Near the center of the great spiral galaxy, where stars are much closer together than Earth's sun and it's neighbors, a human race developed not too unlike the Humans of Earth. When these humans discovered that waves of subspace pi-tachyon particles could cross interstellar space faster than light, they realized that they had found a link to the stars. A radio message that would have normally taken years to travel between stars could now be sent with subspace communications in a mere matter of days or even hours. The humans started broadcasting news of themselves to their neighboring stars and soon found out that they were not alone... The humans made contact with an inventive race of insect-like creatures called Vrusk, who had developed limited space travel decades earlier. One of the Vrusks' mining colonies had already contacted another race, the shape-changing Dralasites. The two races had been exchanging information for several years, and both the Vrusks and Dralasites were pleased to learn of this "new third race" of Humans. The Vrusks and Dralasites sent a wealth of information to the Humans, who used this new knowledge quickly and industriously. Soon afterwards, interstellar spaceships were developed.
The three races met in a large area of space known as "the Frontier". There they also discovered the Yazirians, a race of slender and tall maned humanoids. Soon, settled worlds in the Frontier became melting pots for the four races, with dazzling mixtures of alien architecture and cultures. To supply the needs of these worlds, the first interstellar company (Pan-Galactic Corporation) was formed. It developed interests everywhere, from scientific research to farming to spaceship construction. Pan-Galactic (or PGC for short) even created a universal language that was soon adopted as a "common tongue" amongst the four races of the Frontier. Many larger companies which started later were modeled after PGC, but none approach the size or financial power of Pan-Galactic.
Then the Sathar appeared. No one knows where they came from or why. They attacked and destroyed lonely systems on the edges of explored space with a quick and savage demeanor, moving progressively inward upon the Frontier. Survivors of these attacks described the Sathar as wormlike creatures ranging from three to four meters in length. That was all that was known about them, because they would kill themselves rather than allow themselves to be captured and interrogated. As the danger increased, the four races created the United Planetary Federation (aka the UPF) as an interstellar goverernment to preside along with each individual planetary government to defend the worlds in the Frontier. The mysterious Sather were eventually forced back, but only to return again later in a more sinister form.
The Sathar learned that they could not defeat the UPF in a large scale battle. Instead they turned to a more cunning approach involving subterfuge. They began hiring, abducting, and/or coercing Dralasite, Human, Vrusk, and Yazirian agents to sabotage interstellar trade, disrupt local governments, infiltrate key strategic locations for information, and interfere with any other operations to destroy from within rather than assault from beyond. The UPF created the Star Law Rangers as an interstellar police force, to track down Sathar agents from planet to planet and system to system. But despite the efforts of the Rangers, the devious Sathar and their sly agents have become the most dangerous threat ever to face civilized life within the Frontier.
Star Frontiers is © TSR Hobbies Inc, all rights reserved