Phanaton Family Tree

[DitheringFool]

OK, I have to ask...are the Phanaton the evolutionary ancestors of the Yazirian (any old school Star Frontiers fans out there)?

[Sean Mahoney]

SF is what got me into roleplaying... but since I don't have the new issue yet I am not familiar with the Phanatons.

I had started a thread a while back about converting STAP to SciFi and specifically Star Frontiers...

Sean Mahoney

[Gary McBride]

DitheringFool wrote:

OK, I have to ask...are the Phanaton the evolutionary ancestors of the Yazirian (any old school Star Frontiers fans out there)?

Historically, its not impossible that the designers thought that. Isle of Dread was published in 1980. Star Frontiers came out in 1982. So, the phanaton would have been the sire of the yazirian, not the other way around.

Still, it seems a little far fetched. As a kid, I always imagined that phanatons (since in X1 they are shown mobbing a PC) were Rocky the flying squirrel turned evil. "Hey, Bullwinkle, have you tried human flesh? It's delicious!"

Besides, Yazirians are flying wookiees. They are furry, spacefaring battle ragers ready and willing to glide along their Han Solo-esque human buddy and fix up the old Assault Scout when it inevitably crashes on Volturnus.

Gary

[Cthulhudrew]

The only thing the phanatons and yazirians really have in common is their wing membranes, as I recall. The phanatons have faces that look like racoons, and long prehensile tails; they are also pretty small creatures. While the tail could have disappeared with evolution, it seems unlikely that the face would have changed quite so drastically.

[Troy Taylor]

Gary McBride wrote:

As a kid, I always imagined that phanatons (since in X1 they are shown mobbing a PC) were Rocky the flying squirrel turned evil. "Hey, Bullwinkle, have you tried human flesh? It's delicious!"

See, nothing up my sleeve ... and presto!

[Roaring phanaton appears]

I gotta get me another hat.

[Darva]

Gary McBride wrote:

As a kid, I always imagined that phanatons (since in X1 they are shown mobbing a PC) were Rocky the flying squirrel turned evil. "Hey, Bullwinkle, have you tried human flesh? It's delicious!"

Phanatons aren't evil though. In X1, they are listed as Lawful. More recently, in Dragon 339, they are Chaotic Good.

[Gary McBride]

Darva wrote:

Phanatons aren't evil though. In X1, they are listed as Lawful. More recently, in Dragon 339, they are Chaotic Good.

Whatever the alignment is listed on page thirty of X1, on page one the Bill Willingham black and white shows five phanatons mobbing a prone human warrior. Sure, maybe he's chaotic or maybe the phanatons just got tired of the fruits and veg.

"Meat's back on the menu, boys!"

Gary