****Next Milestone****1)Combat rule tweaking.(multiple combatants)2)Spell cast tweaking.3)Tradeskill rules tweaking. (Disassembly of objects)4)Advanced vehicle bindings(changing hud’s, mountpoints, etc).5)Build/Repair preliminary rules. (Blueprints, mods on objects)6)Preliminary land ownership rules. (Staking claims)7)Preliminary community features. (Group chat channels, Grouping)8)Preliminary PvP.9)Continued mission generation system.(DIF/MIS batch export done, need multiple levels & detail tiles, spawn done)10)Preliminary character customization system.(Reset, bumping to Milestone 5)11)More Content.12)Preliminary marketing.Milestone 6: Playable Alpha 21)Build/Repair tweaking.2)Land ownership rules tweaking. (NPC Hiring, Group policies)3)Large object support. (Community and Civilization projects)4)Combat rule tweaking. (Play Balancing, effects)5)Spell cast tweaking. (Play Balancing, effects)6)Tradeskill rules tweaking. (Play Balancing, effects)7)Advanced vehicle bindings(vehicle docking/joining).8)PvP tweaking. (Play Balancing)9)Continued mission generation system.(object/npc placement/spawning)10)More Content.(Capital towns in each area, most mob’s in, inventory icons)Milestone 7: Playable Demo(Beta)1)Advanced vehicle bindings(walking around inside, spawning inside).(Pathed Interior Solution)2)Additional rules tweaking.3)Community features tweaking. (Balancing, Group missions)4)PvP tweaking. (Play Balancing)5)Major Content influx.(Mob’s in, misc “auto” wildlife in, tweaking look and feel)6)Full Name and Character generation.(Name generation using indexed lists, db tables in place, need names)Milestone 8: Beta Candidate 11)Preliminary server loads/tweaking(Server zone maps sketched out)2)Preliminary failover testing of servers and downtime testing.3)Preliminary community statistics and population estimates.4)Play balancing.5)More Content.(Additional Content.)Milestone 9: Beta Candidate 21)Additional server load/tweaking.2)Additional Failover testing.3)Additional community statistics and population estimates.4)Additional Play balancing.5)Preparation of official documentation.6)More Content.(Additional Content)Milestone 10: Launch1)Server Clusters for areas fully tested and functional.2)Bandwidth enough for 10,000+ initial subscribers(need to find out bandwidth specs and requirments).3)Need 2 additional Standby Clusters, in the event of more customers than we thought, faster than we thought.4)Co-location/NOC point chosen and set up.5)Remote admin functions tested and working.6)Email, Forums, Website, all set for launch.7)Phone support system set up for launch.8)Advertising Blitz in Maxim, Stuff, Cosmo(yes, Cosmo), Soap Opera Digest, and other high-volume magazines geared towards people with time on their hands. Flyers on cars in various cities, business card style advertisments in clubs, stores, restaurants, etc.9)More Content!10)Prepare for next area opening(the asteroid belt and the moons of Chi’Hamak);  And here''s the preliminary design document...Summary: In order to provide to the working staff an outline, overview, and specific detailed description of the gameplay mechanics, this document is written. As with all designs, some or all aspects are subject to change at any time. This document represents the most sophisticated evolution of the game design and is intended to be both a guide to the programmers, artists, sound, and miscellaneous personel.Background Story: The current Common Year of the game is 7438 of the Second Age. The “Second Age” phrase is used to allude to the presence of archaeological sites located on the planets and moons of the game that point to the existance of much more advanced times in the past that have come and gone for reasons unknown. In the current age, there is much confusion and strife, as the races of the galaxy are beginning to fare into space at the same time and are somewhat at odds with each other over many different things. Clashes of culture, misunderstandings, territorial disputes, and simple aggression are common and the churning process of the dozens of peoples struggling in primal ways to understand each other is underway.There are many moments of peace and tranquility at any given location at any given point in time, as it isn’t the goal of the game to drive players into mindless slaying of equally mindless creatures. Many professions are taken up by the peoples of the different races, and each race has unique trades that only they can participate in. As the races expand into the void of space, they will need all that and more. The story arc is much more complex than can be explained in this summary, and should be referenced in the individual histories of the races, which intertwine and tell the story much more completely.The races involved are many, and the few listed here are a beginning of a list, not an end, and most likely will change.1) Nomads: Desert people who dwell in mountain cities and dusty villages. Adept at Talents.2) Fringe Clans: Close relatives to the Nomads, they dwell in the grasslands and forests of the worlds. Users of magic.3) Sea Dwellers: Unerwater people that are secret about their society and ways, distrustful of others. Adept with Talents.4) Stellar Corp: Corporate-State citizens who search the galaxy for new resources, very high tech.5) Dragonon Pirates: Interstellar pirates and smugglers, very good at stealing and spying. Tough and Streetwise.6) Outer Ring Confederation: A mix of planets in the outer ring of systems. High Endurance and some Talent and Magic.7) Sveth Warlords: An aggressive race of people in a feudal-based system. Very Strong and Some Talent.8) Space Dwellers: A silicone based race of aliens that have very good talents and are very high tech.9) Nagalians: Distant relatives to Space Dwellers on planet of Chi’Nagal. Extremely good Talent.10) Silicoids: Distant relatives of Space Dwellers on planet of Chi’Dolan. Very good magic and Strength.11) Shai Corp: High tech rivals to the Stellar Corp, and increasingly involved with the occult.12) *Ancient Ones: Extremely powerful aliens who want the rest dead, and almost did that thousands of years before. They will not appear in any storylines for the first year or so of the story arc. They will only be NPC’s.Each race has a unique style and culture and their own strengths and weaknesses. Not all are as strong or as intelligent as others and some are almost exclusively dependent on magic or genetic talent for offense and defense. Their environments are also different and some do not need the vehicles that others do, but they cannot travel in all places that some do. Space Dwellers, for instance, cannot travel under the water, though they can get around in space and on the ground. Sea Swellers are poor space farers as well, and the ground-based races are moderate in all areas.Also, besides the cultural differences in the races, they also have political goals that set many against each other. Wars and border disputes will break out with regularity because of these issues, and players can score points for their civilization by executing raids on opposing races and completing certain missions and quests. The civilization on “top” will receive a civilization-wide “buff” of a stat, which will increase the collective standing of all players in that group.Because there are so many sides, there will be no more than one copy of the game universe running, and the servers will need to be clustered to prevent the universe from going down due to server crashes. When there is a deficiency in the population of a civilization, extra points will be used as an incentive for new players to join those racks to even out the ranks. As the populations equalize, so do the incentives, at which point they will no longer be offered unless a civilization decreases significantly in size.Gameplay Mechanics: The style of gameplay will be that of a first person view, with additional camera views available optionally for those who wish it. Statistics will be placed on the screen so as to provide the player with as much information as possible while obstructing as little of the screen as possible. Skinning of the GUI will be possible to allow innovative players to create their own interfaces for their comfort.1)Fighting mechanics: The game mechanics of fighting will be carried out with a combination of attack timers and arcade-style fighting controls. As the game will allow the players to use a particular fighting “style” that allows distinct moves in a set of button controls, the attack timers will determine both how often a player can attack and the speed of the attack. It will not be as completely flexible as the arcade style fighting games, but nor will it be as rigid as the completely timer based RPG’s on the market currently.The “TYU” keys will be used for “high shots” and can represent punches, kicks, grabs, or other moves. The same goes for the “GHJ” keys that will be used for the “middle shots” and the “BNM” keys for the “low shots”. These keys, when used in combinations that the player creates, will give a very participatory experience in the realm of combat in the game.At the same time, the speed of the shots and the duration between them is all determined by attack timers, in which the player can, over time, influence by using the skill points earned by completing tasks. The attack timers take into account the agility and any enhancements of the players as well as encumberments and disadvantages incurred by various means(slowing spells, fighting in mud, etc). These variables not only provide flexibility and improvement to the player, but also invite a tactical feel to using the system, as some advantages and disadvantages can be had in certain weather and terrain.Another facet of the fighting system is the “familiarity tables” that will be implemented. Familiarity Tables are simple tracking mechanisms for the allocation of extra skill points for the killing of creatures that are not immediately familiar to the player. Like a hunter from North America who has seen it all journeys to Africa and has to adjust to the new wildlife, so too does the player encounter new creatures and must adjust. The Familiarity Tables(FT’s) provide a mechanism by which the creature being fought is tougher than it usually is, within a certain relative range of the player, and the player is brought down some by the unfamiliarity of the creature. In this way, the creatures that normally would not yield much of a fight if any will be quite a match for those who are new to the area, and extra skill points will be awarded while the player is familiarizing themselves with the creature.After a certain number of “encounters”(finished combat encounters), the extra skill points have degraded and there is only the base amount of points awarded. The base amount of skill points awarded in combat are dependant on several factors: The “Combat Strength” of the creature relative to the player, the amount of time taken to defeat the creature, and the amount of damage it did to the player in the process. This ensures that creatures normally just below the threshold of being “equal” and yet are still capable of fighting and injuring the player, yield enough skill points. Safeguards such as monitoring “player action”(ensuring the player actually fights back throughout the encounter and doesn’t just sit there to soak up damage and then come back to kill the creature and reap the points) will be in place to prevent exploitation. As the player rises in skills, the creatures will no longer be able to provide a meaningfull fight, and the return on skill points for a successful encounter will diminish. Familiarity Tables work to counteract this in newly-encountered creatures, but do have limits when involving low-level creatures and much higher-level characters.2)Trade Systems: The trade skills used in the game will be very comprehensive and cover the construction and repair of almost all of the man-made structures and machines in the game. The skills allow the players not only to create their own weapons and armor, but also clothes, buildings, and vehicles. This allows the players to truly interact with their world as they can fix an old house that they had bought, expand it, and fill it with furniture. They can also create and modify vehicles, and scavenge for parts in areas with many disabled vehicles. The trade system will be a series of skills that the player can increase through the earning of skill points from completing various tasks within the game. As the player progresses, the tasks that they perform will yield more skill points, which feed into skills with a rising cost to expand. And outside of fighting, there are many more ways to earn skill points, as the trades are engineered to earn almost as many skill points as combat(I do say “almost” because at points in the game, even trade-centric characters will need to fight in the wild, and so combat will take a larger part than trades do, but not overwhelmingly as in other games).A creative player can quickly find a niche that can earn him/her skill points and money by creating and building things for people, or even trafficking in goods and supplies. Some of the people, such as pirates, may make a good portion of money selling smuggled goods from other planets, for which they also earn skill points and increase the ease with which they do their jobs. This will eventually become a career for them, leading them to more and more interesting places.Trade skills will enable a player to gather materials from just about anything used in the world and create objects from those materials. Quality of the material and the skill level of the player will determine the ultimate quality of the object, and successful creation will result in gained skill points. Failed creation will result in anything from the simple failure to combine the materials to the destruction of one or more pieces of the materials(for fragile materials). The more objects created via the tradeskill system, the more points and better skill levels the player is able to work with, and the more objects the player is able to create.The tradeskills can be executed in various parts of the game screen, but mostly the inventory window will be the most used tradeskill window. This is where the parts and materials will be combined to create weapons, armor, clothing, and other objects. However, the tradeskills can be used in the main window as well, where the blueprints are laid out on the land and the materials and assembled in the world itself to create the structures. The same holds true for the vehicles that are build, and for siege weapons. Tradeskills will encompass every aspect of life in the game, so that the user is more fully able to represent their characters in uniqueness and fulfill their questing needs.3)Travel: Travelling to places in Frontier is going to be a very dynamic and adventurous experience in itself. Most MMORPG’s make travelling a means to an end, but in a world that is as complex as any other, travelling can be an end in itself. While a player can travel from one city to another using cars, planes, or boats, they can also travel to other planets using spacecraft. Modes of transportation will be available through many means, including buying tickets on ships to travel to other lands or planets, buying small vehicles for travel, and even building vehicles by using the tradeskills provided. Each way caters to the player seeking action as much as possible, the adventurer who needs reliable and constant transport, and the tinkerer who loves to build and sell for profit.Some innovative background loading and transitioning effects need to be put into place to bring this off well, such as gradient shaders that mimic skies turning from rich atmospheric effects to the stark high contrast low light starscapes of space during exit of the planet’s atmosphere, and background loading of the void. Zones will exist, and players will be notified when they enter zones, but load times will be reduced to almost none so that there is no pausing during gameplay. This should provide a much more enjoyable experience for the player, and not disrupt the suspension of disbelief which is key to good gameplay.On the story-driven side of the matter, travel gives the player opportunities to engage in side-quests and small tasks for characters that they meet along the way, and also gives them opportunities to explore the environments themselves, which are not all hostile.4)Ownership: One of the better features of the game is the ability of the players to own homes and land, and also to hire NPC’s as underlings for various tasks. Obviously, it will take some amount of money for a player to hire others, and it will be a slow start at first, but since the aim of the game is to have players committed for at least 3 years of gameplay, the time spent will be well worth it.Players will in the beginning be able to hire themselves out to NPC’s in order to execute tasks and quests for them in order to gain money and skill points. After time, as the skill points increase and become less important, the player will be left more towards the end of the spectrum of influencing the game by becoming more of a character than a player, hiring NPC’s and other players alike to work for them and do their bidding. They can raise and lead large forces into battle against enemies and save their people from them.They can also raise fleets of vessels of any type and create businesses that will run regardless of them being online or not. Deactivation of their account would result in the “shutdown” of the business they run and the NPC’s becoming drifters with used equipment peddling their services to others for employment. This is basically taking the idea of a clan with a new twist of individual or semi-individual ownership to a new level. There will be limits to this in that there are only so many NPC’s you may have working for you and certain risks of property loss associated with owning land and large estates, though many smaller dwelling will usually not be threatened unless there are serious losses in war(where the first at risk are the large estates which can raise NPC armies to defend themselves). NPC armies raised in defense of estates may or may not be raised at additional cost, though permanent NPC employees will incur a monthly fee, though some may work for fees associated only with accomplishing a task given to it(assassins for instance).Clan projects such as the building of a large starship for the base of operations for a clan is also possible, and allows the clan to create a place that the entire clan can bind to as a default starting point for sessions(unless the player in the clan specifically specifies otherwise later on). Any death would result in the player resuming at the base/ship/estate where they bound, as if they had bound to a public binding spot. This would also give the much-populated cities a bit less congestion for the clan members that do not spawn there. It is also possible for the clans and estates to hire merchant NPC’s capable of creating armor and weapons for the clans at a reduced cost(the clans obviously have to provide raw materials to the merchants to work with, and this determines the quality of the products created). Building projects, both communal and individual, will begin with the choosing of a plan and the layout being set on either “protected space”(for the building of vehicles and large objects), or on “owned land”(must be owned by the player or their clan). When the layout is set, a hologram will appear which will show the semi-transparent blueprint that will be used for building. As materials are used on the blueprint, it will become solid from the ground up, reaching completion when the material requirements are fulfilled. Extensions on houses and “upgrades” can also be made, and depending on the object being extended or upgraded, it may or may not be able to be used as that process occurs. As with trade skills, the quality of materials will determine the final stats of the object or vehicle.5)Inventory: Inventory has not changed as much as I would have hoped, though the way it is handled is probably somewhat better than it is handled in real life. Most players will have at least a rudimentary pack that they carry that holds a basic amount of supplies and has room for at least a small amount of extra stuff found during adventures. One of the better features not found in many of the games is that of the equipment slots being “dynamic”. Many of the games have a fixed number of slots that the player can either fill or not, and for the different sized packs or containers, that is it. For the dynamic system, the number of slots will be based on weight and size of the objects, since a light yet extremely bulky object can rapidly fill a pack while several small and dense objects can leave much room while taking the pack to it’s weight limit before being unable to put anymore into it. The system solves this by allowing more slots if the amount of objects in the pack do not exceed the weight limit and do not take up much space. Such small and light trinkets can be carried in much greater numbers when this system is allowed, and allows more flexibility.For the larger loads that would definitely take up an entire pack or more, delivery systems such as sleds and pack animals will fill the role and allow for more interesting adventures. Players will all have access to small areas that they can rent for storage for very little money that would allow them to buy large pieces of material and store them without having an estate. Some merchants may also have delivery services in which a player can simply order the materials to be delivered at their storage site without having to bring it there. The normal operations of combining equipment and parts to create new things will be supported in the inventory, though it remains to be seen if the tradeskill actions will have their own animations to make it more interesting. Backpacks will not be only type of carrying device, as shoulder-slung bags, belt pouches, and other devices will be available, as they incur different speed penelties for use. A player can drop a backpack into the bushes to stow it in order to move fast during a certain part of the quest, and then retrieve it later. If the player dies, the bag will follow the player.6)Other actions: Other actions such as swimming and climbing, will be handled as extended physical skills that can be trained up at the player’s option. Training in these skills extensively will give the character extremely good abilities relating to these actions, such as exceedingly long and high jump and allowing the character to fight for short periods in the air. Being able to climb up to the highest peaks will take considerable amount of training in that skill, an expensive proposition that can pay off very well in adventure.Additional skills that do not fall into neat categories are skills used by different professions, yet overlap somewhat into several. Some of these skills are Interrogation, Lock Picking, Concealment, Palming, etc. Many of these skills have to do with streetwise tactics and low-intensity-conflict skills which only certain types of players would need. For example, Pirates would make good use out of the previously listed skills, as well as Intimidation, Disarm Alarms, and many other skills. There will be a comprehensive and backed system for using these skills, as there should be no skill in the arsenal of a player that is useless(though some of the domestic skills can be debated).The additional skills will be used more often than they are used in today’s games, where complex plot-driven quests are given up in favor of short tasks and bland multi-task-quests that have no more depth than a series of tasks with a longer task-story-arc. In Frontier, tasks, missions, and quests all have differing scopes in terms of the goals and the methods used to accomplish them ranging from simple and boring to complex and strategy driven. There will be numerous quests involving transporting objects to places intact, rescuing people and leading them home while being followed, and finding out information without the use of violence. Many tasks will involve the use of tradeskills needed by the NPC’s asked, and quests will involve more than a hack-and-slash approach to their resolution, as the odds will not always favor the player. Many quests will also span many gaming sessions, in order to bring a more episodic spirit to the game, and to help the player concentrate more on the quest over a period of time instead of instant gratification of points over substance. These quests will often involve travelling to far places in unknown territory, and sometimes to different planets and solar systems.These “Other” skills are the skills that will truly round out the game and make it stand out when the missions and quests call for unique solutions.7)Magic and Geno systems: Magic and Genetic powers are also in widespread use throughout the peoples of the galaxy, and the ways that they use these systems is similar, if the results and underlying sources are unique. Those who possess mystical talents are very unlikely to have significant genetic powers, and vice versa. The difference show in the ways that the powers are manifested.Mystical powers such as curses and enchantments can be cast on just about anything, and even used to create charmed ointments and dusts or candles to increase the power of cast spells. Magic revolves very much around the elements and the world surrounding the individual, and the spirits that inhabit that world. Demons can be summoned and NPC’s possessed by spells, giving high level Mages great power. There are many items needed by the Mage in order to do the many things and cast the many spells that they have access to, and Mages will feel obliged to choose a path of study and stick to that so that they can gain power in that area. But the power that they gain is very vast.Genetic powers on the other hand, involve almost no objects, and revolve around the inner being of the individual as the source of power. As a result, less time is spent in searching for or creating talismans or mirrors or candles and that time is spent training the skills needed to increase their genetic potential. However, that does not mean that the genetic potentials of a person with that “talent” is trained easily, it is actually trained harder than a Mage’s talents because the “talent’s” trade skills do not need to be trained as much. In the end, they are roughly the same power, though the routes taken and the visible effects are far different, as are many of the powers and spells themselves.The Mage’s power derives from the Mental Endurance, which determines the Mana with which they can cast spells. The Mana will decrease as a spell is cast, determined by the strength of the spell. Timers will tell when a spell is able to be fully discharged, though a Mage can quickly “short-cast” a spell at half or less power if the need arises and the spell timer is not fully complete. This will result in less Mana being spent, as well as resulting in a less powerful spell being cast, with somewhat less range in some instances. Mana can be rejuvanated through ley lines and other ways, such as short spells to absorb elemental powers more quickly and efficiently, and through the wearing of special talismans.Spells and enchaments are also color coded for the realm of magic it represents. The colors are:Red – Fire/InsectsBlue – Water/FishGreen – Nature/PlantsCyan – Air/BirdsPink – Health/EmotionBrown – Earth/AnimalsYellow – Energy/ElectricityBlack – Absorbtion/DefensiveWhite – Emissive/OffensiveThe colors, when combined, allow spells to be cast to do certain things. For example, for a Mage to combine Black and Yellow magic into an enchantment and cast it on a fellow player, depending on the quality level will result in a certain type of defensive shield against electricity or energy. The amount of time the enchantment lasts, the amount of damage mitigated, and the chances of mitigating it, are up to the skill of the Mage in that area of magic, and so many types and levels of spells and enchantments can be created. By the same token, a Mage can combine White and Brown magic and when cast on an animal, will give the Mage the ability to make the animal attack a target. Of course, the same skill determinations arise and the animal may resist the command if the spell is not strong enough.Therefore, the Mage is wise to keep a few categories of magic strong and others stocked with points enough to be able to use them when needed. A powerful Mage can do many things and do them well.The genetic Talents on the other hand, have a more direct route towards the powers that they seek. They begin with a set of powers that they are able to train up, leading to the discovery of newer and better powers along their journeys. These powers train like any other skills, and can fail in their casting as much as a spell can, and so need to be paid careful attention.Powers in the Talent’s arsenal can be modified as the situation needs, and the Talent needs to practice these and create “macros” for them just as the Mage needs to practice and create either “macros” or enchantments for their spells. The types of powers that the Talents can use and combine(in most cases) are:Telekinesis – Ability to move objects with mind.Telepathy – Ability to read minds of NPC’s.Psychometry – Ability to touch an object and learn information about it’s past use and history.Remote Viewing – Ability to stand from afar and see what is happening in a distant place as if there.Pyrokinesis – Ability to create fire with the mind.Energy Projection – Ability to manifest and use energy.Precognition – Ability to see the near future.Chameleon – Ability to change appearance to look like someone else.Psychoillusion – Ability to mentally create images that people can see(mass hallucinations).Energy Absorbtion – Ability to absorb energy into the body. Usually linked to Energy Projection.Auralkinesis – Ability to create sounds with the mind.These skills, when combined with the standard and extended physical skills, can create an array of powers that requires the Talent to need no weapons except if they lack the ranged power that they would want. Because of this, many other skills become harder to train and they spend many more points on these abilities than on weapons or magic skills. But the payoffs are fantastic.8)Games within games: It is important to note that not everything is as serious as life and death in the world of Frontier. The players can travel to cities to compete in games using vehicles that they’ve designed and participate in races and some other games. Some players may opt to become gladiators on the worlds that have legalized the sport, and some may want to breed racing animals, which has several skills and a breeding system to work with.The games to be used are not finalized yet, though vehicle racing, eco-challenge type races, animal racing, gladiator matches, are definitely being considered. Others will be added as deemed feasible.9)Animal Breeding: As the tradeskills will suggest, animals can be domesticated. The use of this is not just for training animals to attack or guard an area, but also to create better animals for different purposes. Animals in the game can be trained to defend people, defend places, scout for enemies or things, race, or be transport or pack animals. These traits are different in many of the animals, as are the appearance of their hides.Breeders who train in the animal tradeskills can breed animals to be certain colors, sizes, or retain certain attributes such as loyalty, strength, intelligence, speed, agility, endurance, or disposition. This takes skill and time, and also earns skill points for the training of the animals, which can be trained back into the skills that make the player better at it. A player can theoretically build a farm and raise wolf-dogs domesticated from the wild to be different colors and sell them to other players. Because other players may want companions that do not take much skill to train to obediance, they can buy these animals from the breeder, and even request animals of a certain look and size or for certain traits such as speed. Breeders can breed the animals for speed and enter them into races to earn money and skill points.Taking this a step further is to breed two different but compatible animals into a hybrid that retains some of the traits of both, and then further breed the hybrids into new strains of animals for specific purposes. This would result in animals introduced into the game that were never fully imagined, and created solely by the players in breeding them.Animals also get trained to do specific tasks, and this can be done by someone domesticating the animal over time, or by breeders who train the animals and then sell them ready to serve to those who have the skilled ability to command them. This makes possible intelligent animal companions that can guard packs stowed by players or help them in missions in other ways.10)Multiple-purpose objects: In a game where adventure is the prime focus, the ability to improvise is paramount. Almost all of the objects in the game world will not only have a use for the players, it will have multiple uses. A sword can be used to pry open a door, or a hammer can be wielded as a weapon.As many of the quests and missions will have the player solve problems in ways other than violent confrontation, the player needs open to them ways to use their existing tools and objects in ways that the current strict gaming environments do not allow. In many games, you cannot fall back on a shovel to wield as a weapon when you pistols run out of ammunition, and you cannot use that pistol to hammer together a small building.Even the environment has a purpose aside from simple eye-candy: Almost all of the trees and rocks yield resources that can be used in everyday items, such as various woods for building and metals that can be produced from the ores that can be mined from certain rocks. Some rocks will yield gems and some are just rocks that can be carved into statues or other shapes. Trees can be harvested for wood, and will fall when depleted, or will grow back the amount taken as time goes on.Character Customisation: The characters in Frontier will be extremely customizable, due to the high quality of graphics that will be involved. Custom Cg shaders can be used to automate the process, rather than dealing with thousands of textures and procedural rendering methods, and vastly simplify the process. The following characteristics will be able to be customized by the player concerning the character:1)Height: Character height will be able to be changed in 1” increments to allow many different heights.2)Weight/Build: Character weight will be able to be changed in 8 pound increments to allow for many different builds. Females will additionally be able to change body styles as only females can, but not to extremes. I’d like to be a bit realistic with body styles.3)Skin Tone: Skin tones will be available in various shades, depending on the civilization being played. Not all civilizations have access to all skin tones. This does not prevent the player from allying themselves with another civilization though.4)Eye Color: Eye color will be able to be changed to many different shades5)Facial Structure: The player will be able to change the shape of the head, jaw, brow, nose, mouth and chin to suit the face of the character they wish to play.6)Hair Style and Color: Hair will be able to be rendered with great detail, and the player will be able to detail the color and style of the character’s initial haircut. This can be changed later on in the game with a trip to the barber.7)Muscular Build: This is a linked setting to the Strength attribute that the player chooses and is only changeable through there. The higher the Strength setting, the more muscular the character.8)Clothes: The player will be able to choose the beginning outfit of the character as well from a small selection.9)Gender: The player will be able to choose male or female for the character, which affects all characteristics above.10) Randomization: The player will also be able to randomly generate a character’s looks with the click of a button.Further customization in the appearance of characters comes later in the game as the character gains money and points and is able to afford different clothes or armor and weapons, as well as tatoos and changes of hairstyles and colors. Hair dyes will be sold, as well as barber shops stationed for these purposes. Clothing and armor will be able to be made and dyed to many styles and colors as well, and jewelry can be made and bought and sold.A player can go to very great lengths to make their appearance unique, and the game will continue to expand the choices that they will have for that. Of course, some players may excersize bad taste, but that is for their own judgement to dictate. One of the stylistic differences that I’d like to have from some of the games out is to avoid the common “game babe” syndrome where all females automatically get 40DDD breasts. Sounds like one of the in-game objects should be pills for the back pain that usually comes with those(especially for those with 28 waists), but I digress…Features and Eye-Candy: There’s a lot of new ideas that I’ve come up with that would really make the game better if I can just shove the 20-metric tons of ideas into the size of a shoebox. Let’s see what I’d like to see in the game:1)NPC features:A)NPC Camping: During long missions and quests, the player will more than likely want to take a break to eat or do something similarly human. While they’re away, if the NPC’s that are involved in some of these quests do not camp, they will die or kill one another, resulting in a failed mission. Especially for NPC’s who must be kept alive, it will be necessary to camp some of the NPC’s in the missions. This will revolve mostly around specially designated characters that the player comes across such as a person in need of rescue and a special tracker or two sent to retrieve the NPC from the player and prevent it. The state of the NPC’s will be saved on the server and will be brought back when the player logs in again. This also allows our writers to create longer campaign-style quests in which an NPC will be with the player for more than one or two sessions.B)NPC Memories: Another thing that would really expand the functionality of the game towards complex plots and quests is that of giving the NPC’s limited memory capacity. In this way, some of the merchants and many of the “named” or important NPC’s will be able to absorb certain events around them when the event crosses a certain “notice” threshold. When the event is recorded in the memory, it will be retained there for a certain amount of time depending on several factors including but not limited to the memory quality of the NPC, the trauma of the memory(if any), the amount of other events the NPC has had to deal with in a certain period of time, and the details retained.Some NPC’s will have long memories of some characters and forget others rather easily. Others will have mediocre memories of more players and keep those memories longer. Most monster and other low-level AI’s will have very little or no memories unless it’s specifically required of a quest for them to do so, and for most a “reputation” system will do just as well. This memory system gives the player the ability to question people in towns and in the wild as to the whereabouts of people or creatures, and get more realistic and less “canned” answers and responses to the questions. Intimidation, charm, and interrogation and other social skills come heavily into play here, as the player can choose to intimidate a person to get information out of them if the NPC is reluctant to do so.Also, the high-level NPC’s will have not only complex memory systems, but also complex conversational systems as well. Many of the NPC’s will be able to converse on a basic level to the players, and they will have very little to say, but the named and high level NPC’s will have much to say and will need to be able to field certain questions that cannot always be anticipated. The conversation system will link heavily with the memory system to provide frames of reference and more realistic characters for the player to interact with.2)Reputation system: The players, as they roam from area to area, will be free to slay NPC’s as they wish to a certain extent, but that also brings consequences. The players develop “reputations” among many of the primitive but advanced NPC peoples that populate the game universe, and if a player does too much “bad” then they will notice that they will receive less help from certain NPC’s and towns, and if they become exceedingly bad, they will be banned and attacked on sight by the guards.This system brings to bear the consequences of actions in a world that gives the player more freedom than other games in many regards. 3)Heavy graphics: The world will be rendered with as much detail and personality as possible. In the keeping with heavy accentuation on trade skill expertise, several alphabets and languages are being developed for the explorers to discover and decode in order to uncover new information about the past histories of the people. Ancient ruins and relics from the past dot the surfaces of the planets and moons, and wait to be found.The forests will be lush and shadows will be sharp, not the blurry circles and elipses of current games. The game’s graphics must excell at beauty, just as the gameplay and NPC systems must excell as suspension of disbelief.4)Heavy Storyline: The stories involved in the game universe are made up of many levels of storytelling. From the lowest level, the tasks that are assigned the players by NPC’s give a context in which to do things. The next level up are the errands that players are sent on, which are like extended tasks with a bit of context to their execution, such as the delivery of a message or package to someone. The next level up from that is a mission, where the player is extrusted to take on multiple errands and tasks, usually within a dangerous context and with a story-arc to it. These missions are longer than a couple of errands, but shorter than quests. This is the bulk of the missions that will be done in the game universe, and will be suited for players of all levels.Quests are story-oriented and feature several NPC’s and will usually extend it’s play over several gaming sessions. These are usually several missions or errands, in far flung places in dangerous circumstances of high importance. The player will be called upon to use more than a little cunning and strategy to accomplish the goals set out before them. This is best for intermediate players, and some beginners.Epics are huge quests taken on when a player wants a large storyline-driven adventure to take them to many places far away over the course of a week or two of gaming sessions or more. These epics have complex plots and will be able to be resolved in several different ways, by different means. The players will certainly gain many points from these epics and this is best suited for mid-high level players and above. These also are geared towards clans in which many tasks can be handed out to several groups to work in concert to solve the problems and coordinate their actions with precise teamwork to succeed.Events are story arcs that will be forced upon all players in some or all areas of the game universe. These will usually be driven by forces outside of the peoples in that part of the galaxy, and will offer them a short period of being able to work together against a common foe or problem. ;  Here''s the modern playable races document(please note that the initial launch of the game will most likely not be the entire planet of Chi''Hamak, so not all of these races will be available initially):Purpose: This document will outline the modern races(playable races) in the Frontier game, outlining their physical appearance and societal characteristics. These races will probably be added to or modified, so this document is subject to change. Modern Races: Decended from the Races of Old, these are the modern peoples of this part of the galaxy, and the heirs to both their power and their fates. Only their self-determination and choices will present for them the chance to bring about the changes needed to avoid repeating the past error that caused the catastophic collapse of their civilizations. Unlike the Races of Old, however, these people are more or less untrusting of one another, a subtle clue to the calamity that had befallen them in the times of their forgotten history.Having clawed their way out of primitive times, these races have once again advanced and taken on the roles of explorers and merchants. Unlike their ancestors, they have all, at turns, taken on roles as conquerors and warriors as well. Noone can forsee what this change means for these races when pitted against the foe they do not know about, nor if they will even destroy each other before this foe even arrives.Many of the disputes that occur now are border disputes and disputes over the many and complex treaties and contracts that have built up over the millenia. Changing governments and administrations and even changes in societies and civilizations have forced the agreements to be reevaluated in the new contexts that emerge.Many people think that the intensity of the conflicts brewing are a sign of the end of the world, citing a prophecy that the endtimes will arrive amidst a time of extreme strife and will come to a head with the invasion of armies beyond the realm of the Races of Old…1)Charkritians: The Charkritians can be broken down into the two groups of Nomads and Fringe Clans. The reside primarily on the planet of Chi’Hamak, and also on space stations and outposts on the planets and moons of the Chikri system.Charkritian History:The history of the Charkritians is a nomad''s tale. Born out of the desert-like shrublands of Hamak''Del("Great Desert"), the nomads learned early on how to use the great stone outcroppings to their advantage. Gaining great skill and harvesting the hardness of tools that could cut easily into the rock, the Charkritians carved entire cities into mountains, and there, they found the ore they would use to create better tools and increase their technology levels.It was slow going at first, even though the Charkritians were fast learners. Centuries passed while the various tribes'' populations and wars ebbed and flowed, though slowly they merged and made peace. By the time that motorized transportation was fairly common, the tribes of nomads had all but become one society, with a semi-democratic governing structure of councils. The wars had left no doubts about having a single person in charge of so much power. But still, much had changed.While the Charkritians had been progressing, the deserts had become a bit "crowded" for the tastes of some, and they moved into more heavily wooded areas, and slowly, over the course of hundreds of years, they became a seperate people. And though they shared many customs, there were many things that they no longer shared, as was the necessity of adapting to one''s environment.By the time of the advancements that launched the Charkritians into space, they had learned to live in peace with those around them, and had actually little use for an army, and their skills in that area atrophied. Of course, all good things must come to an end...While the first forays into space seemed peaceful enough, it soon became apparent that the Charkritians needed an armed force to protect themselves from other races who had also ventured into the Great Void(Hamak''Vonas). Among these races that were encountered were the space-faring race of Kandalines. The Kandalines were fierce warriors, and a fair amount of them had made a small colony in the small asteroid belt that orbited the outer atmosphere of Chi''Hamak itself. The Charkritians rose to the challenge, and together with the Fringe Clans of the Huma''Nurs(Outland Regions), they created a small space fleet to protect their exploration vessels, and began to search their solar system for both wealth and knowledge.This had gone well for a while, and after a time, even the misunderstandings between the Kandalines and the Charkritians were forgiven and the Kandalines showed the newcomers a thing or two of space travel and warfare. Miraculously, all of these centuries had passed without either of these races noticing that there was another race under the seas of the planet Chi''Hamak, and very advanced at that. It was the sea-dwelling race of the Urugii. And while the Urugii were shy at first, they too, soon came out of their shell and joined in the quest to learn more about the universe around them.This kind of peaceful exploration went on for some time, for centuries, actually. And more and more races were encountered, and rather than firing the first shot, the explorers sued for peace and got it more often than not, and the list of explorers expanded as the colony ships built for the extended space journeys pushed further into the vast cosmos.And then it all came to a sudden and abrupt end...The Charkritians took the brunt of the assault, since the bulk of the fleet that had encountered the aliens was Charkritian in origin, though there were ships from many races and peoples in the fleet as well. In the few minutes that the vastly underpowered fleet was able to last, a distress call was sent via Tachyon-Transport to all of the planets that had participated in the fleet''s launch. Unwittingly, they had sealed the fate of those planets, and those that the planets would also call for help days later.The aliens struck without warning and laid waste fleet after fleet, even tearing through the majestic Sveth Capital-Fleet in mere hours. Their power was beyond compare for such new races, and their assault was unrelenting. And after the planets had been cut off from one another and prevented from launching any attacks, they appeared in orbit of each planet, incinerating cities and bases, destroying every trace of organized civilization they saw.Some lucky few fled to the deserts and forests away from the old cities, and forgot the technologies that they had once taken for granted, and they reverted to being nothing more than cavemen with memories of quite happier and more advanced times. But after ten or twenty generations, noone even remembered what those advanced technologies or happier times were all about.Indeed, they had, in the span of three weeks, become changed into a vastly different people than they once were. No longer caring and peaceful, they were wary and suspicious, though they clung somewhat to traditions they had no history of, they had also reverted back to some old ways that many had forgotten had even existed. And so the civilizations of Chi''Hamak and many other planets came full circle, and their progress was utterly wiped out and they had to start from scratch. Thousands of years passed as they did this, and all the while, the answers that had been lost were being devoured by the natural processes of the natural world around them, erasing a warning of a fate that was doomed to be repeated...Now, thousands of years later, the Charkritians and Fringe Clans are just realizing how intertwined their histories are, and the Urugii have been rediscovered from their long time forgotten under the sea, or as a legend, at best. The fierce Kandalines have becomes a very paranoid race, and the Charkritians and Fringe Clans, who have again allied with each other, are regularly having skirmishes with them at the edge of the atmosphere.More importantly, the Stellar Corporation, a large corporation-state that mines planets and stars, has landed on an uninhabited region of the planet and begun to mine for ores, which has upset the people on Chi''Hamak greatly. Two wars have already been fought, which had both stopped the growth of the corporation''s land holdings, and prevented it from being removed from the planet at the same time. Though, it could be worse: They could have been the Sveth Warlords or the Shai Corporation, which are somewhat more ruthless, or so the rumors say.Yes, the world is a much different place now, and as their technology surpasses that of which they had so long ago, that ancient race of aliens is bound to take note and travel back to the section of galaxy that they had once thought that was wiped clean of any threatening advanced lifeforms, and finish their task once and for all.Charkritian Society and Culture:The Charkritians and Fringe Clans, though genetically the same, have some large differences in their society and cultural makeups. While the Charkritians are not apt to like the natural elements that desert life exposes them to, the Fringe Clans are used to the more temperate climates, and they vary their dress accordingly. The Fringe Clans also wear more and heavier furs than the Charkritians, due to the cooler weather they are exposed to on the higher elevations and the coasts where they live. One can actually see a graduation from one culture to another in their travels from the deep desert, through the shrub-deserts, and into the forests and coastlands that these people inhabit.Architecture is another area where the two peoples are different. The Charkritians, after losing their initial cities to the assaults of the Ancient Ones, had a long period where they lived out in the open and traveled extensively. This was done once only because the art of carving homes into the stone was lost, but eventually it became a lifestyle and a culture in itself before the art was rediscovered. At that point, small buildings were made, and temples were constructed, but it was still a while before the large moutain-cities were created again. However, this second-generation of mountain-cities were chosen from far larger and sturdier moutains(the reasons could have been some sort of genetic memory of the fate of the last set of mountain cities), and their structures have now been augmented with alloys and composite armors to defend them against the wars that take place now.The Fringe Clans, on the other hand, Have lower-profiled structures, and tend to build around their surroundings rather than through them. This is mainly due to the fact that their surroundings are large, ancient, trees that they do not wish to destroy, and their technology has allowed them to wrap small towns around the base of a dozen of these monstrous trees. Alloy supports and less than invasive techniques of attaching platforms to the trees has yielded some interesting towns. And most towns are small as one goes from the desert''s great cities to the forests, as the Fringe Clans are exactly that: Clans. Based on loose, extended families and close friendships, these clans are small compared to the mountain cities, though their presence dots the forests, with the occasional city springing up through the opening of a clearing, yawning a spaceport or two to take advantage of the space.Socially, these peoples are very alike. Honor and integrity is highly valued and taught strictly, and service to the people(both, as they had integrated their individual military forces three centuries ago) is always highly regarded, if rather in an odd fashion. A small corps of military forces is used to keep the peace and defend in border skirmishes, which is happening with increasing regularity, but when the need for more troops arises, there is a call for volunteer militias to be put on the lines. These volunteers usually are organized by the clans they represent(unless they are from a city-which has many clans-and in those cases carry a city banner), and carry a banner with a clan emblem on it. Living close with nature despite technology''s presence, these people are cunning and tactically smart, very adept at camoflauge in many climates and they make extensive use of scouting animals ranging from wolves to birds. Marriage is a concept that is regarded with some finality. Even though there is a divorce proceeding that can be carried out, most couples find it easier to stay together, as the clans are close-knit enough to provide a strong support for difficult marriages. Clan councils are organized to deal with these issues, should they get out of hand, as well as local political, logistical, and judicial purposes as well. The Clan Council is something that is shared with both peoples, though the Charkritians have evolved theirs into a more political variety, and split the judicial and logistical portions into seperate magistrate positions. There is debate on whether this was effective to do or not, though corruption occurs everywhere...The music of these two peoples are similar, and yet very different at the same time. The Fringe clans, having brought the simple strings and drums from the deserts, have also added wind instruments to their musical style, and that has given their version of traditional music an earily lonely tone, probably influenced by the dark mists that pass through the jungles and forests from time to time. Of course, they have their share of upbeat music as well, and the many celebrations that occur give those songs more than their fair share of attention. Music is something that many people learn, and many travellers and adventurers practice music as a hobby, though some fully pursue it as a trade, and some of them are even successful, playing for many public gatherings and occasionally even for Elders and Council meetings. Music has a very ingrained place in this society.Clothing is another area in which there are contrasts, as the climates in which the two related societies live are very different. The Charkritians are more concerned with staying cool, or at least not overheating, and so they wear multi-layered robes or synthetic fibers. The styles vary, as they have a sense of fashion and robes will take on a number of styles in any given span of time, so short and long robes, or variations on color, fabric, and collars give the Charkritians a vast opportunity to be unique among the masses. The Fringe Clans have somewhat less of a choice, as their climates are somewhat more temperate and have a more direct effect on what they can wear. Mostly heavy fabrics and furs, the Fringe Clans do adopt their own styles, and have many dyes for furs and fabrics and leathers, as well as different styles of coats and other garments. By and large, the materials are not as thin or flowing(or "fragile" as the Clansmen would say) as the Charkritians'' fabrics. Still, on the warmer plains, there is a good mix of the styles that the herdsmen and women show, being exposed more equally to the two styles, and it is not uncommon to see flowing colorful robes with equally robust and colorful furs being worn.Militarily speaking, the close alliance of the two peoples make their tactics no more than two sides of the same coin. It can be said that while their peoples are two, their might is one, and with good reason. For by themselves, they are not as strong as they should be to fend off any large campaign by invaders, but together they are a very large force indeed. With the Clans'' camoflauge and forest and mountaineering skills, the Charkritians have found a perfect compliment to their small units and open warfare tactics. With a constant cross-training, the two have become so intermingled that changes in unit often cross from Fringe Clan to Charkritian without fanfare, and the oathes to serve have incorporated each other''s sovereignty, so that recruits swear allegiance to both peoples upon entry into the forces.This has had a lasting effect on the two societies, as they come ever closer to the inevitable merging and recombining into one. Joint space operations and outposts on moons and planets have only fueled this trend, and borders have quickly disappeared from the maps as the once-split civilisation mends itself and becomes one again.2)Kandalines and Nagalians: The Kandalines are the space dwelling creatures that now mainly inhabit the asteroid belts around Chi’Hamak, while the Nagalians inhabit the planet Chi’Nagal. But the two races share an unbreakable bond with each other, as well as with many other races that follow.Kandaline History:The history of the Kandalines and Nagalians are intertwined almost as much as the histories of the Fringe Clans and the Charkritians, due to the fact that these two peoples are related as well. But where the Nomads and Clans know to a certainty and have already started to become one people, the Kandalines and Nagalians are not quite as sure, and have grown very far apart indeed.When the Ancient Ones arrived and began to lay waste to all the civilizations that were in their midst, the Nagalians were a small outpost of explorers who had been exploring the small planet of Chi''Nagal. The blasts from the Ancient Ones'' ships had destroyed the outpost and cut them off from all technology and also from their former Kandaline brothers, who had also witnessed this and thought them to be destroyed. As the Kandalines themselves were targeted and driven to the brink of extinction, their memories of their brothers and sisters on Chi''Nagal faded to nothingness. As millenia passed, the ruins of the outpost was forgotten and buried by crystal shrubs, and the Nagalians became more and more like their environment, using their genetic ability to quickly evolve and adapt to different environments to change and mutate themselves to better survive. After a while, they no longer resembled the insect-like Kandalines, but had adapted into more humanoid-like creatures, and began to use energy that was stored in the crystals that they evolved to ingest. Energy became both a tool and a weapon for them, and they used it to it''s fullest potential, and it became their religion...After a while, they became so attuned to their energy that some of their best had experienced a further transformation in beings of almost pure energy. These beings walked the face of their planet(or flew, more accurately) as Gods, and in the few small wars that their now tribal people waged against each other or some of the monsters on the planet, they reigned supreme. In a contest between two Nagalii, as they were called, they would light the skies with their brilliant battle, and it could even be seen on Chi''Hamak in telescopes in observatories. This is the pinnacle of Nagalian evolution on Chi''Nagal.At the same time, there was another band of Kandalines that were cut off in another different climate, that of Chi''Dolan, which is a gas giant further away from the star which these planets orbit. Chi''Dolan has very different gases that required the use of respirators that helped create a breathable atmosphere for the Kandalines, but being cut off from any recharges for their suits caused their genetics to undergo a radical change, in the same way that the Nagalians did. Their physiologies morphed and adapted to the vast amounts of silicon and rare metals, allowing them to both ingest them and create bodies make partially of them. Also, they became adapted to breathing the different gases of the planet, some better than others, and though this adaptation was done, they can still breath(uneasily) their old atmosphere as well.In this way, they became Silicoids, and just like the Nagalians they forgot who they originally were, and became a nomadic race that spent it''s time lost on the planet and fighting for survival. On a planet such as Chi''Dolan, this was a hard job, and they had little time for advancement or further evolution, but they became hardy warriors, and they marvel at the outposts and technologies that have been constructed by others on their planet, even though the technology and the theme of adventure rings a familiar bell.But during all of this time, the Kandaline that had not been cut off on the distant planets had not been idle, and had themselves evolved to adapt to a more permanent life in space. Having been trapped on their floating asteroids, after all that were designed to travel had been destroyed, they began to adapt to exist off of the raw earth of those rocks and the sunlight that poured from the countless stars. They became more insect-like and developed wings that they would use as solar sails to pass from asteroid to asteroid, and even land on the surface of Chi''Hamak occasionally to wage war for whatever reason. But they, because of the conflicts with their neighbors, began to create and discover technology anew, and they kept apace with the Clans and Nomads so that they eventually rebuilt their ships and weapons, and became what they once were, if changed by the sudden evolutionary leaps.Through all of this, the three peoples of the Kandaline had little time to truly examine their similarities and discover what it was about them that was so familiar. Should they discover this, the uniting of the three peoples could trigger yet another evolutionary adaptation as a response to the desire to be one people again, and that would result in a truly spectacular being. It would take a lot of searching of the asteroids to find those that had been ships once, and even then to find and decipher the lost and hidden archives that had not been destroyed, or had been thrown to the surface of any of a dozen planets or are orbiting them in space.Kandaline Societies:The societies of the Kandalines and Nagalians is sort of a cross between the simple, hive-based insects that these people evolved from and the higher-thinking, higher-tech species they''ve become. While Both species are not strictly-speaking humanoid(especially the Kandalines), they do have a sense of cloting consisting of cuff-type sleeves for their appendages which have an assortment of tassles and other ornaments on them.Some of the warriors use cuffs with blades on them, worn on their secondary sharp arms for added damage in combat. Others use small pockets on their cuffs to aid in exploration or other tasks. Armor has also been fashioned for both the Kandalines and the Nagalians, and in many different styles and colors.Nagalians are much more attuned to the energies of Chi’Nagal, and for that reason are very good at working with the crystals found all over the planet. Many tools and technologies that they have are based on these crystals, and many of the rarest crystals in the galaxy are found here. Kandalines use more traditional metals in their tools and technology, and are less rare.Nagalians use crystal-based thread to make their garments, and they are beautifule and sparkle in the light. The fabrics range from light to heavy and are very colorful. Nagalian fabrics are also very expensive, as no other civilization makes crystal thread as the Nagalians do. The Kandalines use coarse to fine threading and plating in their clothing made from the ores found in the asteroids they inhabit. While the Kandaline thread can be coarse, they have been able to make many nice patterns, though limited in color, for their garments, and the clothing is very strong and a natural armor against small-arms. Unlike the Nagalian clothing, it is actually resistant to energy, and the fabrics lend themselves to creating armor suitable for defense against energy damage.The appearance of the Nagalians is somewhat more humanoid than that of the insect-like Kandalines, though the Nagalians look like shiny insect-human centaurs and come in many unique colors. The Kandalines themselves are much more insect-like, sporting wings that, when spread, form a natural solar sail that can be used to travel from planet to planet or asteroid belt to asteroid belt. They have four to six legs and two arms that have simple but very nimble hands that can be used for anything from holding a weapon to finely crafting a sample of Kandaline art. Their head is not as agile and does not turn as much, but compound eyes make that a non-issue.In the realm of archetecture, the Kandalines and Nagalians are far different. The Kandalines prefer to make their homes in the countless asteroids that orbit planets and stars, carving caverns into the rock and ore and fashioning engines and partitions onto it to make it a floating space colony. It it very hard to tell an asteroid that has been untouched from one that has been converted, a fact that had saved the Kandalines from complete extinction. Nagalians on the other hand, choose to live more or less in the open, as the effects of weather play very little part in sickness or wellbeing of them. They have constructed altars and other structures of magnificence, however, and jeweled towers have been recorded rising up hundreds or even thousands of feet into the air. But these are more or less in the population centers on Chi’Nagal, where buildings are deemed important enough to build. Outside of these population centers, there is little in the way of archetecture.Militarily speaking, the Kandalines use a swarm approach to warfare. Consisting of great numbers, the Kandaline will attack a fleet with large numbers of asteroid ships, using smaller asteroids as natural missiles to be magnetically propelled to their targets while thousands of warriors close to engage the wounded fleet. Nagalians use a ritualized form of combat where they salute each other before beginning their fight, and large battles commence after a ceremony and repects exchanged.3)Scinoidians: The Scinoidians are the sea dwellers who were the focus of tales of fancy for many centuries untril they finally revealed themselves to the other races on Chi’Hamak. From then on, they have been becoming more and more assertive in the affairs of the galaxy, and their aggression has earned them many conflicts.Scinoidian History:The Sea Dwellers are an enigmatic race that only recently have uncovered their existence to the others in the galaxy. As such, their history would be better told in a non-linear format rather than how other histories are being documented.When the Ancient Ones bombarded Chi''Hamak, they boiled the seas to get at the Sea Dwellers that were living below the waves. Over a billion perished, and they were all but extinct, like the other species that they were allied with. The survivors hid in undersea caves and crevices for millenia, scared to venture into the open waters.Eventually, they did come out of hiding and begin to start all over again, forgetting the apocolypse of the past and instead facing and embracing the future. But they were still weary of venturing above the waves.As their technology advanced, they gained more and more confidence, even though they had less and less trust of those lifeforms above the water. The land creatures seemed like a war-like lot, and the natural avoidance of the Sea Dwellers magnified this. Thus, they began developing more stealthy technology, lest they become the victims of the people from above the water, who had apparently visited immense destruction on their ancestors.Unfortunately, those theories were wrong. Having found preserved ruins, and unable to decipher the ancient texts, the Sea Dwellers automatically assumed that the destroyers of their past culture was the land creatures. Millienia past where the Sea Dwellers activities were shrouded in secrecy from the rest of the universe.The paranoia was shattered in 4523, when their secret life was discovered by the Charkritians and Fringe Clans operating in the sea. Bracing for an attack that never came, the Sea Dwellers slowly realized that they had possibly mislabeled the land creatures as their attackers.Currently, the Sea Dwellers face a large problem. Their population is growing considerably out of control in relation to their environment, and they need to find space to live. A number of places have been colonized, such as the moons of Chi''Dolan and even an outpost on Chi''Nagal, but nothing with the space that the planet of Chi''Hamak afforded them. Being very adept at genetic manipulation for the sake of adaptation, the Sea Dwellers are considering a plan to take over the land of Chi''Hamak from the Charkritians, Fringe Clans, and the Stellar Corporation. This being a risky proposition, the Sea Dwellers have hidden the plan from even many of those in their own society. Should word of that plan get out, then a devastating war could erupt in the system, guaranteeing that the Sea Dwellers never gain dominance.Scinoidian Society:The Sea Dwellers are a secluded society, mainly due to their geographic locations under the waters of the seas of Chi’Hamak and a few other planets and moons. They are somewhat taller, lithe and very quick on land, as they’ve spent their lives fighting the thicker fluids of their surrounding water. In order to be able to walk around on the land above them, they must use a special rebreathing apparatus, the best of which provide an unlimited time to roam around. Many of the Scinoidians have purchased or made these and have begun to explore the land above, usually running afoul of the races that inhabit those lands.Some of the older and more adept Scinoidians are able to mutate their lungs to be able to breathe in both water and the air above. The Sea Dwellers’ appearance is that of a thin-limbed humanoid form with a slightly longer neck and a larger than normal head with oblong eyes, small mouths, and gills where ears would be on a human’s head. The head carries large eyes and a wide, thin-lipped mouth, and a small nose. Gills used for breathing are located on either cheek, and their hands and feet are somewhat webbed for swimming. A long, thin tail with an arrow-head fin on the tip serves as a rudder for when they are in the water, and is also good for lashing opponents in combat.Their garb consists of clothing that is more tightly-fit to the body in order to produce less drag as they swim through the oceans, though on land they are not averse to wearing robes and other more complicated clothing. Scinoidians do tend to suffer more acutely from altitude sickness than other land animals, so their climbing skills are not up to par with them(coming from the sea, they’ve gone high enough just to get to the beaches).Sea Dwellers’ society is based around quiet. Music is soft and the volume is low at all times, and the lights of the Scinoidian underwater towers is readily hidden by the depths of water so that boats passing overhead do not see. Ocean storms do not touch the Scinoidian realms, and the light from the surface is dim when it reaches the Scinoidian tower cities. The Scinoidians are also very polite with each other, though distrustful and antagonistic towards outsiders. Not many outsiders are allowed into the realms of the tower cities, and many are attacked while exploring the deep oceans, even if they are in the company of Scinoidian explorers, though this is usually done by criminals of the Scinoidian realms looking for plunder.Scinoidian archetecture is that of towers carved out of the lava towers on the sea floors that have been inactive for many thousands of years. Workers will chisel miles of corridors into the towers and then begin to smooth and create ornate decorations on the outsides, so that they no longer look like natural formations. These towers are smooth and made from rock that can be any color, usually light to dark grey. Some feature landing pads for the watercraft and spacecraft that the Scinoidians use, and these are grafted onto the towers or carved into immense mountains, similar to the method used by the Charkritians.Militarily, the Scinoidians favor a large tactical approach. They are swift warriors in the water as well as on land, and they use large numbers with good strategic thinking to win their battles. Commanders will lead from the rear ranks to overlook the formations and relay commands to be followed by the unit commanders, who generally lead from the front ranks.4)Sveth: The Sveth Warlords are a feudal, warlike race that holds honor and discipline above all. They are located in a single-star system known as Svethocal, and are adept warriors.Sveth History: The Sveth were, in ancient times, the only race to build armed vessels for defense against the Ancient Ones. When the aliens dispatched their fleet, research was begun on many new weapon technologies that promised a greater ability to fight against them. However, the Ancient Ones arrived before the Sveth were able to complete research on any of these technologies, and the three planets that they occupied were bombarded and almost all of the populations of those planets perished except for those on Svethocal, who had survived in the near-finished caverns that were supposed to be used for weapons research.That focus was left behind and the tunnels were used for survival purposes, as the bombardment had had a very large impact on the ecosystems of the planets hit, and so the Sveth reverted back to their feudal ways. For a time, they had forgotten even the old teachings of the ancient Hemegersians that had come before them, and even when they sought those teachings out, they only found fragments that lead them to believe that life was war and war was life. Their existance did little to counter that claim, so the Sveth fell into a more warlike feudal order, with houses fighting each other and swearing blood oaths to destroy other houses for slight infractions against the rules of conduct.About a thousand years ago, general peace was restored in it’s finality by the Council of Elder Houses that was formed to settle disputes between houses. Treaties and peace was made so that the once unpredictable Sveth Empire could continue it’s growth apace and not be held back by shortfalls within and in-fighting. Though there are still blood oaths sworn, their number today is far less than the previous millenia, and their severity is also much less.The Sveth of today are a more cohesive force and are getting closer to healing the past wounds that they had inflicted on themselves. Their main focus is the dispute of a few treaties which they believe has promised several mining planets from the Outer Ring Confederation to the Sveth, and also over planetary claims over the giant gas planets that produce the gas Halogas, which is used in the construction of faster-than-light drives. The latter claims have pitted them against the Shai and Stellar corporations, which are large corporation-states that have also laid claim to the disputed planets.As of this writing, the Sveth’s forces are spread somewhat thin, and progress in any of these goals is slow to come, if it comes at all. In the hopes of revitalizing their campaigns and taking back the planets that the Sveth believe are rightfully theirs, the Sveth are hoping to find new weapons technologies to bring to bare against their enemies. Ironically, they are not aware of the vast weapons caches and research labs that are intact and literally underneath their feet.Sveth Society and Culture:Sveth society is comparable to that of Europe of the middle-ages. Feudal systems based on kingdoms and houses mean that there is a heavily class-based system in place, though for many houses, a person with raw skill may be able to raise the status of their family higher, and through the work of a few generations even come close to becoming a house. But such dreams are rare to occur, and take the work of the entire house to achieve, usually through much more work and extraordinary courage than that of an established house.The Sveth are natural ship masters and enjoy and take great pride in the fleets and ships that set sail into the great void of deep space. They are talented engineers and armorers and create very sleek and deadly vessels, as all Sveth ships are mandated to carry arms by Code 2 of the Council of Elder Houses. Sveth are often also pirates of other planets’ vessels that come too near to their space, and they are only second to the actual pirate guilds, most notably the Draganon Pirates who had pirated several of their own vessels in the past century or two.For clothing, the Sveth favor armor-like clothes, whether it affords protection or not. The styles of this race are that of warriors, and ornamental armor is often worn to ceremonies and war alike. Combat is a glorious way of life for the Sveth and armor is worn as readily as any clothing by male and female alike. The best Sveth ornamental combat armor is made from imported materials, usually from conquered planets.Appearance-wise, the Sveth are muscular and humanoid, with skin tones ranging from earth tones to shades of neutral green and blue. Their eyes resemble that of cats or birds, as they have very good natural night vision, and only require limited night vision enhancement compared to others in this part of the galaxy. Their skin is leathery and tough, lending a natural amount of slight armor protection against melee attacks. They are slightly slower than the other races though, but their better strength makes up for that. Small bony protrusions from their brows and hands look like the nubs of horns growing out, and are a holdover from earlier evolutionary times, but still find use in combat.The Sveth have also developed their own ritual fighting style which is quite functional on the battlefield and is used extensively by the houses of Sveth. Guilds wishing to become houses usually take great pains to become masters of this style.In Sveth archetecture, the preferred style is that of castles with spires. It is almost gothic in nature and mostly made from stone or another equally hard or harder material, and the size of the estate usually indicates the ranking of the house. Land is owned and built upon to show other houses their status(especially if it is higher), and much room is left around the complex to allow for expansion, should the house suddenly increase in standing.Militarily, the Sveth excell. They are masters of combat of all kinds, except for small unit tactics, for which they hold a distaste for. Large and medium unit tactics and strategy are taught from a very young age, and the academies for ship captains are among the very best in the galaxy.5)Stellar Corporation/Bokarans: The Bokarans are better known as the Stellar Corporation, the result of a series of ultra-corporation mergers that left only two in place, and heir to the fractured government of Katyana, the Stellar Corporations home planet.Bokaran History: The Bokarans are mostly a peaceful, yet extremely resourceful and smart people, that originated in the Bokara system. They were one of the first great explorers during the times of old, before the Ancient Ones struck and ruined the two planets that they inhabited. Because of the intensity of the bombardment, the Bokarans were confined to the caves on both of their planets, and the cloud-cover shielded them from the normal sunrays. This lasted for thousands of years.When the Bokarans had emerged, they found technology again and began to trade with the more primitive people that they had rediscovered on Blasa, their sister planet. Several centuries passed as they traded peacefully until the cloud cover mysteriously began to disappear, killing thousands with extreme sun-poisoning. Building vast colony ships, the Bokarans headed for a nearby star system and settled their with their remaining people, and began to harvest minerals found there and to trade with the aliens that they had encountered along the way. But the harshness of space and disputes with other alien races made the corporations of the Bokarans merge in order to share resources and protect themselves, until mega-corporations emerged that wielded more political power than the government itself, which was beginning to fail the people.In the end, two corporations represented the Bokarans, and after a brief falling out between the Stellar Corporation and the Shai Corp. the Shai Corp. left the star system and settled in the Venista star system, where it declared statehood. Stellar Corp followed suit a week later.With a few wars with the Sveth and Shai Corp, and the continued scouring of the galaxy for the home base of the Draganon Pirates, the Stellar Corp is becoming more and more resourceful-and ruthless- to ensure it’s survival. Recently, it has run afoul of the Charkritians, Scinoidians and Kandalines by landing on Shendolin controlled territory of Chi’Hamak and setting up extensive mining operations there to retrieve large amounts of a rare mineral used in the creation of high-energy weapons. The Shendolin were happy to receive the Stellar Corp, and prodded them into incursions into territories controlled by the other races on that planet, thus opening several conflicts over the years.Stellar Corp Society and Culture:The Stellar Corp picks up bits and pieces of all the planets and cultures that it trades with, mostly peacfully, and as such has a wide range of music and clothing styles. Many on-duty professionals have their own uniforms that they wear that distinguish them from each other, and also sets them apart from other races as Stellar Corp citizens. The uniforms are light, strong, and functional.Stellar Corp citizens are humanoids, with skin tones ranging from fair to dark brown, as they’ve finally gotten used to the UV radiation from the stars again(with help from medical technology). They are of average strength, speed, and size, and are very adaptive to their environment, though not as much so as some of the other races such as the Scinoidians.Stellar Corp’s structure is that of a giant corporation, with all of the benefits given to their citizens and the added responsibilities of the government that came before, in the realm of protecting them and providing basic services. As such, Stellar Corp citizens vote regularly for the Board of Civil Affairs, which handles many of the non-business tasks of the corporation. The business side is, in turn, appointed by the Board of Civil Affairs to run the corporation the way that the voters deem fit.Archetecturally, the Stellar Corp favors a clean and bright approach, usually using whatever materials are at hand if the appropriate material cannot be brought in. Many of their cities are fair and tall, with tall towers flying Stellar Corp banners. Most of their buildings are interlinked and the citizens can walk through almost every building without having to leave any of them. Militarily, the Stellar Corp is a professional army that is a jack of all trades. They do moderately well in all areas of combat including small unit tactics, though they have yet to measure up to the high standards of the Sveth, despite the victories they’ve achieved against them.6)Draganon Pirates: The Draganon Pirates are a mix of aliens from all of the star systems in this part of the galaxy, though it was not always the case.The Draganon Pirates have a brief and muddled history that is unlike the rest of the peoples in this sector, because they are not made primarily of any one people. The Pirates are a group of outlaws and mercenaries that formed from a prison breakout on a Shai Corporation controlled moon. Having taken hold of two ships for escape, they then departed for an uninhabited area where they could lay low until the search died down or was called off.After the search was called off, the outlaws decided that their position was ideal to begin pirating some of the small ships that passed through the nearby trading lanes. With that simple plan, they obtained a good amount of money, and a couple of small ships in a short amount of time. As their fleet grew, they began to take on more and more tasks, eventually becoming a known and feared presence in the area.This came to the attention of both the Outer Ring Confederation, and the Sveth Warlords, who were currently warring against each other and the Stellar Corporation. Approached seperately by the two factions, the Draganon Pirates became a mercenary-for-hire business as well. Lending out their pirates to steal secrets and scout areas that neither faction could get to easily, the Pirates began to expand their horizons, and started to recruit from outside the realm of the criminal to aid in their expanding business dealings.Hundreds of years later, their reputation proceeds them as very savvy and cunning smugglers, pirates, and spies. Both the Stellar Corporation and the Shai Corporation are actively looking for them, in order to capture and bring to justice their members.Fortunately for the Pirates, they are living in a Relic pyramid on one of the moons of Chi''Dolan, which is not of any worth to the Stellar Corporation. The characteristics of the pyramid, unknown to the Pirates, is that it blankets the area around it in a stealthy covering of electronic haze, so that instruments either get unreliable readings, or none at all.For this reason, the Pirates are safe in the pyramid complex, and are very wise to not allow people to enter or exit at will (especially non-pirates). Once their secret is exposed, the Draganon Pirates are going to have a much harder time of completing operations and missions. Draganon Pirates’ Society and Culture:The Draganon Pirates have no real society or culture to speak of, except to say that secrecy in all things isas important as honor is to the Sveth. Secrecy violations usually result in death if one is so careless in their transgressions, and the Draganon Pirates are right to value their secrecy. The pirates of others guilds regularly go out to hunt the Draganon and bring them down, as they will be elevated in status above all others if they can make that happen. The Stellar and Shai corporations also hunt the pirates for their crimes, a task that will never be abandoned.But the pirates themselves enjoy a wide variety of clothing, cultures, food, drink, and music, and they use a variety of modes of transportation and weapons. Pirates come from all walks of life, and they lend their talents where they are needed in exchange for rich pay and being hidden from the eyes of the law from the planet they came from. The vast majority of the pirates, however, are humanoid, and have the same characteristics as the Stellar Corp, Shai Corp, Charkritians, and others in this part of the galaxy.The pirates have no real preference in archectecture, and their military style is that of the spy and the thief. They are very good at being stealthy and with hit and fade tactics, but they do not have sufficient numbers yet for large scale battles. However, they have participated in two medium scale battles during their history in order to fight off an alien menace that was encroaching on their territory, and their ship captains and pilots demonstrated an amazing amount of leadership and skill.7)Outer Ring Confederation: TBD8)Sillicoids: TBD9)Shendolin: TBD 