In the Alpha Octant of the Milky Way Galaxy, not every species or empire which emerged in the historical timeline made it to the "modern" era, to be seen on the Federation and Empire hex map.

-----

In some cases, the species in question were driven to extinction in Alpha, but survived elsewhere: the bird-like Paravians over in the Omega Octant; and (possibly) the wolf-like Carnivons in the Sargasso Storm Zone.

However, as shown in Star Fleet Battles Module C6, there are alternate "lost empire" timelines in which the above species persisted to the time of the General War. The "Mapsheet P" Paracians are previewed for Federation and Empire in Captain's Log #48; while the "Mapsheet C1" (or "Carnivon Empire") option is previewed for F&E in Captain's Log #51.

Perhaps, in light of the WYN Cluster data in F&E Civil Wars, there might be grounds for a "mapsheet C2", or "Cluster Carnivon", variation. But that's a topic for another thread...

-----

In other cases, the species in question still exist in the "modern" era, albeit as subjects of a conquering empire.

Of these, the Borak Star League emerged on an oxy-nitrogen world in the "off-map" Delta Sector, in what would later be known as the Hydran Old Colonies area.

Historically, the Borak (who are outlined as a species here) developed a range of Early Years ships and technologies, though their technological evolution was cut short by the Early Years Hydrans in Y88. However, the Borak fleet continued to "evolve" in the Hydran simulators, as seen in the playtest SFB Module E3.

-----

Meanwhile, on the coreward side of the Void zone separating the Hydran and Lyran sides of the Delta Sector, the Peladine Republic was founded by two sapient species - the raccoon-like Ranel and the dolphin-like Phelen - which co-evolved on the same home planet.

Tragically, any attempt by the Peladine to use a newly-built range of "modern" ships to expand into space was pre-empted in Y130, when their home system was invaded by forces from the Lyran Far Stars Duchy. However, just as with the case of the Borak, "new" Peladine ships appeared in the Lyran simulators: these can be seen in the playtest SFB Module E4.

-----

However, things might have gone differently ineach instance.

One might speculate on an alternate timeline in which the Borak persisted as a star-faring power - perhaps through forging a Commonwealth with the Hydrans?

Or, perhaps the Peladine expanded into space earlier than they were about to have done historically: such an inflection point might have led to more far-reaching consequences across the Alpha Octant.

In either case, I was wondering if there might one day be scope for offering the Borak and/or the Peladine in F&E terms someday - perhaps in future issues of Captain's Log magazine?

-----

In SIT terms, the Peladine might be the easier of the two, as their fleet uses "standard" heavy weapons: a mix of drones and plasma torpedoes. So no special rules would be necessary there.

The Borak, in contrast, might make for a greater challenge, due to their unique technologies: be it the phaser-cannon (which can fire three phaser-2 shots from a "two-space" weapon mount); the megaphaser (which is often, though not always, mounted in special turrets); and their remote-controlled hunter-killer attack shuttles. Plus certain empire-specific quirks, such as the lack of Aegis fire control prior to the onset of X1-ship technology. How many of those might need to be accounted for at an F&E scale of starship combat?

Plus, while the Peladine are more or less "standard" in their ship sizes class-for-class, several Borak hulls are smaller than their nearest equivalents in other Alpha Octant war fleets.

-----

In terms of base and planet dispositions, there might be more questions to answer.

While Civil Wars includes a look at the Lyran "off-map" region, it (alas) does not mark the location of the Peladine home world.

For that matter, it's not clear if the Peladine would still be in Lyran Far Stars territory in the "Carnivon Empire" preview from CL51, or if they would possibly have been in the Carnivon Remote Ranges instead.

Still, it might be possible to leverage the Civil Wars map to consider how an "early expansion" Peladine realm might have looked like - to include establishing a viable capital zone.

-----

The Borak are more of a challenge, in that even prior to the conquest, their colonies were intertwined with those of the Hydrans in the region.

But, on the other hand, we don't yet have a map of the Old Colonies zone - so it's less of an issue in terms of deciding where the Borak home world is to be located.

Personally, I think the "Commonwealth" option is better here - both in economic terms, as well as in terms of enabling Borak ships to be integrated with Hydran ships on the Klingon and Lyran borders.

-----

So, in the medium to long term, would there be any interest in either of these "forgotten empires" being considered in this game system?

Or, would it be best to perhaps wait until, or unless, a would-be "Module C7" brought these two fleets to formal publication over in SFB?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 - 12:26 pm: Edit

A few SIT-related notes:

-----

As noted above, the Peladine fleet uses a mix of drone and plasma torpedo armament.

For comparison's sake: in recent F&E products, a range of "minus" iterations of certain Middle Years Gorn ships have been made available, to represent the comparatively weaker plasma throw-weights available on said hulls prior to the advent of the plasma-S torpedo in Y170.

On a side note: I would argue that the same be true for the Middle Years ISC, as and when there is an opportunity to offer such units in greater detail later on.

In the case of the Peladine, there are a number of hulls which would, in my view, fit this same pattern. As in: one might expect to see a "CA-", with a lower attack factor, prior to Y170; and a "CA" (with its G-torps upgraded to S-torps, and so on and so forth) in service thereafter.

At that point, the Peladine would begin to deploy the typical array of "wartime construction" hulls seen elsewhere in the Alpha Octant, such as the CW and DW.

However, the above would only apply to those Peladine hull variants with heavy plasma armament. By comparison, those hull variants with heavy drone loadouts which existed prior to Y170 would not require a distinct "minus" iteration.

-----

By contrast, the Borak are distinct in terms of having no less then three major iterations of "modern" starship development - all of which involving "peacetime construction" hulls.

For example:

The "Expansion" light cruiser, or CLE, first appears in Y135. While it is comparatively weak offensively by later Borak standards, it (like other "Expansion" era hulls) has a series of non-weapon option boxes, so as to facilitate a rapid growth in Borak colonization efforts.

Starting in Y150, the CLE is upgraded into the CL. This replaces the NWO boxes with "standard" loadouts; installs phaser-cannons on the nacelle caps; and for the first time adds a pair of hunter-killer attack shuttles.

Then, starting in Y172, a further set of refits turns the CL into the CW - which, among other upgrades, adds a second megaphaser to the ship's turret. (Or rather, swaps out the old turret for a new one with twice the firepower.)

All three iterations, in my view, would require accounting for in SIT terms.

-----

Note that, despite being called a "war cruiser", the CW is still a "peacetime construction" ship.

To date, there are no "wartime construction" hulls in print for the Borak Star League. Although one might wonder if this would be so for a potential HDW equivalent hull.

On the one hand, this means that there would be no "discount" for building the likes of the Borak CW during the General War.

But, on the other hand, the Borak would be able to upgrade a proportionally higher number of their existing ships to first-generation X-technology, as and when that becomes an option for them.

No doubt this would be reflected on a would-be Borak SIT - and, thus, provide the Borak with certain economic questions to answer in this game system, should they ever be added to it someday...