Hi

I'm very curious about a race mentioned in Disciples of the dark gods, named Fra'al. And I wonder if this rase could be found in the Creature Anathema?

If not do anyone know anything about this race? Appearance and so on....

Thanks

The name dosn't ring a bell of hand. In what way were they mentioned in DotDG or on what page?

They were mentioned in BFG before, The Divine Light Emperor Class Battleship has destroyed Sharak-Fraka, Fra'al Battleship. Not much more on them, though they sound interesting, especially with the mention of Satraps in DotDG.

Wish they were expanded on, but seeing how GW forbids writers from writing on "name only" races, I doubt we'll see them.

They are mentioned on page 74 DotDG.

So what we know is that they are Spacefaring and nomadic, with Battleships. They are a psychic race, and deadly Fra'al knifes could be found on the grey market.

and a Fra'al thought on humans...

"Of all the vices you Imp'ral possess, I find the one you call 'greed' most fascinating. That you would sell your secrets, betray your kin'blood, and even enslave your own race to us, and for what? Mere trinkets and toys - for the least of our crafts. Most amusing..." Master Vray, Fra'al

How was the apperance of the Fra'al battleship?

I have not seen them in Creatures Anathema, sorry.

Astral said:

It's only a mention in the Divine Right's battle honours text-box.

The Fraal are from the Alternity RPG, right?

There was I think a picture of a fra'al ship on one of the first BFG magazines along with rules for it. If anyone could find it. afaik that was the first and last time they were mentioned except when mentioned in DotDG and the glass knife.

hellebore

I think I have that BFG magazine, but I have to make more detail search through my library. There are rules and conversion guide for their cruisers and shorter fiction about them.. ehm, nomadic? There was something about their planets IIRC, must find it.

To my knowledge, the Fra'al have only been used in BFG .

They were identified as a mercenary, technologically advanced race.

HappyDaze said:

LOL. I too thought of those the first time I read the name. And I guess they would be possible to use in WH40K too...

Alternity was awesome

I seem to remember that the battleship had impressive forward firepower and the model was based on an old-style Necron Destroyer. If I can dig out the mag I'll post what there is.

DW

Hi

Thanks you for the information so far. I hope you find the BFG-magasine.

A

I've got that old BFG magazine article somewhere. The Fra'al battleship was, as has already been mentioned, a conversion based on the old metal Necron Destroyer model, which featured a Necron Warrior sitting on a flying bike-type thing. The Necron Warrior was removed, and the model adjusted somewhat. As I recall there was little or no background on them.

The Fra'al seem to me to be one of a number of minor Xeno races that came along in the early part of this century when GW decided that they didn't need to restrict themselves to Orks, Tyranids and Eldar. Rick Priestly and Andy Chambers always had a policy of adding endless "filler" background to the setting, adding extensive one off references to places, races and items not seen so far in the setting. This is, of course, a practice I wholeheartedly approve of!

The practice continues with passing references to the Ghoul Stars, Barghesi etc etc... It's a neat trick which makes even hardened 40k anoraks like myself say "what the hell is a Barghesi!?" thus keeping us interested. FFG are really going to town on this technique.

I can't recall any other references to the Fra'al other than the ones mentioned already. No doubt GM will in due course fill in the background a little, with some neat bit of Xeno art being approved as depicting a Fra'al, and a writer being ordered to generate some stirring background for them. Alongside the Rashan, the K'nib, the Nicassar, the Demiurg...

Perhaps the Enoulians in CA are the Fra'al or some how connected with them... if the "glass knife" in DotDG is indeed of Fra'al origin.

I noticed when I was compiling a database of all equipment and weapons from the DH line and RT that there were some connections I hadn't noticed before. The Fra'al Glass Blade is very similar to the Fractal Blades found in RT and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that they both come from the same source. Further, the shard weapons of the Enoulians seem to function in the same vein as both the Glass Knife and the Fractal Sword. It would seem that all three weapon types share a common source. So, if the Glass Knife is, indeed, of Fra'al origin, then it's not much of a stretch to assume the Enoulians have a connection to them or very well might be them.

Just something to chew on.

Action_Carl said:

Well said. I absolutely love the system.

Wilfred Owen said:

Same. I was sad to see it sacrified on the Altar of D&D 3rd ed.

Graver said:

That's a pretty genius connection. I had thought of the shard rifles when I saw this thread, but such is my memory I thought they were listed under the Fra'al. Also, I counter your genius with my stubborn disbelief;

1) Similarily to the practice of throwing one-off names out there, I believe GW also tosses die-hards a few bones in the form of tentative, possible connections between fluff-threads. Sometimes deliberately, maybe even mostly deliberately, but this setting is too large, sprawling and long-lasting for them to remember things better than a legion of fans, so accidental connections are bound to occur.

2) Alright, secondly we've gotta remember these are Xenos , folks. They're not human. While these variousely-cited races seem to have similarities, this doesn't neccesarily mean anything. Maybe all freaky aliens from Sector X developed glass/shard technology much as humanity developed projectile and/or laser weaponary. After all, when the Tau found the Kroot the latter xeno's had projectile rifle; Does that signify a connection between Kroot and Humans? (Possibly, the Kroot do learn by eating, after all; but I degress)

Anyway, there's my thoughts. I hope I don't come off as too much of an ass here; I do think it's an interesting connection and you're pretty cunning to work it out Graver , but I dunno. If I only agreed with you my post would be too short? Besides, up to a certain point debates are fun.