Connecting sentences with dictionary form verbs?

Question

This is from the "intro" of the novel talking in general about sayayins . It seems that is like a sort of poetic/archaic style as the grammar doesn't make sense to me.

彼らは戦いを好み、ほかの星を侵略する宇宙のならず者だった。

I think it means

彼らは[戦いを好み]、[[ほかの星]を侵略する] [宇宙のならず者だった]。

Their liking is the battle, to invade other stars [they] were the hooligans of the universe.

It's that is correct, what is the grammatical explanation for the connection between this [ほかの星を侵略する] and this [宇宙のならず者だった] as there is no と, も, commas, pre-masu or て-form linkage.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Limanido, Ringil's explanation of the grammar is correct, but there are a couple of additional issues you might want to consider. First, notice that 戦いを好み is also part of the phrase that modifies ならず者. (Here, 好み is not a noun, as you have assumed, but the 連用形 of the verb 好む.) Also, the meaning of 星 in Japanese is much broader than that of "star" in English, and includes 惑星 (planet) as well as 恒星 (what we call a "star" in English). Similarly, while 宇宙 can refer to the universe as a whole, in some contexts its meaning is closer to "outer space." That seems more appropriate here – surely the point is that they conduct their hooliganism in space, not that they are the worst hooligans in the entire universe. Hence, "They were space hooligans who enjoyed fighting and invaded other planets."

Answer 2

It modifies the noun ならず者.

Here's a simpler example:

本を読む - (I) read books

本を読む子 - A child who reads books

本を読む男の子 - A male child who reads books

In your example, being fairly literal, we have

[[ほかの星]を侵略する][ならず者だった] - They were hooligans who invaded other stars

[[ほかの星]を侵略する] [宇宙のならず者だった] - They were hooligans of the universe who invaded other stars

Edit per @Chocolate's suggestion: [戦いを好み] also directly modifies ならず者. The 好み is the 連用形 of 好む and it is used to connect the clauses. It doesn't say that they like to invade other stars. It only says they like to fight/engage on battle, the invading is a separate action. You can think of it like this:

[戦いを好む] [ならず者だった] - They were hooligans who liked fighting

[戦いを好み]、[[ほかの星]を侵略する] [ならず者だった] - They were hooligans who liked fighting and invaded other stars. Note that the action of liking is separate from the action of invading.

[戦いを好み]、[[ほかの星]を侵略する] [宇宙のならず者だった] - They were hooligans of the universe who liked fighting and invaded other stars