so what is the story (as it stands) for most of the Newly introduced races like Frerrn and the Tobari?

A quick reminder here, we discard everything from HW2 story wise, and treat cataclysm as unreliable. Deserts of Kharak came out after we started writing the mod and builds on HW2's story, so it is treated the same as HW2.

kk

Our manual(which can be gotten at http://hwat.pathstoeat.com/versions/Fulcrum_0_3_0_0_documents.7z) has some history for the frerrn and possibly some for the tobari, but I'll summarize(also the manual much like the mod itself is a work in progress and has many gaps).

The Frerrn are actually mentioned in passing in the cataclysm backstory but are not elaborated on. They're a group of worlds in the south of the galaxy that started to get established during the empire's glory days, and the empire tried to subjugate and crush them without much provocation to remove a potential future threat. Due to a combination of council action, Frerrn perseverance, and imperial overconfidence this didn’t succeed and in fact galvanized them into a stronger and more cohesive threat. For hundreds of years since the Frerrn have expected and prepared for an eventual next war with the empire. After the empire fell they expanded their borders notably, and they’ve had an antagonistic relationship with the successor states in the century since. They participate in the Galactic Council, but somewhat resent it for not doing more to curtail the empire.

The Tobari are the remnants of the galactic empire before the Taiidani. The lost control of the majority of the galaxy thousands of years ago, but retain several enclaves. These enclaves are heavily fortified and appear to be locally governed, but share representation on the galatic council and seem to generally follow the same structures and use the same ships. Tobari ships are a strange mix, some using advanced technology that the Tobari hoard and others seeming to use more conventional equipment, and often ornately decorated. The Tobari have been proclaiming their dominion over the galaxy for thousands of years and not done much about it, so nobody expects them to actually cause trouble, but those living near one of their remaining territorial fragments do need to respect their borders, and they do trade with the rest of the galaxy.