~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ ======>>> ~~ ~~ SSSSS PPPPP EEEEE LLL LLL JJJJJ AAA MM MM MM MM EEEEE RRRRR ~~ ~~ SS PP PP EE LLL LLL JJJ A A MMMMM MMMMM EE RR R ~~ ~~ SSSSS PPPPP EEEEE LLL L LLL L JJJ AAAAA M M M M M M EEEEE RRRR ~~ ~~ SS PP EE LLLLL LLLLL JJJ A A M M M M M M EE RR R ~~ ~~ SS PP EEEEE * JJJ M M M EE RR R ~~ ~~ SS PP * JJ JJJ * EEEEE RR R ~~ ~~ SS * ...... JJJJJ <==\.... * * RR R ~~ ~~ SS .... # # /\ .... * R ~~ ~~ * .... _____#########^_/|| .... ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <_o_###_ ___ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ /_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Temporum Sphaera (Edition 1.5)

An accessory for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd Ed) Spelljammer Game.

Edited and Compiled by Richard J. Pugh, the "Bard of Wildspace"

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

Portions of this work are subject to copyright law, and in such cases owned by the individuals who contributed them. Material ownership is designated as follows:

Michael Bauser: Portions of the Timeline, and comments on several of he other features.

Joe Dubois: The beetle ship.

Ville Lavonius: Portions of the Timeline, the worlds contained in the "Travel Log" section, and the Spelljammer FAQ section.

Todd Montgomery: The revised encounter tables, and the Great White ship.

"The Phantom:" The Remora - c1993/4.

Richard J. Pugh: Portions of the Timeline, the two adventure seeds, and the stag beetle ship.

"Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," and the Spelljammer logo, are trademarks owned by TSR hobbies, and are used here without permission under the assumption of Fair Use.

This work is also subject to Copyleft: anyone using this material for commercial purposes without our consent will have to learn to live with a drilled kneecap, and that's if we are in a *good* mood. In short:

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE COPIES OF THIS WORK TO BE SOLD TO OTHER INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS FOR FINANCIAL GAIN.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction

It has often been said that the sequel is never as good as the original. That may be so, but only if you are trying to do the same thing twice.

You have before you the Temporum Sphaera, the second "net guide" for the Spelljammer universe. The production of this work resembles a tennis match in many ways, where no one really knew who is supposed to be doing what at any one time. Actually it's rather funny, but it's one of those "had to be there" stories, so I'll spare you the agony.

The predecessor of this work, "The Rhyme of the Ancient Spelljammer," was designed in the spirit of the TSR work "Lost Ships:" a little bit of everything for everyone reading. This work, while it does have a number of different features, is built around a theme of sorts. That theme is the timeline itself: The Temporae Sphaera, or "Chronology of the Spheres."

One of the great shortcomings of the Spelljammer universe is the lack of a coherent timeline. The Temporum is an attempt to provide such a timeline for fans of the spelljammer universe, or those people who use space travel in their groundling campaigns.

This work also offers some new ships, some new places to explore, a very good bibliography of commercially available spelljammer articles, a "frequently asked questions" essay, and even some humor.

Read on, and enjoy!

Richard Pugh, editor. Administrator: SPJ-L. The sky is NOT the limit anymore. :)

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

List of Contents

The Spelljammer FAQ - version 1.1b New Ships How to make a good ship even better. Travel Log Revised Spelljammer Encounter Tables Adventure Seeds Yesterday's Spelljammer Blast from the Past (aka "Flight of the Deadjammer") Temporum Sphaera

Appendix A: 51 uses for a dead Neogi (for fun) Appendix B: A Spelljammer Bibliography

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Spelljammer FAQ - version 1.1b by Ville Lavonius

(Disclaimer: Some of this material contains personal opinions. Some of the other stuff may be a little out of date, but hey, we try.)

List of Questions:

A) General Questions 1. What is "Spelljammer" anyway ? 2. What products are available in Spelljammer-line ? 3. What products are recommended ? 4. What new products is TSR planning to release ? 5. These novels, are they any good ? 6. Isn't this whole space-fantasy thing a bit silly ? 7. Haven't I seen these ideas somewhere else before ? 8. How do the Official[tm] TSR worlds fit into this ? 9. Other Spelljammer materials (See part D also)

B) Questions on background 1. What are the Tripartite creatures ? 2. I really don't think I like... 3. I think the economics really suck ! 4. Official history ? 5. What'd you think about including... Black Holes Nebulae Quasars Comets Dark Matter New creatures 6. I really don't like binary gravity ! 7. Neogi - where do they come from, who build their ships etc ?

C) Questions on mechanics 1. Where are _voidscan_ and _retain air envelope_ ? 2. Aren't Giffs a bit wimpy to be the frontline mercenaries ? 3. Aren't Radiant Dragons a "wee bit" OTT ? 4. Clerics Turning Spells 5. Ship statistics Lost Ships

D) Net-related questions 1. What are useful newsgroups ? 2. What is Rhyme ? 3. Gosh, a whopping 185K ! Are you guys planning to do part II ? 4. TSR-canon from the novels ? 5. Spelljammeresque mailing lists

E) Using other systems 1. War Captain's Companion 2. Space Fleet 3. Other games Brandon Cope's conversion for GURPS

A) General Questions

A-1 Spelljammer is AD&D in space. My means of magical items and spells, players can take their characters to others planets. A full description is in the boxed set, and is a little too long to do here.

A-2 Spelljammer products:

Spelljammer 1065 The Legend of Spelljammer 1072 War Captain's Companion 1087 The Astromundi Cluster MC7 Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium MC9 Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium II

The Complete Spacefarer's Guide

SJA1 Wildspace 64 page adventure, **** SJA2 Skull & Crossbows 64 page anthology, ***1/2 SJA3 Crystal Spheres 64 page adventure, * SJA4 Under the Dark Fist 64 page adventure, **1/2 SJS1 Goblins' Return 64 page adventure, ** SJQ1 Into the Heart of the Enemy 64 page adventure, **

SJR1 Lost Ships 96 page mishmash, **1/2 SJR2 Spelljammer Screen not worth it SJR3 Realmspace 96 pager, *1/2 SJR4 Practical Planetology 64 pager, *** SJR5 Rock of Bral 64 pager, ****1/2 SJR6 Greyspace 96 pager, ** SJR7 Krynnspace 96 pager, ** SJR8 Space Lairs adventure anthology, *1/2

A-3 Your recommendations

Spelljammer itself, Rock of Bral sourcebook, Wildspace, these are the really good supplements, the other adventures are rather weak and require at least some rewriting, the other supplements aren't that hot either. TSR's big-font-it-is reigns pretty badly in the *space supplements. They are a good idea, but a bit overcooked. The second novel has some very effective scenes in it that might help you in describing what fantasy space's really like.

A-4 New products for 1993

Astromundi Cluster - a boxed set describing a crystal sphere full of asteroids and lots of complex cultures. Basically a good concept, with a lot of campaign potential. However, you should be prepared to do a lot of detail on your own. Like the other sphere sourcebooks, it's a little half-baked.

TSR will release WildSpace a VCR-game (like Dragonstrike this year) based on Sj 1994. The campaign set itself receives NO NEW MATERIAL.

During the winter of 1993-4, TSR officially announced that it will not develop anything for Spelljammer ever again. Issue closed. What's more, they won't make it available for licensing by any other company.

Spelljammer line is effectively dead, no new products are planned (though articles MIGHT appear in TSR mags). Replacement is WildSpace, the second game in the AdventureVision series (videotape + boardgame). Excuse me while I wretch. Looks bleak.

A-5 The Spelljammer Novels

The various Spelljammer novels, collectively called "The Cloakmaster Cycle," are of variable quality, but each have their merits, however small.

I. Beyond the Moons (David Cook) A good story overall, with a great deal of background material, but bring lots of coffee. It is S-L-O-W.

II. Into the Void (Nigel Findley) Excellent chrnonicle of one adventurer's first journey in space. Nothing more need be said. This is a "must read."

III. Maelstrom's Eye (Roger E. Moore) Rather dissapointing. Lots of poor plot devices and plodding dialogue. BUT, there is some good information on some crystal spheres not detailed in the SJ source books. For example, Heardspace, a dyson sphere.

IV. Radiant Dragon (Elaine Cunningham) Actually not bad, though the level of intensity isn't up to the rest of the arc, giving it a "middle ground" feeling. There is some good historical stuff mixed in there, especially about the humanoids, and some good descriptions of Armistace and Radole, two worlds featured in Practical Planetology (that work is not required, however...)

V. Broken Sphere (Nigel Findley) While a bit confusing, this is perhaps the best of the entire arc. Political intrigue, exploration, romance, and perhaps the ultimate heartbreak, are all here. Several new worlds and spheres are hinted at, including the "Trullian Ring," a large formation of spheres in a ring- like pattern. Another "must-read."

VI. Ultimate Helm (Russ T. Howard) This book ends the arc with a bang. Literally. In fact, it reads like a Sylvester Stallone movie: lots of action, lots of fast-paced dialog, a badly written love scene thrown in for good measure, and practically no plot. It's fun to read, but easily forgotten. What's more, the ending makes practically no sence. It does contain some valueable information about the Spelljammer itself, and fills in some gaps left from the Legends set.

A-6 Isn't this whole thing a bit silly ?

Well, yes, but you can of course make the whole thing "harder", resembling modern physics (or your favorite SF series) more and taking out the silliest bits (some of them were in existence way before the launch of Spelljammer, like the inventor-gnomes from Krynn). And are Elminster, Mr. Spock or Cenobites (to name a few others) any less...

A-7 Haven't I seen these ideas somewhere before ?

Quite likely, the idea of planets (especially our Earth) being encased in a crystal shell originates from the greeks (if not from some earlier civilization). The planet creatures are a clear spin-off from Terry Pratchett's "Discworld"-series. A more somber insight into the spherical matters is offered in David Brin's award-winning novel "Crystal Spheres" found in anthology "River of Time". "Space" Travel was first touched in an old Dragon article about the Astral Plane (#67 I recall).

A-8 How do the Official TSR-worlds fit into SJ-thematic ? Krynn, Oerth and Toril have already been semi-retconned into the Sj-continuum. The respective sourcebooks have (IMO) lousy explanations on how spelljamming has been a part of life for decades - the adventurers just have never heard of it.

Dark Sun is either not in a crystal sphere at all, or that sphere has not yet been breached by spelljammers.

There are gates to the gothic horror of Raveloft in wildspace, but nothing has been said of these two worlds' relationship, there are illithids (mindflayers) in the Ravenloft realms so there might be a connection. Anyway, it is much harder to get out of Ravenloft than get in - a ship shouldn't make this any easier.

A-9 Where could I find more SJ-related information?

Check out Appendix B, A Spelljammer bibliography.

In addition, TSR has run some info on Spelljammer in Dragon:

#153: Designers notes and errata on the first boxed set. #159: Spelljammer special, a very good space base is detailed. (#175: Merely the cover is SJ-related) #183: Space encounters (piracy) #184: Neogi spells #192: Silly (april's fool) big weapons #199: Campaign Journal (a trading company)

Some adventures have appeared in Dungeon, but no exact info is available at the moment. Occasionally some things have appeared in Polyhedron, namely in issues 73 and 74, which describe how to combine SJ with Space 1889 (by GDW).

Also, a D&D scenario, "In the Phantom's Wake", has quite a lot in common with Spelljammer.

A-10 "Deck plans", he said in quavering voice

Deck plans are featured in many products, the boxed sets contain many ship cards (Crystal Spheres and Goblins' Return have one too).

A-11 Miniatures ?

No lead miniatures so far (probably never). The first set has paper miniatures, the screen and the WCC contain 3-D cardboard miniatures.

A-12 Deck plans for miniatures ??

Like in GenCon '92 ?? Apparently these were custom built from scratch, looked nice in photos.

B) Background for the campaign

B-1 What are those tripartite creatures hinted at in many products ?

I guess we'll never know for sure. Ultimate Helm gave some indications that they are a race called the Juna, but other than that, you're on your own.

B-2 I think I cannot stomach... a) Gunpowder is fairly popular in space, it works in most spheres and is, in fact, far from effective. A pistol is no match to a crossbow (even those are underrated in AD&D). Nothing is said about how common gunpowder (or smokepowder as the books call it) is - you're pretty much in control, being able to decide whether cannons are merely conversation pieces in your campaign. b) Magic shops are featured in some Sj-products. But these are easy to eradicate - burnt down by the game-balance police or something. I kind of like these shops, but keep their selections Really Small And Bloody Expensive Too[tm]. Those price lists in Lost Ships and WC's Companion should be ditched immediately (a heavy ballista +3 for a mere 32K gp). c) Those "Biological Weapons" from the first Unhuman War (alien + battlemechs), whose construction methods have been forgotten... (detailed in MC9 and co-starring in Goblins Return & Radiant Dragon). Ick, this stuff simply sucks - some of the creatures are salvageable, but the background is not. Indeed, the present goblinoid's construction of "the Pump" from WCC seems to be the most effective spelljamming helm of all time. What TSR needs is a good continuity editor...

B-3 Whoever decided the prices had a bad day !

And perhaps a hemorrhoid as well.

B-4 I wonder, is there an "official timeline" in some sourcebook?

Later in this document, yes.

B-5 What'd you guys say if I implemented... a) Black Holes. These have been described briefly but badly in the Greyspace accessory. No facts at all, just speculation - in Usenet conversation regarding BHs the following ideas crept out of the collective imagination: - Gate to another universe (bo-ring) - Mega-class Sphere of Annihilation (tad unfair) - Astraler / Etherealizator (why not, but what happens to the ship) - Twister (turns your body inside out) - Ultimate Vacation Spot (no-one wants to leave) b) Nebulae. Perhaps these are teeny tiny crystal spheres spontaneously coming to existence in distant reaches of Phlogiston. Perhaps not. c) Quasars. Ditto, maybe they oughtn't exist, since observation outside a sphere is impossible and quasars need BIG distances. d) Comets. Realmspace has one comet, K'houtek. Pretty wimpy explanation, just a ice-world on a big orbit. e) Dark Matter. Why not? f) New Creatures. The more the merrier.

B-6 Binary gravity, NOT!

Yeah, it was pretty much a shortcut for TSR - some products have included some high-gravity worlds, but no Unified Gravity Theory has so far been published - and the effects of different gravities have been kept quite small.

B-7 What are the Neogi up to, and where on earth do they get all their equipment ?

No idea. They certainly can't buy it all from the Arcane. They don't have a homeworld - that's about the only thing said about them in the material.

C) Mechanix

C-1 Missing Spells ?

Yes, so far the Voidscan and Retain Air Envelope haven't materialized into solspace yet.

C-2 "Man, I could beat a giff in a fight any day"

Yeah, but probably the odds were much more even if the giff were treated equally. Give them strength bonuses (+7) and different kinds of specialization (+x), they are, after all, the most experienced mercenaries in the spheres. Also bear in mind that regular opposition in space wars won't be magic-weapons-wielding heroes but 0-level sailors and marines.

C-3 Biggest Dragon competition ?

Yeah, these Radiant Dragons seem to be "a bit" too dangerous, but, they are also rare creatures whose presence in an area will be generally known. Also, meeting one shouldn't necessarily lead to a fight since these overgrown reptiles are very fond of talking. In a fight they will probably rip apart almost any ship. Of course, the newer space dragons in MC9 seem to be even worse. Steer clear.

C-4 Men of a religious persuasion

Priests and Druids? Uh, we're working on it...

C-5 Ship statistics and prices

The Crew: 1 is apparently NOT a typo in the Vipership description. The ship seems to be just a ulti-munchkin effort from the pen of Ed Greenwood.

The ships' prices are screwed badly.

Military ships seem to be the order of the day. Space is a dangerous place after all.

D) net-related thingies

D-1 Some Useful newsgroups and mailing lists

So far (surprise, surprise) there's no newsgroup purely for Spelljammer. Related discussions happen mostly in rec.games.frp.dnd, the other *.frp groups occasionally (read, once in a blue moon) have something concerning Sj. The Spelljammer mailing list presently resides in Cornell University. If you wish to join up, send a message to [email protected] with JOIN SPJ-L your name in the message body. I withdrew from the ADND-L list a year back, perhaps some present members could enlighten me with information - is there anything useful found there ? Ravenloft and Dark Sun have healthy mailing lists, I've heard of a FR-centered one too.

D-2 This "Rhyme" I keep hearing about, *What* is it ?

A big text file put together mostly by the "Early Arrivals on Spelljammer Mailing List". It has new ships, monsters, planets and is considered to be a well put together net.book by the general populace. Copies are available at AGENA (149.170.4.128) in the directory /USERS/PUB/AD&D/SPJAMMER. Copies may also be available on various game related BBS and private FTP sites and file servers, but it you're looking for those, you're on your own. It weighs about 180KB.

D-3 Egads, this is a BIGGIE ! What about pt. 2 ?

You are reading it.

A part 3? Definitely, and YOU can be a part of this, join the mailing list or ask the FAQ-keeper ([email protected]) or Richard Pugh, the Rhymist, for more info.

E) Using other systems

E-1 War Captain's Companion: Most of this stuff can be transferred to another system with some imagination.

E-2 Space Fleet: Why not? The elves do it all the time. Just watch out for those overlapping gravity planes.

E-3 Using Entirely Other games

Guidelines for transferring Spelljammer to GURPS exist (they were crafted by GMASTer Brandon Cope). There is also an article from Polyhedron for combining Spelljammer and Space 1889 (check the bib at the end.)

Actually, many fantasy games talk about "flying sailboats," or "skyships," so with some tinkering you could apply the concepts of Spelljammer to whatever game system you choose. It even offers a way to mix science fiction with fantasy, while not stretching things to the breaking point.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Ships

Here are some new ships to add a little spice to a campaign.

Name: Beetle Built By: Humans (Custom Orders only [Cash up front]) Used By: Many Tonnage: 3 tons Hull Points: 3 Crew: 1/3 MC: A Landing-Land: Yes Landing-Water: Yes Armor Rating: 3 Saves As: Metal Power Type: Major or Minor Helm Ship's Rating: As for helmsman Standard Armament: None Cargo: 3/4 ton Keel Length: 15' Beam Length: 7' Cost: 12,000 gp

Description: It looks like a basic beetle. hard outer roundish casing. The cockpit holds three riders. One in the middle (helmsman) with one passenger on either side towards the front of him. Behind the helmsman is a cargo area. The front of the beetle is a glasssteal dome the encases the passengers. They can see out, but no one can see in. This makes the beetle useable by many of the races that are effected by bright light (illithids/drow). It also is why it is so expensive.

The back of the beetle opens its wings to access the cargo area. The legs of the beetle act as landing gear and grappling rams. So it can attach itself to the sides of other ships. For an additional 8,000gp the legs can be made magical to work under the power of the helmsman. It is used mainly for short trips, down to a planet over to another ship. The ship can be colored many different colors, some like dark colors so it can blend into the wildspace easily. While embassaries usually have their insignia pai nted on the back wings in bright colors. They are only custom made because the leg room required in the front seat varies, thus a four month wait is required to purchase this fantastic new ship.

Name: Great White Class Dreadnought Built By: Human Used By: Humans (Greyspace) Cost: 114,000 gp. Tonnage: 80 tons Hull Points: 80 Hull Points Crew: 24/80 Maneuverability Class: E Landing-Land: No Landing-Water: No Armor Rating: 6 Saves As: Thick Wood Power Type: Major Helm Ship's Rating: As Helmsman Standard Armament: 4 Med. Ballistae: Crew 2 each Arcs: Top-FSP, Top-FSP, S, P 1 in each of the eyes has protected turrets.

2 Med. Catapults: Crew 3 each Arcs: Fixed Forward

2 Hvy. Catapults: Crew 5 each Arcs: Top-360 Degrees Protected Turrets

Blunt Ram Grapple Ram (Arc: Forward, FB)

Cargo Capacity: 40 Tons Keel Length: 260 Feet Beam Width: 40 Feet (90 with fins)

Description: The Great White Dreadnought looks very much like a shark. Open decks are visible on the head and back, while most of the ships tonnage in enclosed. The fins function as sails, with the large dorsal fin as a very large mainmast.

The "mouth" of the craft acts as a grappling ram. It "bites" an enemy ship on a successful grapple attack, and has a 50% chance of sheering its target by tearing apart the sails and masts in the process. If the helmsman chooses not to grapple, the prow can also function as a blunt ram.

Uses: This ship was designed as a battle cruiser, specifically to battle humanoid ships like scro mantis ships. The effectiveness of the craft in this endeavor is questioned, as there are not enough of them to make a lasting impact on the tactical situation in Greyspace. In a one on one battle however, a Great White is very dangerous. As such it is finding a role as a solo attack craft. Such attack craft are often crewed with crack space sailors, with the rest of the crew composed of well trained marine s and several high level spellcasters.

Variations: To date, there are no outstanding variations on the Great White, though there is one that has an armor rating of 5 and a cargo capacity of 35. This ship is used by a band of mercenaries, and is called the "Man-Eater."

Name: Remora Built By: Humans/Elves (Delcos Space) Used By: Any Cost: 13,800 Tonnage: 4 Hull Points: 4 Crew: 1/4 MC: B Landing-Land: Yes Landing-Water: Yes Armor Rating: 6 Saves As: Metal (Copper) Power Type: Minor Helm Ship's Rating: As per helmsman Standard Armament: 1 Light Ballista Crew: 1 (F) 1 Light Catapult Crew 1 (FPS) Cargo Capacity: 2 tons Keel Length: 54' Beam Length: 10'

Description: The Remora class of ships were originally designed to hang beneath a Hammership (1 under each eye). This requires that a docking ring be installed in each eye (1000 gp each to retrofit, 500 gp each if installed during initial construction). When docked, the Remora's catapult is unusable, and the Hammership's MC is reduced by 1 (since the Hammership/Remora(s) combination now weighs more than 60 tons - as per _War Captain's Companion Book 1, Table 5-9). The catapult is located on the forward e nd of the upper deck, just in front of the docking ring. The ballista fires through a portal on the forward end of the lower deck (below the gravity plane), thus limiting it's firing arc while giving it's weaponeer a -4 AC bonus. This firing port must be sealed before any water landing is attempted. Also note that all Remoras must be detached before the Hammership can attempt to land.

Subsequent to it's introduction, the Remora class has been seen occasionally in other spheres hanging under a variety of vessels. The Remora's typical roles are as a scout vessel, landing craft, and escort. Rumor has it that the Delcosians are working on a new ship that will carry a large number of Remoras.

Variants: Some Remoras have been fitted with a dual mount ballista, and thus require one more member of their weapon crews. A few have been built with stronger metals than copper in order to have a better armor class.

REMORA Deck Plans (A feeble attempt at ascii art)

--rrr------grav ccc | l hh| | \ ------OO------plane \bbb | l | | / ------ff fff f ff f Side view r - docking ring | - bulkhead c - catapult l - ladder b - ballista f - fins h - helm 0 - hatch between decks

1U 2U 3U 4U /------\ < ccc | OOl hh| | > \------/

Top view (Upper Deck)

1L 2L 3L 4L f f ff ff fff /------\ < bbb | OOl | | > \------/ ff fff f ff Bottom view (Lower Deck) f (Reversed Gravity)

Rooms: 1U - Catapult Deck 1L - Ballista Room 2U - Bridge 2L - Common Room 3U - Helmsman's Quarters 3L - Crew Quarters 4U - Upper Cargo Hold 4L - Lower Cargo Hold

Other notes (i.e. explanations of bad ascii artwork):

The fins are paired, project downward at a 45 degree angle, and can be flattened along the hull for landing or when docked below the mother ship.

The hull is 50' long, 10' wide, and 20' high. Unfortunately, ascii doesn't project this very well, nor does it leave me room to show the doorways between each room. Also, there is an 8x10' hatch on the top and bottom of the ship (just forward of the fins) that leads into each cargo hold.

The catapult deck is the only area of the ship that is open to space. There is a 3' high railing around the edge.

Name: Stag Beetle Built By: Humans (Custom Orders only [Cash up front]) Used By: Many Tonnage: 6 tons Hull Points: 6 Crew: 2/6 MC: B Landing-Land: Yes Landing-Water: Yes Armor Rating: 3 Saves As: Metal Power Type: Major or Minor Helm Ship's Rating: As for helmsman Standard Armament: Grappling ram Cargo: 2 tons Keel Length: 25' Beam Length: 10' Cost: 20,000 gp

Description: The Stag Beetle is a larger, heavier version of the Beetle ship. It has a hard, rounded casing with two protruding hook-like appendages in front. The Stag Beetle is usually used for medium distance cargo hauls, and occasionally as a transport ship for a small band of adventurers. In some areas, it is replacing the Mosquito as the preferred short range ship.

The cockpit of a stag beetle is set up the same way as a standard beetle, with a glassteal dome in front, and a hard metal casing over the rest. The helmsman sits in the middle of the cockpit, with two other passengers on the side. The two passengers in the front also have access to two leavers which can control the grappling ram. This ram is not generally used as a weapon, but as a docking clamp. The other passengers on the ship ride just behind the helmsman. It is also common for one person to stand w atch on the roof of the ship during a long haul.

The legs of a stag beetle serve as landing gear only. Due to the increased size of the ship, they are not practical as grappling hooks, as is the case with the smaller beetle ship. The grappling ram fulfills this purpose. In areas where stag beetles are common, larger ships like hammerships and whaleships sometimes have special metal grab irons that allow a stag beetle to latch into place to deliver its cargo. The grappling ram can be animated by the helmsman, but this enhancement costs an additional 10 ,000 gp.

Stag Beetles also have to be custom built, depending on who will be using the ship. The cargo area can also be converted into an additional passenger compartment. When this alteration is made, the ship can carry an additional six passengers. Because of considerations about air, this is typically only done in areas of high spelljamming activity, where the stag beetle acts as a sort of "bus." Such areas include the Grinder in Greyspace, the Tears of Selune in Realmspace, the vicinity of Bral in Spiralspace, and the moons of Gandorine in Solaris.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to make a good ship even better! by "The Phantom."

As part of my never ending quest to fix/improve the ship design tables from the War Captain's Guide, I decided to fill in some of the other metals that lie between copper and the precious metals.

Base Cost Base AR Base MC

Bronze 3,500 6 E Iron 4,000 5 E Steel 4,500 4 E Glassteel special 4 D

Price for glassteel will depend on the availability of sufficiently high level wizards and is up to the DM.

Other possibilities:

I. Plating: Rather than have multiple layers of plating, each of an even stronger material, and also having the rather strange effect that light wood (Base AR 10) becomes AR 9 whether plated with copper or adamantite, it would be logical alter the plating rules slightly.

For each 2 levels of AR by which the new material's AR exceeds that of the old, improve the vessels AR by 1.

Example: A ship built of light wood has a base AR of 10. Plating the ship with an AR 9 or 8 material would improve it's AR by 1. An AR 7 or 6 material would improve the ship's AR by 2, and so on.

II. Improved Bracing. Gutting a ship worsens AR by 2. Logically, replacing interior bulkheads and reinforcements with a stronger material will improve AR. Costs: Multiply 10% of the ship's tonnage by the base cost of the new material. This process requires 3 days for every 10 tons of the vessel. Effects: AR is improved by 1 place for every 4 levels of AR by which the new material exceeds the old. Eg. A light wooden hull would be have it's AR improved by 1 if the new material had an AR from 9-6, and b y 2 if the new material had an AR from 5-2, and so on. SR, MC, and cargo capacity are unaffected.

Restrictions: This modification may be performed more than once, but each time it nullifies the effects of previous alterations in bracing materials.

III. Additional Bracing. If removing bulkheads and bracing worsens AR, then adding bracing in critical places should improve it. Costs: Multiply 5% of the ship's tonnage by the base cost of the material used. This process requires 2 days for every 10 tons of the vessel. Effects: Cargo is reduced by 5% (minimum decrease - 1 ton). AR is improved by 1. MC and SR are unaffected. Restrictions: If the ship has improved bracing, then the additional bracing must be made of the same material. If the ship has normal bracing, then the material used should be the same as the ship's hull. Additional bracing may be added at most 2 times.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travel Log by Ville Lavonius Places to go, things to see!

Al 'malamut

Overall Data

Al 'malamut is a spherical earthworld. It is size E, having a diameter of 8000 miles and an equatorial circumference of 25133 miles. Instead of normal (one-direction only) rotation this planet rotates along all three axles, completing a rotation in 35 hours.

The composition of Al 'malamut is standard, and the crust is very thick - leading to almost nonexistent volcanic activity. The only anomaly is a lack of 'normal' minerals in the rocks, for some reason the minerals themselves have not 'evolved' during the planet's formation. Geologically Al 'malamut is almost dead, continental drift has slowed down considerably, and with few exceptions all the mountain ranges have been eroded or systematically chopped down.

Water is abundant on Al 'malamut, regularly formed (see below), almost rulerstraight rivers flow through the countryside, regularly emerging into a huge lake-reservoir. All water is fresh, due to the lack of minerals in the geosphere.

Climate and Weather

Due to the universal spin of the world, Al'malamut's seasons are very mild, and are based mainly on the planet's orbit. The major temporal alteration in the weather is due to the day/night changes. The weather is quite pleasant, with an average of 80 degrees during the day and some 20 degrees less during the night.

Winds are usually light, but near the few mountainous areas, gales are common. Thunder and lightning are nonexistent, but rains are heavy, averaging 65" per year.

The clouds cover the planet in almost systematical fashion, each area seems to get the same amount of light during the year.

Appearance from Space

A greenish sphere, with regular canals and big lakes. Almost geometric cloud cover whose elements seem to shift uncannily (two clouds next to each other can move in different directions at unequal speeds). Some ships visible in low orbits. The planet has two, voidworld moons.

Life forms

The dominant lifeform has altered the whole world to his specifications, killing an untold amount of species in the process. What animals and plants are left are either natives of the prevailing climate or have adapted themselves to it.

Of the millions of plant species that once lived on the planet, only a fraction of them are left. All but the crop species are restricted to small areas near the mountains and other uninhabited areas. The huge, planet-wide pasturelands and fields consist mainly of only a handful of plant species, making them very boring-looking places indeed. Trees are also quite rare, but where forests exist, they're the epitome of forest cultivation: every tree is beautifully erect, and the distance between trees is cons tant.

Animal life has also suffered greatly, but its' decimation hasn't been as total as the plants'. The animals themselves are a pretty standard fare, with mammals and birds dominating. All creatures dangerous to humans have been hunted to extinction, or driven to the non-cultivated areas.

Guide to Groundlings

The only native race is the human race. This particular planet had many different species of sophonts in the beginning, but the humans slaughtered the others in grand wars millennia ago. Since then the planet has been their playground, and it really shows.

The humans, back in the early days, found Ptah to be "just the God for them", and have been strict followers of him ever since. As the last remaining "heathen race" was finished, the empire spanned the entire globe (back then a normal, earth-like world). But that was hardly enough for these greedy creatures, as theirs was the first human world to be visited by the Arcane (who saw the potential in a planet-wide religious empire), predating the others by a thousand years. And during those years the 'malmutians didn't idle: in a few hundred years they had carved themselves a nice empire in the nearest four spheres, they had no less than nineteen c olonized or conquered worlds and well over a hundred explored ones. And in those 1500 empire years they terraformed their own planet completely, creating many wondrous devices to control the spin and weather.

But, some 200 years ago the empire had a mighty clash with an illithid nation over the resourceful Garland-sphere, which ended in a truce. The colonies and other worlds outside the 'malamut sphere itself had grown tired of the ever-increasing taxation, and rebelled against 'malamutians on the day the truce was signed. After losing a third of their navy to the illithids, they could not keep the rebels out of their home sphere. But the rebels were very merciful, instead of capturing the resourceful Mal-sphere, they just divided up the navy and drew up a contract that forbids any 'malmutian to leave this sphere. Being given a total education in space-related matters, a sizable navy, good infrastructure and big cities (n ot all tax money went all the way to 'malamut) does have a placating effect.

The 'malamutians have resigned to their fate, at there were a few attempts to break out of this sphere, but they were brutally crushed. A normal 'mal is a devout Ptahian: working ten hours a day, attending mass every evening, and taking part in a bit of sports before turning in for the day. Think of any utopia-novel, such as Huxley's Brave New World. Even the biggest cities are dull compared to normal metropolises of equal size, but regardless, there exists a peacekeeping force more than adequate to quell any disturbance.

The planet has been drained of its' resources for too long, and the inhabitants have seen worrying signs in decreasing crops and fishcatches. During the last score years they've been formulating an escape from this planet for at least half of the people (well over ten million inhabitants). The only planet left in this system to be inhabited is another eartworld, a huge jungleworld with a lot of volcanic activity and a very nasty wildlife. The exodus has already begun, the first few crews (about 10000 best pioneers in colonyships) have already founded two cities there. Anot her gigantic project is going on in the smaller moon, it's being hollowed out to work as the biggest ship of all time (the architects expect to fit over 100000 people inside at one go).

The 'malmutians are a devout folk, worshiping their own version of the egyptian gods (modernized during the centuries). Their cities are in two size classes A and B, A cities are huge metropolises, whereas B sized cities have less than ten thousand inhabitants.

Other considerations:

Since Ptah is the only entity worshiped in this sphere and the existence of other (mainly) egyptian deities is acknowledged, all others worshiping other gods have a Really Hard Time[tm] within this sphere.

Local Ships:

The 'malmutian fleet has grown to some 200 ships, but the growth has been stunted by the fact that they simply do not need any more ships, as the trade generated in this sphere is pretty small (only three worlds support humans). In addition to traders, there's a large amount of hammerships and squidships circling the planet and protecting the populace. And there's also a lot of the really old ships that were left here and only their helms taken in the uprising. And, being Ptahians, the only right way to bur y the high priest is to put him in a barge and set it off toward the sun.

The Six Wonders of the Known Spheres

The Tower of Xenix - A space elevator straight from Arthur C. Clarke's stories. Used to connect the heavily garrisoned Xenix to the Imperial Fleet (the majority of whose ships are unable to land at all). Made of spidersilk gathered from Mozra (tho' the elves would never tell where they've got the wonderstring), very very strong - apparently a magical weapon comparable to Gorgorin is needed to quickly cut a string, with an axe or sword the work takes very long (the elves used golems to cut the ropes with magic weapons - some of which are still found near Mozra, not all golems survived the `natural hazards_ of Mozra. Each string originally had a diameter of one inch, the ones used to construct the bridge are braids made of four normal strings glued together magically.

The twin elevators (soon to be quadruple) are each constructed of sixteen ropes stretching from the planet surface to a conveniently snatched and placed asteroid on a totally stable orbit around Xenix. On these ropes travel cylinders constructed from pieces of ships, steel (some pieces are glass-steeled) and the strongest of woods. Each elevator measures some 20 meters in height and has a diameter of 6 meters, on its' 5 levels can crowd up to 150 elves.

The Black Ziggurat of Ildris - The inhospitable planet of Ildris boasts one of the largest known and probably the most beautiful royal palace in the known spheres: the Tasloan Court. During millennia the other ziggurats have been eroded by the heavy weather, but this edifice constructed of black marble veined with gold still stands unshaken. Hardly surprisingly the Tasloi do not respond well to tourism and visiting the Ziggurat is made even more hazardous by the Nijigras who tend to shoot at any passing ships. However, some consolation can be the amazing pictures painted or drawn by the priests living in Whitehold and sold for quite a price, strangely most of the pictures tend to disagree with each other as to what the Ziggurat exactly looks like.

Since visits into the ziggurats are very rare occurrences, not many people are aware of the pyramids' true nature - they are in fact large starships powered not by mana but gold. The Tasloi must have used them ages ago, but they have forgotten almost their whole history, and the space travel is considered to be just a legend (the pictures of blueskinned giants, weird spaceships and primitive spaceraces are common in their pyramids).

The Watchmen of Twain - Due to the peculiar nature of the Twain (name of both the sphere and the planet, qv. The Planets of the Twenty Nearest Spheres) it is more than vital that the travellers only enter the top half of the sphere. The Twainians have spent the last two millennia creating magical constructs to tell the travellers nearing the sphere which side is which. These sixty feet tall marble busts (all magically sculpted to resemble a planetary celebrity) skim across the sphere at subjamming speeds vainly trying to reach all ships before they breach the crystal. They won't, however, interfere with a captain that has decided to do what he pleases, the statue just offers the crew and passengers a chance to climb upon its' back (most captains consider this to be desertion). The statues offer their information and rides to all passersby, regardless of species, race or alignment (they do warn Neogi, Grell and other wellknown troublemakers of the consequences of entering the right half - Twain has a huge spacefleet). Lately, there have been reports of Watchmen of another kind, giving out false advice, presumably these are Infernian constructs.

Yes, it's the only ``We always lie, they always tell the truth__ case, the Infernian statues (which, by the way are absolutely indistinguishable from the proper ones) can only appear when a normal statue is nearby, they never visit ships by themselves.

The Idol of Dukagshgan - One of the Wonders that only a few have seen. This is the fearsome idol of the Scro-folk that powered their hugest Battlewagons in the second Unhuman War. Looks like a huge statue (almost a sixth of a mile high) of an orcish warlord in ancient armor, one hand holding a spear, the other clenched in a defiant fist. It was built during the Years of Abstainment after the first war, whether the myth is true that Dukagash himself is buried in the statue's chest in unknown since there's no gaps in the stony surface, and even now any attempt to examine the statue will be hazardous to the examiner's health - the famous Scro fighting spirit may be broken, but they still throw the most fabulous riots known to spacefarers.

Right now again in the wrong hands - the ogres of the Steel Talons grabbed the helm by teleporting it away (expending the power of two artifacts in the process). The original idol was switched during the Final Blackout when the Scro solidified the clouds into granite (by releasing the entire store of mana contained within the stolen Cloud Controller from 'malamut) and all hell broke loose underneath.

The Cuisine of the Poloni The most famed chefs - spoken reverently of throughout the score upon score of worlds in the Known Spheres are the Poloni: short, flabby humanoids apparently from a planet called Polonia (which, again belongs to those few worlds that everyone's heard about but no-one visited). They tend to be travellers, rarely staying at any place for more than a fortnight. How they accomplish their travels is a secret as well kept as the likewise sudden transportation of the Arcane, neither commonly owns ships (though many a Poloni has received one as a gift from a satisfied patron), nor frequents them as a passenger. Is there a connection between these two species is unknown - neither makes much noise about it if one indeed exists. How they create their magnificent feasts is unknown, they usually get complete access to a kitchen (no peeking, these guys seem to know every trick in the book) with a wide variety of foodstuffs, afterwards the original owners find their stores depleted, oven used and all items neatly washed and replaced on racks. Poloni take their reward in cold cash or valuables, and disappear somehow when the public's observation falters. Of the food is almost impossible to say anything, it's widely regarded as being way beyond comparison with anything edible in the Known Spheres. Everyone who has tasted the food (even on the same occasion) describes the meal in a very different way, even the liquids served are disagreed upon.

Poloni cook souls, pure and simple. Anybody eating the food is left without one, it's gone to a Hell forever. This can be noticed only by a failure in a Resurrection attempt or somesuch. Poloni are fiends, but their alignment cannot be discovered using any known spell.

The Trees of Reictla The tallest trees growing planetside (the gigantic trees found growing on the insides of a few select spheres cannot really be compared), these reach the height of two miles. They grow in the few big clearings among the network of canyons on Reitcla, and serve as homes to the Reitclan elves.

Xenix

Overall Data: Xenix is a small spherical world of size class D. The diameter along the equator (or the poles, it's a complete sphere) is some 2500 miles, making it about a third of Toril's size (equator length ~7900 miles). The planet rotates quite slowly for its' size, completing a turn in 42 hours.

Xenix has a single, very small moon on a close orbit. The Peeper is a lightweight ice globe, that has almost no tidal effect, but looms very effectively on the sky (it reflects nearly all light, and on nights with full moon the light is bright indeed). Tectonically Xenix seems to be dead, it's a flat land whose mountains have long since eroded. This also means that there's no volcanic activity nor any earthquakes here.

Appearance from space: A normal-looking earthworld, ground has a certain yellowish tinge, large polar seas and icecaps. Cultivated fields near lakes. A single moon, a very high tower-structure on the equator, with ships docking at the top.

Guide to groundlings: No-one's managed to exactly find out why the Xenixan humans are so stupid - they just are. Most of them are either totally uncultured country hicks living the same day again and again on the farm or city artisans almost incapable of getting new ideas. Fortunately the competition wasn't that rough here, and the humans just assumed a secondary position for the real big boys on Xenix - the Orcs. Their ancient allies, the ogres are faring quite well too, halflings live their placid lives h ere like on seventy-three other worlds. All was well and nice until the Unhuman War began a millennia ago, the local orcs were persuaded to join in the action - and everybody knows how the war ended on goblinkin fronts.

However, the elves didn't crush the Xenixan orcs who had fought quite honorably even by elven standards, instead they just decided to ground the orcs for good (not that nuch of a disadvantage since they didn't take to space at all as well as their persecuted brethren in other spheres). The elves rightly assumed the humans to be unable to keep the orcs in check - so they decided to garrison the planet to "keep Lahsphere safe" (and reap huge profits from trading). They live on the planet as well-liked policemen, stationed on largest town Kaljibakr, but they have some landable s hips available. These ships, sometimes called "caterpillars," look somewhat like a Tsunami (but much smaller), but are constructed from ceramic plates and are armed with bombards. They are generally powered by a furnace helm.

Climates - specific creatures: All in all the weather patterns around the planet are mild, rains last only rarely more than an hour, gales occur only once in a lifetime.

Temperate: due to the distance from the sun the planet isn't that hot, the nicest places being along the equator where the temperature resembles typical temperate country. Most of the sophonts (not a big selection) live here. Flat pastureland, broken here and there by rivers - forests are common, but they tend to be quite small and full of loggers being pestered by gnomes who have invented "the mother of all woodcutting machines" that tend to lead very short lives terminating with a loud bang. Normal animal /plant life, monsters are virtually nonexistent.

Tundra: the majority of the planet is temperate, but between the large ice seas and warmer areas lie the twain tundras. Here live savage wolflings (lycanthropic halflings), nomadic snow elves with shamanistic tendencies, yetis, zalathi (ice goblins) in the coldest areas. Alijv Quali (see below) is founded near a volcanic ravine on the coast of the southern sea. Again, normal life reigns here: lichen->deer->wolf.

Ice sea: vast tracts of sea covered with thick, constantly reforming ice floes. Only on firm ice near the poles is there any inhabitants, elsewhere the living would be far too dangerous. More zalathi, some researchers (gnomes like being here), a few orcish hermitages (the most selfless individuals still live in silence - blaming themselves for ruining the universe) eke out their living here. Not many large creatures around, the commonest being penguins, seals and small whales.

During the centuries here the elves have learned to trust the orcs, who have behaved really well (LG with a heavy guilt complex). The ogres too differ from the common brutes hated throughout the Known Spheres: these 8' tall beauties (LN, very loyal to those they consider friends) are quit rare and with the aid of their orcish allies have educated themselves to a quite civilized state. They find employment commonly as bouncers or bodyguards in the cities and as heavy labor in the countryside, they tend to be a much safer proposition to their employer than giff, since they dislike the use of firearms. The orcs are an integral part of the cities (with the exception of A.Q.), mingling with the other populace, the ogres gather in ghettoes where there's proper-sized doors and huge outdoor eating arenas.

In the orbit encircling Xenix are a lot of ships that were deserted during the last days of the First Unhuman war. Most of these were systematically mangled by the elves, but there are a few prizes up there awaiting to be discovered (some haunted or monster-inhabited ships too - a popular legend among space captains tells of the gigantic slimeship, an ontalak plasmoid). The orcs themselves have no vessels (their ships in the War were supplied by other goblinoids), leaving any trade to the hands of otherworl ders, the humans own a few ships, but don't much use them expect for cruising or fast travelling on the planet.

As stated, the elves maintain a very hefty presence here. Their garrison in Kaljibakr usually has over 3000 elves stationed there, the towertop has some 500 more and in the ships there are easily a thousand more.

Alijv Quali - the Quali Place is a retreat of the Qualinesti elves from Krynn. The place was founded by a patriarch of the race just 20 years ago when the first escapade began. It is situated in a ravine cleft into the surrounding rocky tundra by some ancient river or icestream, on the very bottom of the ravine are volcanic vents giving the ravine a much higher temperature than the surrouning areas have. The place is far from ideal, but the elves have terraced the sides and a nice agricultural operation is now in full motion. The city is still ruled by Lianthil, the elf-king th at possesses the last of Krynnish Dragon Orbs. His palace is a traditional Quali castle hewn from marble that commands the entire valley from its high place.

Orcs are very rare in A.Q. Even if these elves do not automatically dislike them, the orcs just feel out of place here. The Quali elves have settled well in their valley, trading about a third of their food products in the southern cities. The artificial lake crafted on the largest terrace works as a harbor, but the place demands a lot more of the spelljammer than the usual landing spots.

Behemanstaat: When the trading really got going, this is the place that profited. Before just a sleepy market-town located at a nexus of roads, now the most important spaceport on the planet. But that isn't saying much, most of the ships are nothing but crophaulers that stop for just two days to load up. Only rarely does a space merchant or a intraspheral passenger ship touch down. The spaceport is an ex-corn field, that now, after lack of irrigation is letting loose itself as clogging brownish dust. The other port is the local lake, whose only redeeming feature is the lack of storms and any "monsters", the docks are lousy and a fire in the warehouse district is a regular occurrence.

The place grew up almost overnight, so that the local constabulary is not able to cope with the increasing level of crime here. A far cry from the sophisticated Thieves Guilds on places like Alra or even Bral, the local guild consists mainly of bravos and cutpurses thrown out from passing ships. Nonetheless they have done considerable damage to the trading here, so much that there's now some orcish vigilante squads ("Bat Orc", "The Four Gauntlets" and other larger than life figures) patrolling the most hea vily hit areas: the warehouse district and hostelry lane (the elves' methods tend to be too destructive for city areas, and as such they're called only to quell the most violent and prolonged battles). The city streets are largely deserted at night, due to prowling gangs.

Kaljibakr: this old orcish capital is the site of the magnificent Xenixan Tower (qv. The Six Wonders of Known Spheres) and a large elven garrison. The ground here is not as good for a shipzone as in Behemanstaat (bumpy hills and a river as opposed to pastureland and a large lake), so the local station has seen its' traffic rapidly diminish, most of the captains are willing to pay the higher docking fees in the Towertop than risking a landing. However, the town is in much better shape than its upstart counte rpart on the opposite side, there's more orcs here than in Behema and they're running their city effectively (actually working sewer system, paved streets, street lights). The elven garrison was built anew on top of the ruined orcish palace (almost the only structural damage inflicted here during the Unhuman War). It is a three floored brick-encampment, built in just a month with no fanciness whatsoever. There's a raised walkway to the tower originally restricted only to the military personnel for quicker access, but nowadays it's filled with musicians, artists and peddlers of all kinds.

Tower: An unique sight indeed are the 16 thick threads in two groups of eight that disappear into the clouds. The threads do not resemble any known rope materials and inspection is hindered by the thick layer of white paint. Actually the ropes are the thinnest pieces found and cut from the huge starwebs of Mozra. The ropes are connected to ground by means of huge metal screws worked tightly to the bedrock on a small knell some half a mile outside the city limits. The groundstation built as an afterthought is nothing more than a glorified cargo ramp and a queuing spot. The stati on is a busy place, filled with travellers and traders waiting for their turn, countryboys just ogling at everything and young, very serious orcish "shipspotters" who collect data on all ships they see and tend to drive any obvious spelljammers up the wall by their fanboyish, ever questioning attitude.

The elevators themselves are about like six-story metal buildings: able to take in about 1500 elves or 2000 tons of cargo. The elevators travel at amazing speed, a journey up takes only 45 minutes while a downward trip can be completed in only 20 minutes - in case of an emergency the both times can be halved, but the elevator needs a through checkup afterwards. The "engines" of the elevator are contained in the "top floor", Juna tow winches operated by the select few geometricians in the elven navy.

The knitting ships that created the ropes in space are stored in an off limits area in the Towertop. The four ships are heavily modified hammerships, having an immense (diameter 6 meters) spool spanned over the cargo hold.

Towertop: A small asteroid whose tetherings keep the Tower taut. Very carefully being hollowed out to become the largest naval base in the Spheres. Some shipping lines and trading companies pay a lease to use the facilities and save the costs and time of landing on Xenix. The Elven High Command of Lahsphere resides in Towertop, having commandeered themselves spacious quarters at the very top. The place is quite empty still, even after twenty years there's hardly enough traffic to warrant this big a space - but the elves are patient and each architect here is constantly engrossed in thinking up more and more elaborate plans for the base (the li kes of which are on planning stage in many spheres). The ships unable to land at all are connected to the main ropes with long tethers (remaining in zero-g), the crews are usually transported to Towertop by normal ships.

Wolfling stats: Normal halflings, who look a lot furrier than their cousins on other worlds. All halflings on tundra are in fact lycanthropy carriers and during the full moon the entire region becomes the scene of a massive hunt, when the tribes slaughter scores of deer (and some hapless travellers) - they never resort to cannibalism, starving rather.

The snow elves: Leather-clad, bone-bow using nomadic savages. They have shamans and herbalists to keep them safe from the wolflings.

Resources: The local agriculture got a big boost when the elves garrisoned the place, and the Xenixan fruits have gained themselves quite a name. The orcish landowners of course get the majority of trading profits since the humans are satisfied with their self- sufficiency production. Other resources are weak: miningwise the planet is very poor (only iron and copper in meaningful quantities).

Continents: As there are no seas apart from the two polar water regions (which, too, are fresh) there's but one huge continent, divided to parts only by rivers large and small. The Arcane presence: There's indeed a healthy presence of the Arcane on the planet, but only in a few select places: Towertop/Kaljibakr and A.Q., other cities they find too boring (and rightly so). The Arcane have a quite passive role here, after all who's going to need ships here when there's a healthy shipping line spherewide and the Imperial Navy practically living on the doorstep.

The crime opportunities: Xenix is a rich and boring planet. The only thing stopping the "heist of the century" is the presence of the elves. They work as a very efficient militia and give out harsh sentences to any caught offenders: a typical punishment is a "voluntary" 10-year enlistment in the elven navy either in a maximally boring or much too lively a planet/sphere. But there indeed is a chance for an enterprising crook on the planet (orcs and especially ogres take a very dim view on hustlers and con m en, and in such circles the whole planet has gained a very bad reputation) - the large orc ranches spread out throughout the tempzone usually have safe filled to the brim. But the selfsame ranches have ogres as employees that are very much home at using any farming implements - nobody has bodyguards, the planet is a quiet one. The few banks in the largest cities are almost beyond hope to any but the most determined and well-equipped thief; containing a multitude of restraining and lethal traps, the banks ha ve lost not a single coin in a burglary during the last decade, however, violent heists could be fruitful as long as the perpetrators leave the city/planet quickly.

Gnomish Cropper: AC 3; HD 12; #AT 3; D: 3d6 (x3); B% 10 Gnomish Weedpicker: AC 5; HD 6; #AT 6; D: d8 + held; B% 20 Pitchfork: Sp: 4; D: d8+2; -2 to hit Scythe: SP: 12; D: 2d6; -2 to hit (2 persons can be attacked, 3 if ogre)

Batorc (aka Brushk Wann) 6th level noble warrior STR 17 INT 12 AC: 0/4 DEX 15 WIS 14 Hp: 51 CON 16 CHA 11 Al: LG 180 cm, scrawny, wears a mask, clad in tight black leather; Cloak of the Bat, Vest of Useful Items, Ring of Spell Storing (CSW, Strength, Light), Leather + 1, some potions; Tumbling +4, Merchant, Tactics, Blindfighting; Fists (specialist), thrown knives, club;

A self-appointed vigilante of Behemanstaat, a merchant-warrior (with some space-experience as a mercenary) whose profits were cut by bandits once too many times. Now a silent one man legal system, prowling the warehouse district (and sometimes the whole city), apprehending all suspicious individuals. Unshakably courageous, calculating schemer who can always justify his actions (at least to himself) no matter how unnecessarily violent they may seem. Doesn't care for business any more, crime fighting is a lo t more challenging endeavor. A hero, whom the public likes more and more. The elves wish to teach him a lesson since he has on occasion beaten them to solving a crime.

Magic is a rare thing on the planet, the humans are a pretty atheistic lot (the global missionaries are having a ball here, since most people flock to the tent ceremonies), and not intelligent enough to master the intricacies of magic. The orcs have some wizards and druids, but they too have no affiliation with the "common orcish gods". The halflings are quite happy without any magic at all, the snow elves are a very small minority and never come down to the temperate areas to show off with their savage spe lls. So the imperial elves are the undisputable masters here when it comes to arcane arts.

Scenario ideas, pick 'em apart, combine freely, do what thou wilt:

-*- What is in the moon ? Is it really hollow as some sages postulate, the elves would like to know since the moon effects a slight stretching in the tower-ropes when passing right overhead.

-*- Lianthil, the Qualinesti ruler, still carrying his curse from the early wars succumbs to his madness. The dragon orb takes control of him, summoning some nasty greens to A.Q. Instead of slaying everybody the dragons take control of the city, establishing a mock-court in Lianthil's palace. Untended, the careful arrangements for gardening (water spouts, steam tunnels) deteriorate and soon the lake overflows into the open volcanic chimneys, covering the entire valley with warm cloying mist. The populace lives in fear, the dragons and their allies (some elves were practical enough to 'change sides') are tyrannic rulers. Since the elves did most of the trading themselves - not a lot of traders come to see what's wro ng. The dragons have removed (and destroyed most of them) the helms to dissuade elves from escaping - so far the idea of crossing a third of the world on foot across hostile winter terrain has kept the elves here.

-*- When the PCs visit Behemanstaat they are called to deal with a hostage situation. A desperate group of thieves was surprised by the owner of a warehouse and he is being held captive. How the PCs deal with the score of gangsters is left for them to decide - do they conduct a SAS-style raid /try diplomacy or hide in the ship given to bandits and have a magnificent combat at an altitude of 1000'.

-*- The PCs try something illegal and meet the business end of urban vigilantism.

-*- Kaljibakr is a very civilized city - it has a lot of offworlders and smart orcs among inhabitants. Its culture life is far more advanced than in, say, Bral or Waterdeep. There's a fancy concert hall, several competing theater companies, art galleries and of course countless street performers. The theater-adventure from Dungeon#39 fits here perfectly, just tinker some NPCs to orcs.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Revised Spelljammer Encounter Tables

These tables were put together by Todd Montgomery, and can be used as an alternative to the tables in the books. Granted, random encounter tables are an aquired taste: some people love them, some hate them. If you fall into the later category, then these may prove useful in designing "quick" advantures, where you don't have the time to actually sit down and design the super-fantastic-adventure-to-end-all-adventures.

We've all been on that route..

Chance of encounter: Check every space moved 1 in 20 +1 On inner track +1 Same ring as planet +1 Same space as planet +1 Space patrolled +1 Same ring as asteroid belt

Wildspace Encounters Die Roll Encountered 01-10 Space Phenomena 11-25 Planetoids 26-45 Space Beasts (Wildspace) 46-70 Space Debris 71-00 Ships

Asteroid Encounters Die Roll Encountered 01-05 Space Phenomena (q.v) 06-25 Planetoids (q.v) 26-50 Space Beasts (Asteroid) 51-75 Space Debris 76-00 Ships

Phlogiston Encounters Die Roll Encountered 01-10 Space Phenomena (q.v) 11-15 Planetoids (q.v) 16-45 Space Beasts (Phlogiston) 46-70 Space Debris 71-00 Ships

Space Phenomena Die Roll Encountered 01-10 Space Storms 11-20 Deadwood Sargassos 21-40 Magic-Dead Sargassos 41-90 Flame Rings 91-00 Flame Ring with Floating Garden

Planetoids Die Roll Encountered 01-70 Dead Floating Rock 71-90 Floating Island 91-00 Planetoid with Atmosphere

Space Beasts Die Roll Encountered 01-05 Very Rare 06-15 Rare 16-35 Uncommon 36-00 Common

Common Space Beasts Die Roll Encountered Wildspace: 01-15 Wraith (2-12) 16-30 Sluk(1) 31-55 Scavver,Gray(3-30) 56-70 Krajen,Immature(10-100) 71-85 Feesu(6-48) 86-00 Spaceworm(4-48) Asteroid: 01-06 Rock Hopper(5-12/skiff) 07-12 Sluk(1) 13-18 Zurchin(1-3) 19-24 Kindori(2-8) 25-30 Krajen,Immature(10-100) 31-39 Scavver,Gray(3-30) 40-48 Scavver,Brown(2-20) 49-57 Scavver,Night(1-10) 58-63 Spaceworm(4-48) 64-69 Feesu(6-48) 70-80 Space Sting Rays(1-3) 81-90 Space Sharks(3-12) 91-00 Wraith(2-12) Phlogiston: 01-20 Krajen,Immature(10-100) 21-40 Scavver,Gray(3-30) 41-60 Spaceworm(4-48) 61-80 Sluk(1) 81-00 Space Sting Rays(1-3)

Uncommon Space Beasts Die Roll Encountered Wildspace: 01-07 Kindori(2-8) 08-14 Scavver,Gray(3-30) 15-21 Scavver,Night(1-10) 22-28 Beholder,Zombie(1-20) 29-35 Gossamer,Standard(20-200) 36-42 Lhee, Common(1-12) 43-49 Lhee,Lesser(1-8) 50-56 Lhee,Greater(1-6) 57-63 Meteorspawn(1) 64-70 Monitor(4-7) 71-77 Q'nidar(1-6) 78-84 Skullbirds(2-5) 85-91 Zard(10-100) 92-00 Special Asteroids: 01-05 Scavver,Void(1) 06-10 Beholder,Zombie(1-20) 11-15 Beholder,Death Tyrant(1 or 1-20) 16-20 Flow Barnacle(2-40) 21-25 Firebird(1-20) 26-30 Gossamer,Standard(20-200) 31-35 Lhee,Common(1-12) 36-40 Lhee,Lesser(1-8) 41-45 Lhee,Greater(1-6) 46-50 Meteorspawn(1) 51-55 Monitor(4-7) 56-60 Mortiss(1) 61-65 Q'nidar(1-6) 66-70 Skullbords(2-5) 71-75 Stargazer(1) 76-80 Undead,Stellar(1-10) 81-85 Zard(10-100) 86-90 Space Rays(1) 91-00 Shadows(2-20) Phlogiston: 01-09 Scavver,Gray(3-30) 10-18 Scavver,Brown(2-20) 19-27 Beholder,Zombie(1-20) 28-36 Flow Barnacle(2-40) 37-45 Delphinid(2-12) 46-54 Gossamer,Standard(20-200) 55-63 Lhee,Common(1-12) 64-72 Lhee,Lesser(1-8) 73-81 Lhee,Greater(1-6) 82-90 Monitor(4-7) 91-00 Skullbirds(2-5)

Rare Space Beasts Die Roll Encountered Wildspace: 01-03 Shadows(2-20) 04-05 Spectre(1 or 1-6) 06-08 Swordwraith(2-8) 09-11 Jammer Leech Spore(1) 12-14 Mortiss(1) 15-17 Phlog-Crawler(1) 18-20 Puffer(1) 21-23 Silatic,Platinum(1) 24-26 Silatic,Gold(1) 27-29 Silatic,Iron(1) 30-33 Sphinx,Astro(1) 34-36 Starfly,Plant(1-100) 37-39 Undead,Stellar(1-10) 40-42 Wizshade(1) 43-45 Wryback(2-7) 46-48 Ghost(1) 49-51 Elmarin(1-10) 52-54 Scavver,Void(1) 55-57 Beholder,DeathTyrant(1 or 1-20) 58-60 Flow Barnacle(2-40) 61-63 Sarphardin(1 or 1-4) 64-66 Sarphardin,Skullsnake(1) 67-69 Shadowsponge(1-6) 70-72 Blazozoid(1) 73-75 Bloodsac(3-12) 76-78 Dweomerborn(1) 79-81 Firebird(1-20) 82-85 Gossamer,Noble(1-8) 86-00 Special Asteroid: 01-04 Space Sharks,Megalodon(1-3) 05-08 Spectre(1 or 1-6) 09-12 Swordwraith(2-8) 13-16 Jammer Leeach Spore(1) 17-20 Owl,Space(1 or 2-8) 21-24 Phlog-Crawler(1) 25-28 Puffer(1) 29-32 Silatic,Platinum(1) 30-36 Silatic,Gold(1) 37-40 Silatic,Iron(1) 41-44 Spider,Asteroid(1-8) 45-48 Sphinx,Astro(1) 49-52 Starfly,Plant(1-100) 53-56 Wizshade(1) 57-60 Wryback(2-7) 61-64 Space Drake(1 or 2-5) 65-68 Ghost(1) 69-72 Elmarin(1-10) 73-76 Krajen,Adult(1) 77-80 Beholder Eater,Thagar(1) 81-84 Sarphardin(1 or 1-4) 85-88 Sarphardin,Skullsanek(1) 89-92 Shadowsponge(1-6) 93-96 Bloodsac(3-12) 96-00 Dweomerborn(1) Phlogiston: 01-06 Ephemeral(1-8) 07-12 Scavver,Vold(1) 13-17 Beholder,Death Tyrant(1 or 1-20) 18-22 Sarphardin(1 or 1-4) 23-26 Shadowsponge(1-6) 27-32 Flowfiend(2-8) 33-37 Gossamer,Noble(1-8) 38-42 Swordwraith(2-8) 43-46 Jammer Leech Spore(1) 47-50 Mortiss(1) 51-55 Phlog-Crawler(1) 56-60 Puffer(1) 61-65 Silatic,Platinum(1) 66-70 Silatic,Gold(1) 71-75 Silatic,Iron(1) 76-80 Sphinx,Astro(1) 81-85 Starfly,Plant(1-100) 86-90 Undead,Stellar(1-10) 91-93 Wizshade(1) 94-97 Wryback(2-7) 98-00 Zard(10-100)

Very Rare Space Beasts Die Roll Encountered Wildspace: 01-04 Dragon,Radiant(1) 05-09 Krajen,Adult(1) 10-13 Beholder Eater,Thagar(1) 14-17 Tinkerer(1 or 1-8) 18-22 Albari(1) 23-26 Allura(1-6) 27-30 Buzzjewel 31-33 Dreamslayer(1) 34-37 Firelich(1) 38-40 Focoid(1) 41-45 Fractine(1) 46-48 Gammaroid(1) 49-52 Gonn(8) 53-56 Gravislyer(1) 57-60 Space Ixitxachitl(5-12) 61-65 Space Sharks,Common(3-12) 66-69 Misi(1-6) 70-73 Mercurial Slime(1) 74-77 Moon,Rogue(1) 78-81 Nay-Churr(1) 82-85 Plasmoid,Ontalak(1) 86-88 Selkie,Star(1 or 10-20) 89-91 Vine,Infinity(1) 92-95 Space Drake(1 or 2-5) 96-00 Haunt(1) Asteroid: 01-05 Moon,Rogue(1) 06-10 Plasmoid,Ontalak(1) 11-15 Selkie,Star(1 ro 10-20) 16-20 Spiritjam(1) 21-24 Vine,Infinity(1) 25-29 Denzelian(1-2) 30-35 Mantari(1-6) 36-41 Haunt(1) 42-45 Horgar(1) 46-49 Dragon,Radiant(1) 50-53 Tinkerer(1 or 1-8) 54-56 Albari(1) 57-60 Allura(1-6) 61-65 Argos(1) 66-69 Astereater(1) 70-74 Blazozoid(1) 75-79 Buzzjewel 80-84 Dreamslayer 85-90 Fractine(1) 91-95 Gravislayer(1) 96-00 Space Ixitxachitl(5-12) Phlogiston: 01-05 Space Ixitxachtil(5-12) 06-11 Space Sharks,Common(3-12) 12-17 Lumineaux(1-2) 18-21 Misi(1-6) 22-26 Nay-Churr(1) 27-31 Pristatic(1) 32-36 Plasmoid,Ontalak(1) 37-40 Selkie,Star(1 or 10-20) 41-45 Survivor(1) 46-50 Space Drake(1 or 2-5) 51-54 Dragon,Radiant(1) 55-60 Kindori(2-8) 61-66 Krajen,Adult(1) 67-71 Beholder Eater,Thagar(1) 72-76 Sarphardin,Skullsnake(1) 77-80 Tinkerer(1 or 1-8) 81-85 Ancient Mariner(1-6) 86-90 Allura(1-6) 91-96 Fractine(1) 97-00 Gammaroid(1)

Space Debris Die Roll Encountered 01-07 Dust Clouds 08-15 Gas Clouds 16-30 Spore Fields 31-70 Debris Fields 71-90 Dead Davey 91-95 Alive Davey 96-00 Ice Fists

Dust Clouds Size: 2d4 Hexes Entering slows ship to tactical speed and fouls ships air. 21% chance of spore cloud effects (Spore Table) 30% chance of floating rocks: 1 in 20 chance of collision per hex. 2d8 Hull Points Dmg and 50% chance of ship shaken critical hit. 2 in 20 chance per hex of glancing blow. 3d8 hit points to anyone on deck failing a save vs. breath and 50% chance of 1d4 Hull points Dmg. If cloud life sustainable, 1d4-1 Space Beasts in cloud. Visibility - 50', with light spell up to 110' (1d6+50)

Spore Table Die Roll Spore 00-10 Russet Mold - 70% chance of 1d2 ships of Vegepygmies 11-15 Yellow Mold 16-20 Ascomid Spores 21-30 Space Spore rhyzomes - 1d6 Space Gas Spores 31-50 Krajen Spores (10-100) attach to ship 51-75 Poison G (onset:2-12 hrs. 20/10) 76-90 Poison H (onset:1-4 hrs. 20/10) 91-97 Poison I (onset:2-12 min. 30/15) 98-00 Poison G (onset:1-4 min. Death/20)

Gas Clouds Size: 2d4 Hexes Does not slow down ships Color: Hazy 01-20 Purple 21-40 Green 41-60 Amber 61-80 Yellow 81-90 Misty 91-00 Transparent Effects: 01-05 Flammable - 3d6 fireball 06-17 Poison K (onset:2-8 min. 5/0) 18-30 Poison L (onset:2-8 min. 10/0) 31-70 Breathable Replenish Air on ship 71-00 Side Effects: as 1d20 level spellcaster 01-10 Confusion 2d6 rnds 11-20 Fear 2d6 rnds 21-30 Feeblemind 2d6 rnds 31-40 Enlarged 1d8 turns 41-50 Petrified 1d8 turns 51-60 Invisibility 1d8 turns 61-75 Diminished 1d8 turns 76-95 Heal and Regenerate 96-00 Special

Spore Fields Size: 2d4 hexes Use Spore Table to determine effects Appearance: 01-80 Dusty 81-00 Clear Krajen Spores are always clear

Daveys Use Race Table Treasure: as creature or J,K,L,M,Q,R 50% chance of each

Ice Fists 10% chance of damaging ship Die Roll Dmg 01-50 1d4 Hull Points 51-75 1d6 Hull Points Crew: 1d6 Hit points, 1 Attack, THACO: 20 76-90 2d4 Hull Points Crew: 1d4 Hit Points, 2 Attack, THACO: 20 91-00 2d6 Hull Points Crew: 2d4 Hit Points, 3 Attack, THACO: 20 Note: All Hit Point Dmg is piercing 1 in 8 foul air, others replenish air, 1 day per Hull Pt. 00 Result on roll - Frozen monster (Race Table) or Treasure type (Random) 50% chance each.

Races Die Roll Encountered 01-05 Very Rare 06-15 Rare 16-35 Uncommon 36-00 Common

Races (Common) Die Roll Encountered 01-05 Dohwar 06-15 Dwarf 16-35 Elf 36-45 Gnome 46-65 Human 66-70 Human (Aperusa) 71-75 Human (Shou Lung) 76-95 Mind Flayer 96-00 Thri-Kreen

Races (Uncommon) Die Roll Encountered 01-02 Grav 03-05 Rastipede 06-10 Centaurs 11-16 Gnoll 17-22 Goblin 23-28 Kobold 29-34 Ogre 35-40 Orc 41-45 Xixchil 46-55 Beholder 56-65 Giff 66-75 Human (Groundling) 76-85 Lizard Man 86-95 Neogi 96-00 Undead

Races (Rare) Die Roll Encountered 01-05 Plasmoid, DeGleash 06-10 Plasmoid, DelNoric 11-25 Pirate of Gith 26-35 Spacesea Giant 36-45 K'r'r'r 46-55 Halfling 56-65 Aarakocra 66-80 Scro 85-00 Dracon

Races (Very Rare) Die Roll Encountered 01-14 Human (Wa) 15-29 Drow 30-44 Insectare 45-58 Reigar 59-72 Vodoni 73-86 Xorn 87-00 Wiggle

Ship Types

Ship Frequency Die Roll Rarity 01-04 Very Rare 05-15 Rare 16-35 Uncommon 36-99 Common 00 Special

Common Ships Die Roll Ship 01-03 Barge of Ptah (Temple ship) 04-06 Battle Barge (Barge of Ptah) 07-09 Bee Class Wasp 10-12 Goblin Blade 13-15 Bumble Bee (Wasp) 16-18 Caravel 19-21 Cargo Barge (Plus towing ship) 22-24 Coaster 25-26 Cog 27-29 Damselfly 30-32 Dragonfly 33-35 Eel 36-38 Firefly (Dragonfly) 39-41 Galleon 42-44 Gnat (Mosquito) 45-47 Hammership 48-50 Heavy Hammership 51-53 Junk 54-56 Leaf 57-59 Longship 60-62 Mosquito 63-65 Porcupine 66-68 Shrikeship 69-71 Gnomish Sidewheeler 72-74 Squidship 75-76 Stinger (Mosquito) 77-79 Tradesman 80-82 Tradesman Light Cruiser 83-85 Vipership 86-88 Wasp 89-91 Whaleship 92-97 Wreckboat 98-00 Xebec

Uncommon Ships Die Roll Ship 01-05 Angelship 06-10 Catamaran 11-15 Depowered Flitter 16-20 Dragonship or Marlin 21-25 Drakkar 26-30 Dromond 31-35 Eagleship 36-40 Flitter 41-45 Citadel 46-50 Juggernaut (Gnomish Sidewheeler) 51-55 Leech 56-60 Mantis 61-65 Mindspider 66-70 Radiant Ship 71-75 Scorpion 76-80 Speed Clipper (Gnomish Sidewheeler) 81-85 Heavy Damselfly 86-90 Urchin 91-95 Vagabond 96-00 Yawl Wagon

Rare Ships Die Roll Ship 01-04 Antlership 05-09 Battle Dolphin 10-14 Bloatfly 15-18 Bolaship 19-22 Corbina 23-27 Dolphin-Shuttle 28-31 Iambus 32-35 Jade Spider 36-40 Lamprey 41-44 Nautiloid 45-48 Nightwolf 49-53 Skeleton 54-57 Skiff (only in asteroids) 58-62 Swan 63-66 Thorn 67-70 Triop 71-75 Turtle 76-79 Tyrant 80-83 Tyrant Scout 84-87 Uspo 88-91 Werewolf 92-95 Yawl 96-00 Zoocraft

Very Rare Ships Die Roll Ship 01-05 Armada 06-10 Black Widow (Deathspider) 11-15 Clipper 16-20 Illithid Dreadnought 21-25 Flying Pyramid 26-30 Great Galley 31-35 Snowflake (Urchin) 36-40 Hunter-Killer (Vodani) 41-45 Jade Spider Commandship 46-50 Klicklikak 51-55 Locust (only as derelict) 56-60 Man-O-War 61-65 Mammoth 66-70 Narwhal (Battle-Dolphin) 71-75 Pirate Dreadnought 76-80 Scalpel 81-85 Smalljammer 86-90 Unity 91-95 Whelk 96-00 Yacht

Special Ships Die Roll Ship 01-07 Argosy 08-13 Great White (Greyspace only; Frilitary class Man-O-War elsewhere) 14-20 Monarch Armada 21-27 Cuttle Command 28-33 Great Bombard 34-40 Hummingbird 41-47 Octopus 48-53 Quad of Thay 54-60 Battlewagon 61-67 Leviathan 68-73 Spacesea Giant Galleon 74-80 Dwarf Mining Ship 81-87 Stoneship 88-93 Tsunami 94-00 Wraith

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adventure Seeds

Here are some adventure seeds and hooks that originally appeared in the cross-messages of SPJ-L. They can be used as the basis for an entire campaign, or just a single adventure.

YESTERDAY'S SPELLJAMMER

Those of you who are fans of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" may recall an episode called "Yesterday's Enterprise." This scenario follows a similar plot line. The adventure calls for role-playing more than action, though there is plenty of that as well. The party should be experienced, having logged a lot of time in space. It would also be good to have someone on the ship with a strong knowledge of history, like a sage or a bard.

The adventure begins with the PC's ship approaching a major world like Torin, Krynn, Oerth, or some other world that plays a prominent role in your campaign. All appears to be well, until a huge multi- colored field appears above the southern hemisphere of the planet, and the great Spelljammer itself appears out of nowhere! This will certainly catch the PC's attention, if not because of the jammer, then the field from which it came. The Spelljammer will come to a slow stop, about 1000 miles from the PC's ship, and just hang there, motionless. Point out that the PC's have a golden opportunity to study the ship from a distance. If one of the PC's (or NPC'c) on board has seen the Spelljammer before, tell them that it doesn't look "right" somehow. The colors are wrong, the citadel doesn't look exactly the same, whatever. The PC's could fly right up to the Spelljammer if they want; it will make no attempts to capture them. In truth, it isn't interested. It's too busy healing itself from a recent ordeal. After a while, the PC's lookout will raise a very frantic alarm: a fleet of Neogi ships is coming from the planet below and is closing on the Spelljammer, and the PC's! The fleet is HUGE: about 24 Deathspiders and twice that many Mindspiders, all swarming up from the planet. Apparently the Neogi rule the planet be low. "Hey, wait a minute! That planet is inhabited by friendly races, not Neogi!" exclaims one of the characters. As the Neogi close with the Spelljammer, the great ship will seize the PC's ship with the magical equivalent of a tractor beam, and secure it near the stinger. It will then head for the flow as fast as it can. The neogi will give up the chace after about an hour. The PC's and their crew will be taken aboard the Spelljammer and tended to. Note that they will not be captured by the ships aura: the captain of the Spelljammer is deliberately preventing that from happening. As the Spelljammer assumes a leisurely course to the flow, the PC's will certainly be curious about the Neogi fleet. They will learn the following (role play this if possible): The Spelljammer came to visit the planet about 100 years ago, and apparently interrupted a Neogi invasion. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Spelljammer attempted to escape. Unable to gain a sufficient lead on the neogi fleet, the mages on the Spelljammer created a time warp, allowing the great ship to escape into the future. This is how the ship appeared out of nowhere. According to the history books, however, that's not what happened. The Spelljammer did intercept a neogi invasion fleet, but instead of running away, it stood fast and defeated it. Sadly, it was destroyed in the process. News of this "alternate" time line may convince the captain of the Spelljammer to view the planet through a type a crystal ball (safe, and from a distance). Sure enough, the planet has been conquered by the Neogi, and apparently has been for some time. About 100 years... The PC's now have to convince the captain, and the great ship, to go back in time and engage the Neogi, as they should have done. Obviously the idea won't be very popular, but the alternative is too horrible to ignore, even for something like the Spelljammer. In the end the Spelljammer will create another time rift and go back in time - taking the PC's with it! (This is purely to make them nervous, for the GM's benefit) The ship will return to the planet, just in time to see itself vanish into the future... The neogi are now off guard, since their prey had escaped. Surprise! The Spelljammer will move right into the pack of ships and nail them with everything it has. After a few minutes, the PC's will be teleported back to their ship and told to leave, NOW! ("Where we are going, you can not follow" sort of thing). If for some reason their ship has been destroyed, a Smalljammer will be provided. In the confusion, the PC's will be able to slip away and enter the time rift. For dramatic effect, have them look back through the rift just before it closes, to see the Spelljammer explode in an inferno of fire and debris, taking most of the neogi fleet with it. The rift will close, leaving the PC's in the original timeline, with everything back to normal: the past has been restored. The Neogi have not attempted to conquer an entire planet since. This defeat, at the hands of the Spelljammer, is a loss from which the Neogi have never truly recovered. As for the PCs, their ship will go back through the rift and they will emerge at approximately the same time the left (give or take a few minutes). The rift will remain open long enough for the PCs to escape, but only that long.

Of course, things need not turn out this nice. If the GM wants to turn the entire campaign upside down for some reason, this scenario could be used to throw the characters into an alternate time line. This may be difficult to set up, but it will certainly keep the players awake. One could also work things such that the Spelljammer keeps running after emerging from the rift, so it may take a while for the PCs to figure out what has happened. This could lead to a multi-adventure chase of the great ship, with an ultimately tragic ending. Finally, this could be a way to introduce time travel into a campaign. An entire sub-campaign can be developed while the PC's try to figure out how the Spelljammer created the time rift, and perhaps try it themselves one day. Only a very experienced GM should attempt this, but an entire new dimension (pardon the pun) could be added to a campaign this way. GURPS Time-Travel, by Steve Jackson Games, gives a lot of useful advice for running a time travel campaign. If a GM really wants to try this, that work is strongly recommended. Time travel in a fantasy universe can be trickey, since there is no "real" frame of reference, like there is in the time travel stories of our own Earth. However, the timeline that appears later in this work could serve as a good springboard for this type of campaign.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLAST FROM THE PAST ("Flight of the Deadjammer")

This scenario is for those who like to fight with the undead. They may never want to fight undead again after they encounter THIS creature. A highly experienced party would be best. This scenario takes place in the Forgotten Realms sphere, but it could easily be transplanted if desired.

Intro:

The "Eternal Wanderer" prepared for an unscheduled landing on the forest world of Garden. A few days before, a dragonfly had intercepted the dreadnought, bringing a distress call. The people of Garden needed clerical help, and fast. A plague, they said it was... Toril would have to wait, Captain Onestar said to himself. He was a samurai from a faraway world, but wherever he went, he could never deny someone who was in need. He alerted the ship's chief Priest, and he in turn prepared himself and his small staff to battle some horrid disease. The helmsman eased the ship into a shallow lake, while the dragonfly escort lighted on a nearby rock. Along the shore lay the lifeless remains of buildings, and the people who once used them. "This used to be a major port," Crystal (one of the helmsmen) said, obviously alarmed. "It is as if something stripped the life out of the entire area. Look, even the water is devoid of life!" Crystal was a native of this world, so for her the sight was even more horrible than for the rest of the crew. As the "Wanderer's" skiff worked its way to shore, those on board could see that indeed the water was dead. Even the seaweed was dead. The landing party ran ashore and searched for any sign of survivors. After nearly twenty minutes, it looked hopeless. "Whatever happened here, we missed it," Onestar said heavily. "Even the trees are striped." Meanwhile, his first mate, Hall-ee-mor Dargess (the Bard of Wildspace), entered a building that had once been a tavern; a tavern he once performed in. The skeletons of patrons were scattered about in disarray. Oddly enough, they almost looked as if they were heading for the door when whatever hit them took their lives. Hall walked back into the street where his wife, Belieth, was standing. She was quiet. Very quiet. "The docks are filled with bodies," she said softly. "I think they were trying to escape." "Yes," Hall answered, referring to the aborted exodus from the tavern. "What could have done this?" he asked aloud. "Magic," a voice said behind them. It was Illeria, the ships mage. "Magic on a scale I have only read about." Other members of the party were gathering in front of the tavern, all having found no sign of survivors. "Illeria, you were talking about magic?" Onestar asked. "Yes: a magical surge of life draining power, like that used by the undead. Something opened a type of portal to the Negative Energy Plane, right there," she explained, pointing to a nearby rooftop. "Could this be the Neogi?" Hall asked. "Unlikely. This whole area is useless now. The Neogi would have wanted to keep this facility working for their own use," the mage answered. "At any rate, this was not a plague. This was an intentional attack." "Who would want to level an entire town, and then leave it be? This place is full of valuables." The comment came from one of the lesser crewman, a dwarf named Darian. His observation had been noted by everyone. Explanations and theories came from everyone, until the voice of Armas, the chief cleric, rang clearly from behind one of the buildings. "We found a survivor!" he called. In an instant he emerged from the alley, along with Merribor, a grommam psionicist healer. They were carrying the injured form of a young man. He was muttering, and a thin line of blood was coming from his mouth. "Get him to the ship!" Onestar commanded. In minutes the group was back on the "Eternal Wanderer," and the sole survivor was resting in the ships infirmary. It was several hours before the man was strong enough the speak. Armas emerged, obviously week from using his healing magic, and summoned the senior officers. The rest of the crew was too entranced with the horrid sight on the shore to be interested. "Will he make it?" Hall asked. "If we reach Toril soon enough, yes" Armas answered. "He needs more help than we can provide at the moment." "Can you hear me?" Onestar asked the man, now bandaged and covered with warm blankets. The man coughed for an instant and whispered, "It just appeared... we had no way of stopping it..." "Stopping what?" Onestar asked, patiently. "It came from the sky, and rained death on us - huge spheres of black power came from the sky and exploded above us..." "Spheres of Inhalation...?" Illeria whispered to herself. "Was it a ship?" Onestar asked. "Yes..." "What ship. What did it look like?" "Large wings... burning red eyes... as large as a city..." The gathered group exchanged sudden looks of alarm. Nowhere in all known sources had the ship he was describing ever behaved in this way. The man saw the doubt on the group before him. "I know what I saw!" he insisted. "It was the Spelljammer!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Confused? Good. Your players will be as well. News of this incident will spread all over Realmspace like wildfire. By the time your party reaches Toril or the Tears of Selune, everywhere people will be talking about the unprovoked attack by the Spelljammer. The port will be alive of brave talk from ship captains and navy officers about making the great ship pay for this act, but after a few days things will start to die down. That is, until a sidewheeler comes calling. One of the gnomes will explain that he saw the Spelljammer in orbit around the sun, apparently warming itself. Authorities of all types use telescopes and magic to verify this, and sure enough, the great ship is orbiting the sun, with the citadel side facing away from the star. In no time the port will be in total panic. People will be desperately trying to leave, looting will take place, and so on. The PC's, who are probably as alarmed as anyone else at this point, may be ready to flee from the sphere. (Stay with me folks) Two days after the ship is seen orbiting the sun, it will travel to Luna, and promptly destroy two major cities! After that, it will turn and return to the sun to rest again. Now the people of Realmspace are terrified. Rival governments and races are suddenly faced with a common foe, which they think to be the Spelljammer. Now the PC's can get involved. Since they had seen the carnage on Garden (Make sure they have an encounter similar to the one described in the intro), the representatives of several governments want to speak with them. They will be summoned to Waterdeep to describe what they saw, and they will be asked for their input on the matter. During the conversation, certain things will be established:

- The Spelljammer is blindly attacking populated areas, for no apparent reason, as if in a rage of bloodlust. - The Spelljammer has never shown behavior of this type before, in any accounts. - The Spelljammer apparently needs to rest after attacking, and is probably drawing its power from the sun. By now a PC will probably ask, "Is this really the Spelljammer?" If one of them doesn't, one of the delegates will. Allow lots of role playing and interplay at this point. The fact is, there is no way of determining anything other than what is listed above. The PC's may volunteer to travel to the ship and investigate. (Encourage this.) When they find the ship, it will appear to be "sleeping," drawing energy from the sun. If the PC's want to adventure on the Spelljammer, let them try. They will be confused that there is nobody on board! At this point, I will tell you what is really happening:

No, this is NOT the Spelljammer. It was at one time, but now it is something like a lich. About twelve centuries ago, the Spelljammer travelled through Realmspace, and stopped near Garden. It was looking at a strange ship, a leviathan, that was exhibiting some strange light and magical fields. In this Leviathan was a community of humans and demi-humans, who lived in a "commune" mentality, cut off from the rest of the universe. They were rather decadent, with little or no moral fiber, but they never bothered anyone. One of these inhabitants was a wizard who was getting too adventurous with his experiments. The arrival of the Spelljammer, with all of its complex magical fields, disrupted one of them. An explosion created a rip in the ethereal plane, allowing power from the energy plains to escape into the material plane. The explosion destr oyed the leviathan in an instant, and the shock wave killed the Spelljammer before it could escape (it tried, but no dice). The Spelljammer let out its dying scream, which was heard by a Smalljammer that was dormant in a dense forest on Toril. This Smalljammer eventually became the new Spelljammer. The "corpse" of the old Spelljammer however, acted as a lightning rod for the magic surge that came from the explosion on the leviathan. Energy from the negative energy plane captured the souls of all the people on the leviathan, AND all the people that were on the Spelljammer at the time of the explosion. In the end, the husk of the Spelljammer acted like a "magic jar," trapping the souls for twelve centuries, raging and cursing all the way. In fact, they gradually intermingled and formed a new con science that hated life in every form. No one ever noticed, because the drifting hulk was never found by anyone. What's more, since it had no "life" left in it, even the new Spelljammer was unaware that the husk still existed. The husk, filled with the raging, life-hating souls, drifted to the edge of the Realmspace, and settled against the wall. It stayed there until just recently, when a random portal to the Phlogisin opened nearby. The brief surge of energy from the incoming phlogisin was enough to wake the ship up. Using what little power it had, it went through the portal and into the phlogisin. The fiery nature of the phlogisin appealed to it, and it was able to draw in this energy and restore its full strength. However, it knew that this power would have to be restored from time to time. That did not matter. The ship, calling itself the "Deadjammer," re-entered Realmspace and returned to the place where it was created, Garden, and promptly destroyed most of the cities and towns there. Exhausted, it sped to the sun to rest. Several days later it travelled to Luna and did the same. It will take a long time, but the Deadjammer could potentially reduce Realmspace to a graveyard. In fact, that is what it wants to do. After Realmspace, there will be other places to destroy... Now back to our story.

If the PC's land on the Deadjammer, they will find it deserted and lifeless, at least for the first hour. After that, the deck of the ship, which has a dry mud quality to it, will crack and crumble, allowing the emergence of all sorts of undead to swarm through the citadel. These are the bodies of those who were on the great ship the moment it was killed, and have been animated by the Deadjammer's twisted brain to kill the PC's. With luck the PC's will have sense enough to get off, and fast. (BTW, they fell no compulsion to stay on board, as they would on the "live" Sp elljammer). News of this investigation will cause all kinds of debate as to how to deal with the threat. At this point the GM should start keeping track of time. In exactly four days the Deadjammer will come and destroy three cities on Luna, and one of the asteroid outposts in the Tears of Celune (not a big one mind you, just enough to scare everyone even more). It will then retreat to the sun for a six day rest. It will continue to attack in six day cycles for 18 days, at the end of which every major city on Luna will be destroyed. Hopefully the PC's will act before that happens. The nations of Realmspace quickly agree to band together and engage the Deadjammer, hoping to destroy it. This gives the GM and PCs an opportunity for some heavy role-playing and battle tactics are laid out. For points on how to build an interstellar spacefleet, consult "Under the Dark Fist," but this time leave the Neogi out (They have elected to remain very quiet during this crisis, and will hide and ride it out if they can). If you don't have that module, then improvise. Just make a huge fleet, where the total tonnage of the challenging ships is equal to that of the Spelljammer. (Hey, I never said it was easy! It may be necessary to send for reinforcements from Greyspace or another nearby sphere, but there is simply no time for that!) Once the nations of Realmspace have their fleet put together, they will hold some training drills using an asteroid that is about the same size as the Deadjammer. Exactly what tactics are used is up to the GM and players (Think about it, how do you battle the Spelljammer? Even a false one?). It will be fifteen days before the nations are ready to fight the Deadjammer. Luna will have been struck two more times, unless the PC's can find a way to distract it, which isn't likely. If a single ship atta cks it, the Deadjammer will simply use a sphere of inhalation and wipe the ship out completely. ***For dramatic effect, perhaps the elves of Evermeet are convinced that they can stop the Deadjammer alone. Sick an entire elven flotilla on the Deadjammer, and watch the undead ship wipe them out like flies, without missing a beat. Just like the Federation attacking the Borg... *** After the third strike on Luna, the Deadjammer will turn its attention to Toril, namely, a large port city called Waterdeep! It will have to pass through the Tears of Selune before reaching Toril. That is perhaps the best place to engage it.

Now the Realmspace fleet, with the help of the PC's, can go at the Deadjammer. For purposes of combat, assume that the Deadjammer has the same combat abilities and weapons at the Spelljammer, BUT, with an MR of C and a SR of 6. This reflects the undead nature of the Deadjammer. It is unlikely to make a difference, however. If the Deadjammer looses the battle, it will start to fly about wildly as the undead spirits finally break free of their prison. In the end, the Deadjammer will fall into Toril's atmosphere and burn up, eventually crashing into an ocean. On the other hand, if the Deadjammer wins, the PCs (assuming they are still alive) will have a problem: Plan A has failed. The Deadjammer will be too "drained" from the battle to carry out the destruction of Waterdeep, but it will return in six days to do just that. Toril and the rest of Realmspace are now defenseless against this monster. Riots start all over Toril ("The world is ending" sort of thing). Religious cults start springing up, all hoping to appease the "Spelljammer." It will be the lo ngest six days in Toril's history. The PC's may try to take control of the Deadjammer with an Ultimate Helm (if they have one). It won't work, because the entity that inhabits the Deadjammer does not accept the power of an Ultimate Helm. They may get on board and try to destroy the control room, but this may be difficult with all of the undead running around, but with sufficient ground troops, it may be possible. This could be considered plan B. Assume that the kingdom of Wa has been considering this option, and has two of their Tsunami battleships loaded with ground troops. The PC's are more than welcome to join them. If they strike the Deadjammer at the beginning of its rest cycle, it will not have the strength to attack the Tsunami as they approach. As the troops swarm into the citadel, destroying everything in their path, the animated undead will appear and cause all kinds of trouble. (This could be a good place to use the Battlesystem rules.) Assume that the Deadjammer has about 1000 undead "troops," mostly infantry. If the Deadjammer is assaulted in this way, it will be possible to stop it. If someone brakes into the captain's tower, they will find the body of the Deadjammer's former captain (who shared the fate of the ship he once commanded). Consider the former captain a demi-lich for combat purposes. That should keep the PC's busy for a while. Killing the demi-lich will "open the gate" for the spirits to escape. The scene would look something like the scene at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." If the PC's win *THIS* battle, then the Deadjammer will become a lifeless husk, and in a few weeks time will fall into the sun and burn up. In all likelihood, this attack will succeed in destroying the Deadjammer. Now comes the tedious job of helping rebuild what it destroyed (a great springboard for new adventures, such as finding missing people, reclaiming destroyed areas, and so on.) In fact, the PC's could easily establish a stronghold somewhere in Realmspace, what with the role they played in defeating this menace.

But what if the Deadjammer isn't defeated? (Stay with me, this is the "Hollywood ending," so I'm almost done). After the assault on the citadel, the Deadjammer will again need a six day rest. Notice that it has again been forced to wait to begin it's assault on Toril, and it is very angry! Someone else is very angry as well. Somewhere in Realmspace there is an Ultimate Helm (it doesn't matter where), and when the Deadjammer woke up, the Ultimate Helm detected this. This Ultimate Helm reached out to what it thought was the Spelljammer, and was then repulsed when it discovered it had encountered an imposter. The "real" Spelljammer, wherever it is, felt this as well, and it has been on its way to find out just what the hell is going on! When the Deadjammer approaches Toril for the third time, it will be convinced that there is no one in the universe that can stop it. It will be quite taken aback when the real Spelljammer emerges from the Tears of Selune and challenges it. If the PC's are on a ship watching this, they would be wise to assume a safe distance...

At this point, the GM can have the two behemoths fight it out, perhaps with the PC's controlling the "good" Spelljammer. **THIS*** should kill the Deadjammer, if only because it can't move as fast or maneuver as well as the Spelljammer. Assume the Spelljammer has a captain, and can use the tail stinger - it will need it, since the Deadjammer has one of it's own!

If by some horrid chance the Deadjammer wins the fight with the Spelljammer, then Waterdeep and all the rest of the cities on Toril will be destroyed over the next few months. After that, the Deadjammer will move on to other places in the sphere, leveling all of the population centers after about two years. After that, it will proceed to another sphere and start the process over again. Somewhere along the line the re-born Spelljammer will appear for a re-match, but regardless, fantasy space will nev er be the same again. What a GM does with a situation of this type is purely up to him or her. A long running series of adventures to continuously outwit and foil the Deadjammer? A search for a magical artifact that could destroy or trap it? The sky is the limit.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Temporum Sphaera ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Edited and updated by Estress of the Oraladax translated from the Illithid by Richard J. Pugh and Ville Lavonius. Additional input by Michael Bauser

The history of the known spheres is best viewed in sections, as with the history of many other areas. This work has been divided into the following sections: The Aetaus Primus (prehistoric), The Pre- Classical Age (of the "First Migrators," the Reigar, and the Juna), the Classical Age, and the Modern Age (itself divided into sections). Most of the events covered in this work have little or no effect on the histories of ground dwelling nations, however. The natives of groundling nations have rarely had any contact with the goings on of the worlds beyond them. There are exceptions, and space travel is part of almost every worlds history. But rarely has space travel been an important part of a world's development. Two calendars are included. One is an abstract calendar, listing events in relation to today. The other is one of the Elven calendars, the Olven Chronicon, which is one of the few standard calendars in the known spheres. Use of this calendar is limited mainly to elves (the elves of Oerth in Greyspace being the best example), but others have adopted it as well. For the earliest dates, historical records are unreliable, being based mainly on mythical records and artifacts. As such, they are subject to debate. They are included here because they help to put later events in context.

The Aetas Primus ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ Relative: -1,100,000 to -100,000 OC: -1,000,000 to -100,000 This is the collective title for the "prehistoric" age of the known spheres. Little or no written records of this age exist, and even artifacts are few and far between. It is assumed that life evolved (or was planted) on approximately a dozen worlds in as many spheres throughout what is now known as the Trulian Ring. This stands to reason, because for reasons described below, this is where the known spheres came from. Whatever the case, for close to a million years space appears to have been devoid of any travellers. One should note the implications of this: for more that 90% of the universe's history, the beings that eventually evolved into the space faring races of today were, at best, nomadic tribes restricted to a handful of worlds.

The Breaking of the First Sphere Relative: -1,100,000 assumed OC: -1,000,000 assumed Almost all cultures have a story dealing with the creation (or rebirth) of the known universe. There is physical evidence that at some point in the distant past (the above dates are approximate), the crystal sphere that once resided at the center of what is now the Trulian Ring, literally exploded. When one visits the Trulian Ring today, the remains of this sphere still float in the phlogisin inside the ring. Considering the positions of the spheres in the Trulian ring, and the locations of other known spheres in relation to that ring, it is assumed that this sphere, upon breaking, released all of the other spheres into the flow. The spheres traveled away from the explosion, and eventually settled in their current locations. Note that one should not confuse this First Sphere with the broken sphere that is the assumed origin of the Spelljammer. That sphere, while also dwelling within the Trulian Ring, is a different entity. Oddly, all of the known spheres reside on roughly the same plane, where the phlogiston is thickest. As to why the spheres traveled and settled on the same plane, the most accepted explanation is the existence of an emmence gravity plane which is holding the spheres in place, as well as the phlogisin material that travels between them. Some travel logs state that the pholgisin eventually tapers out, several trillion miles from the Trulian Ring and becomes so thin that it is nearly impossible to use it for travel. If the theory of a massive gravity plane holds true, then where the phlogisin tapers out to nothing is the end of this gravity plane. The phenomenon is similar to that of the atmosphere of a disk world: the atmosphere ceases as soon as the gravity plane is left behind. This collective of crystal spheres and phlogisin is often referred to as a "Galaxy." The "galaxy" that contains the Radiant Triangle and the other spheres known to all space travellers appears to be disk- shaped, like a flat world. Some theorize that it slowly spins around it's center (the Trulian Ring), like an enormous top. If this is true, then the spheres within the galaxy would collectively create the image of a whirlpool, or spiral. However, since no one has ever traveled out of the galaxy to take a look, this remains to be proven. It is alarming to note that while no one has ever traveled out of our galaxy, at least four other galaxies are supposed to exist. No one knows if it is possible to reach them, or how long it would take. But then again, no one has ever tried. The most noteworthy researcher on this is the gnommish astronomer Hub-El, who developed a massive, magical telescope for viewing objects outside and beyond the galaxy. While his works are frequently viewed as gnommish gibberish, many more respected researchers are beginning to put stock in Hul-El's research.

The Pre-Classical Age ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ Relative: -105,000 to -10,000 OC: -100,000 to -1,036 This period marks the true beginning of space travel, even though it went in fits and starts, and with several failed attempts. It is known that one race, the "Real Ancestors," achieved space travel prior to any others, and appears to have made extensive use of the technology. The period is also characterized by two other civilizations, detailed below. It is also during this time that the first confirmed sightings of the Spelljammer occur. Records from this time tend to derive from mythical account s and from artifacts. The existence of space travel from this time, however, is a confirmed fact.

The Migration of the "Real Ancestors." Relative: -105,000 approx OC: -100,036 approx According to historical (and mythical) records, at about this time an advanced, intelligent race achieved space travel and actively spread primitive races around the spheres, for reasons of their own. Exactly who these people were, what they were doing, and why they transported intelligent races around the spheres has never been adequately explained. However, if such events did occur, it would explain why there are so many intelligent species in the galaxy, and why many of them have similar characteristics. Humans and demi-humans are the best example. At any rate, the "Real Ancestors," whoever they were, were the first space travellers. Most records of them are from primitive art works suggest that they were humanoid, and with strong powers, either magical or telepathic. How they traveled through space is still a mystery. It is unlikely that they used spelljamming helms like the ones used today. If they had, some of the primitive races they transported would have certainly gotten a hold of them and used them. There is no evidence to suggest tha t this ever happened. The most likely means of transport, barring helms, would be some sort of dimensional travel. It is assumed that this race held sway in space for about 30,000 years, but records are so sketchy that it is very difficult to give a definite time frame. It is known that by the time the Reigar rose to prominence, this race had long since faded from the picture. But again, whoever they were, they were the first space travellers.

Height of the ancient Reigar civilization. Relative: -60,000 approx OC: -55,036 approx The ancestors of the current day Reigar were among the first space faring races on record, but it is also known that their command of space (at this time) was restricted to about four spheres. They used early versions of Aesthitics for transport, and when forced to do so, they would travel the space lanes on creatures like kindori, while the more powerful ones travelled through the spheres via dimensional travel. Clearly they traveled in small groups, but there was enough communication between the reigar worlds to keep their civilization intact. The Reigar lost their hold fairly quickly. Artifacts suggest that a disease of some kind effected the most powerful Reigar spellcasters, including their dimensional travellers. This cut many of their communication links, thus isolating the reigar groups. The reigar civilization rapidly decayed, and the race reverted to an almost tribal status. It would remain so until the time of the Chiten, almost 50000 years later.

The Height of the Juna Civilization Relative: -22000 OC: -17036 As with the Reigar, there is a distance gap between the ascension of the Juna and the fall of the Reigar. Of all the Pre-Classical civilizations, the Juna are the best documented, but the least understood. The Juna, who ascended to space long after the Reigar, are known to have been tri-symmetrical beings, of approximately human height. They are also known to have used spelljamming helms of some sort, but they were very different from any of the helms used today, apparently telepathically based. Their ships were very large and very durable, designed to undertake long voyages with large numbers of passengers. The leviathan ghost shi ps were probably built by the Juna, for example. It appears that the Juna were primarily a space faring race, having little to do with the fledgling civilizations on the hundreds of worlds seeded by the First Ancestors. At the same time, they are also known to have teraformed some planets in the Trulian Ring and elsewhere, apparently for colonization. Why a race whose primary interest was in space would expend so much energy in making worlds suitable for colonization is a mystery that no one has attempted to solve. One theory is that the Juna had two or more sub-races, or "castes," and that one of these was planet based in outlook. The Juna civilization, thought it did not decay, became somewhat of an arrested culture about 18,000 years ago. The few records that exist suggest that the race reached a certain level of development, and simply stopped.

The First Confirmed Citing of the Spelljammer Relative: -21453 OC: -16489 Every race in the known spheres has claimed to be the builder of the Spelljammer. In truth, none of them have grounds for it. The earliest confirmed sighting of the Spelljammer is from (interestingly) human cave paintings on Oerth, dating from this period. Similar artwork exists on several worlds, all depicting a huge, manta-ray shaped flying craft, about 2000 feet wide. The ancient Reigar, oddly, have no such references. It may be that they simply never saw it, and considering that they did not have a major presence in space, even at their height, this is quite likely. The role of the Juna in its creation is constantly questioned. There are also those who say it was built by the "First Ancestors," which is another way of saying they haven't the slightest idea who built it. Others even go so far as to say it was built by whoever broke the first sphere. This is one mystery that may never be totally solved, but what can be said is that intelligent races have been travelling in space for about 100 ,000 years, and that the Spelljammer has been with them for the last 22,000. Recent studies have suggested that the Juna were at least partially responsible for the construction of the great ship. A particular strain of humans with strong telepathic powers has also been linked to the ship, along with an insectoid-like race like the contemporary Rastepides, and a type of air-dwelling ray-like creature. It is assumed that these ray creatures served as a model for the great ship. This theory is rapidly becoming the most widely accepted explanation for the Spelljammer's origin, but it has plenty of detractors, mainly among the elves. Simply put, they can't accept the fact that the ship is not of elven design. They assert this despite the fact that archeological evidence has proven that the Spelljammer was travelling the space lanes back when the elves were still beast-riding, cannibalistic savages.

Start of the Nivil Histories Relative: -20000 OC: -1072 At about this time, the recorded history of Nivil began. To be more specific, the collective historical works that are now called the histories of Nivil were collected and their dates standardized. The histories are still maintained today. The most reliable set can be found in the Great Archive of Compact, on Crescent in Heartspace.

Disappearance of the Juna Relative: -10000 OC: -5036 At about this date, teraforming of planets by the Juna ends abruptly, and the race vanished within less than a century. Since no physical remains of the Juna have been found in any sphere, many historians believe that the Juna packed up and left. Another theory is that the Juna were somehow "lonely" and saw no change forthcoming in millennia. They then went beyond the event horizon of a black hole, or sealed themselves into a thus uncharted crystal sphere, to be recalled by the next civilized race. Unfortunately, those races that would follow have been more busy conquering planets than exploring space. If the Juna are in hiding, they remain undiscovered to this day. Either way, where they went is anyone's guess. An interstellar "Dark Age" began after their disappearance, which lasted almost 3000 years.

The Classical Age ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

Relative: -6,000 to -3,800 OC: -1,036 to 1236 This period is fairly well documented, and most of the records are reliable, at least within context, because the one in power always writes history to their advantage. Regardless, it was during this period that the stage was set for most of what we find in space today. Intelligent races spread around the galaxy like wildfire, civilizations rose and fell, and wars were fought left and right. And through it all, the mighty Spelljammer floated about like a ghost, silently watching.

Ascension of the Syllix Relative: -6000 OC: -1036 During this year, the Syllix entered space using the first true spelljamming helms. Their helms were called Magestars, and worked in a matter similar to the contemporary lifejammer. It would be nearly two centuries before they would become the dominant race in space, however.

Founding of the Syllix Emirate Relative: circa -5800 OC: circa -836 The exact date is in question, but at about this time the various Syllix kingdoms were united under a single group of leaders, who formed the Syllix Emirate. Within a decade, the Emirate would be renamed the Chitin Empire, named after the Syllix homeworld, Chi'tan (supposedly). Chi'tan, in turn, is named for the substance chitin, which makes up the exoskeleton of insects, arachnids, crustacians, and some amphibians.

First Thri-Kreen space travellers. Relative: -5500 OC: -536 Again the exact date is in question, but by this time the Thri- Kreen were traveling in space, using spelljamming technology of their own and not that of the Syllix. The Thri-Kreen, being a subject race of the Syllix, however, would not become a major player is space for some time.

Arrival of the Arcane. Relative: -5450 OC: -486 Nobody has been able to determine where they came from, and they won't say, but as soon as the Arcane arrived in the worlds of the Chiten Empire, they quickly established themselves as the best merchants around. At first their goods covered all natures of products, but as time wore on they became more and more concerned with spelljamming technology, using helm designs that were better than anything else available. They were able to carve out a monopoly on most of this technology, which they hold to t his day.

The Age of Ascensions Relative: circa -5050 OC: circa -486 With the Chitin empire quickly sprawling all over the known spheres, the Syllix begin to use intelligent species native to the various worlds as both skilled and unskilled laborers. This eventually resulted in several races becoming acquainted with spelljamming. The motives of the Syllix were far from altruistic: they had an empire to run and they needed laborers to do it. However, the results proved positive for everyone: the Syllix had control of their empire's economic resources, and the primitiv e races gradually became advanced races. Collectively, these new space travellers were referred to as "client races" of the Syllix. The Thri- Kreen, who controlled about ten percent of the empire in their own right, eventually followed suit.

The Founding of Evermeet Relative: -5035 OC: 1 The elven kingdom of Evermeet in Realmspace is the oldest functioning government in the known spheres. At the time, the elves were simply a client race of the Syllix, who cared little for their internal doings, or even that the elves were experimenting with spelljamming technology on their own. They were simply one race of several dozen, and as long as they kept their lawn in order, the Syllix were unconcerned. To put things in perspective, the tiny Evermeet spacefleet became the core of the mighty Imperial Navy, over 4000 years later. The elves are not proud of their humble beginnings as servants to the salamander- like Syllix, and for a time they tried to erase all record of this. Sadly for them, the fact is too well documented to erase completely, so eventually they went from denying their origin to embracing it, proclaiming themselves the successors of the Syllix. If this is the case they have done very well: they even make the same mistakes.

Formation of the Tears of Selune Relative: -4803 OC: 233 Sages have yet to adequately describe the sudden appearance of the Tears of Selune. All accounts indicate that they simply appeared out of nowhere. Two theories have been posed: that they are the byproduct of a battle between two dieties, or that they are the remains of a small planet that was somehow destroyed near Toril and Luna.

Zenith of the Chitin Empire Relative: -4500 OC: 536 At its height, the Chitin Empire had full control over 20 spheres, and partial control of another six, had 25 space faring races to its credit, as well as over 100 ground based races and a total population that numbered in the trillions. The Chitin Empire, which by now had existed for over a millennia, would enjoy about two centuries of prosperity. The Syllix were harsh rulers, but so long as everyone pulled their weight, they were fine. When troubles came, however, they came quickly and in droves. As the Syllix rulers became more decadent and more tyrannical, several of the client races began to rebel. Most rebellions were crushed without quarter before they became widespread. By -4200, they had increased in number to the point where the Syllix couldn't control the empire any longer. At first individual worlds were lost, then entire spheres.

The Screaming Migration Relative: -4000 OC: 1036 The long series of revolts came to a head around -4000, when the Thri-Kreen declared themselves a sovereign nation. This initially effected three spheres, and eventually spread to another six, so naturally the Syllix resisted. Most of the client races native to the effected spheres sided with the Thri-Kreen, and in the end the Syllix were forced to grant the Thri-Kreen their independence. This show of weakness spurred increased resistance in the rest of the Chiten Empire, and in the end the Syllix were literally forced to flee across the phlogiston. Many suspect that they moved on and simply set up shop elsewhere, while others think they died off. The Syllix that can be found today are pathetic in comparison to their ancestors. In fact, they are descendants of the servant caste. This combination of internal strife and external conflicts completely destroyed the Chitin Empire, the largest political entity in recorded history. The Thri-Kreen Empire, which followed the same pattern as its predecessor would endure for another millennia. The Thri-Kreen were much more tolerant rulers, having once been client races themselves, but they lacked the tenacity and savvy of the Syllix. While the Thri-Kreen Empire would not suffer from external conflicts until near the end of its existen ce, it was constantly bereft with social problems that made it increasingly disjoint and ineffective.

Crusade of the Celestial Mantis Relative: -4000 to -3800 aprox OC: 1036 to 1236 After the collapse of the Chitin empire, the Thri-Kreen became the dominant race in known space. In an attempt to secure their position, they embarked on a series of small wars to convert the natives of the old empire to their religion, that of the Celestial Mantis. The wars and missionary actions had mixed results, but in the end the Thri-Kreen gave up their attempt to conquer the universe by means of religious zeal. They turned instead to teaching and commercial endeavors. With or without the Crusade, the Thri-Kreen maintained their dominance of space for several centuries.

The Height of the Oortlings Relative: -3900 OC: 1136 The Oortlings are an example of a promising race that was crushed while on the threshold. Based in Realmspace, the Oortlings lived on comet-like worlds (which were actually fast moving earth worlds), and were known for having a sophisticated, artistic culture. They were small humanoids, perhaps related to halflings, who dabbled in spelljamming. They are known to have explored most of Realmspace, as well as parts of Greyspace and Spiralspace. Evidence of their explorations have even been found in Solaris and Terraspace.

Civilizations in the Known Spheres Relative: -3800 OC: 1236 By this time, there were thriving human, demi-human, and humanoid civilizations in several of the former spheres of the Chitin Empire, and in the current Thri-Kreen Empire. Examples included Greyspace, Realmspace, Krynnspace, Athasspace, Solaris, Omnispace, and many others. In a few isolated cases, humans and their kin began to travel in space. On the whole this was not the case. With the exception of the elves, space travel is only now being "rediscovered" by most humans and demi- humans, who even today are "dirtside" in outlook.

The Al'Malamut Empire Relative: -3400 OC: 1636 In a noteworthy exception to the generally planet bound humans, the Al'Malamut, a Ptahian theocracy, became the first human nation to actively undertake spelljamming. Over a period of 100 years, they quickly conquered four spheres, including one under the Thri-Kreen. The empire would hold for a surprisingly long time, almost 1400 years. Humans have been in space, in some number, ever since the Al'Malamut wars of conquest.

The Great Illithid Wars Relative: -3078 to -3002 OC: 1958 to 2034 Prior to this time, the Illithids were looked at as just another former client race of the Syllix with some rather unique eating habits. Their unprovoked attacks on Thri-Kreen settlements changed that perception very quickly. It would appear that the Illithid kingdoms, which were centered at what is now Clusterspace (Astromundi), decided to conquer the known spheres, and for seventy five years they fought a series of wars with that in mind. Many find it truly frightening that they almost succeeded. In - 3003 they destroyed Ji-Trinan, the Thri-Kreen capital world. The entire planet was pulled into a permanent portal to the Negative Material Plane, sometimes called a Black Hole. The last enclaves of the Thri- Kreen empire vanished within the year, ending with the destruction of the Thri-Kreen homeworld, Sri-Knna. The planet was transformed into a lifeless rock by the Illithids. To this day it is nearly uninhabitable.

The Modern Age ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ Relative: -2954 to present OC: 2082 to present The last three millennia have been bloody by anyone's standards. With the collapse of the Thri-Kreen empire, the last vestige of the Chiten Empire, a huge power vacuum appeared in the known spheres. Over the next two millennia, several races would ply for control, and the baton would be passed several times. All of the contenders planned to run an empire as large and as strong as the Syllix or the Thri-Kreen, but of these contenders only the elves have even come close. Most historians consider the ascent of the Illithids to be the beginning of the modern age. Many less informed people think the Illithids were the first space faring race. Obviously this is not the case, but the mistake is an honest one. Most of the existing star charts and records currently in use date from the age of the Illithids.

Destruction of the Oortlings Relative: -2954 OC: 2082 The Illithids, now firmly in control of the known spheres, made it a practice of stamping out any potential opposition to their rule. The most noted example of this was in Realmspace, where the Oortling civilization was completely destroyed. It is possible, in fact likely, that some of the Oortlings escaped the slaughter, considering their extensive travels. In Realmspace however, the Oortlings are a pathetic shadow of what they once were, barley being able to think for themselves.

Height of Illithid Influence Relative: -2900 OC: 2136 The rampant expansion of the Illithids, which brought them into conflict with the human Al'Malamut, was cut short by the arrival of a new contender, the Beholders. During the next century, the Beholders and the Illithids would continuously battle one another for control over anything that wasn't nailed down. The Al'Malamut and the elves of Evermeet quickly sidestepped the situation and let the two races battle it out.

Defeat of the Illithids Relative: -2802 OC: 2234 The last major Illithid fleet was defeated by the Beholders at Toralikis (Toril). This event, combined with a freakish disease that destroyed Illithid brain pools, made the Beholders the dominant race in space. Ironically, their control would last for only a decade, when internal strife drove the race into disarray. These civil wars continue to this day.

Athasspace: Emergence of the Defilers. Relative: -2145 OC: 2891 This would be a minor point, were it not for the effect it would eventually bring. Athas was at the time a typical earth world inhabited by humans and demi-humans. It was always a warm, dry world, but a thriving one just the same. At about this time, a new form of magic appeared that drew power directly from the prime material plane, as opposed to the energy planes. It was stronger and easier to access, but harder to control. When these mages, called Defilers, began to seize control of Athas, a few rebels took to the stars to find help. Spelljamming was at best a n ovelty, but it was available at the time. Sadly, a small number of the Defiler mages spread to the other spheres, causing havoc wherever they went. Today, some of these Defiler mages still travel the known spheres as liches, and are generally best left alone.

Collapse of the Al'Malamut Empire. Relative: -2000 OC: 2746 The Al'Malamut, which had enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence for 1400 years, was quickly decimated in a series of revolts by the member worlds. Explanations vary as to why the worlds revolted, but many historians blame the collapse on a combination of internal revolts, and the fact that by this point there was no controlling group in known space, which allowed incursions into the Al'Malamut to go unchecked. It is known that they fought a bloody war with the Illithids over Garlandspace, which wea kened their economy to the breaking point. In short, the Al'Malamut were simply unable to deal with the constant incursions from outside, and the unrest from within. The empire basically imploded.

Athasspace: The closing of the sphere. Relative: -1136 OC: 3900 In an event that was probably for the best, some of the Defiler kings, who had seized control of portions of Athas, sealed the crystal sphere from the inside. It would appear that this was done to prevent people from escaping, including opposing Defilers. At any rate, entrance to the sphere by normal means was terminated. The sphere has remained impenetrable to this day. Defilers and their followers can still be found in some isolated corners of the known spheres, but in the grand scheme of things they are not a threat. There is reportedly a way to enter the sphere, and star charts of Athaspace did at one time exist, but none of them have been confirmed as authentic.

The arrival of the Neogi Relative: -1098 OC: 3862 After the fall of the Beholders, there had not been a truly alien race running about. The neogi ended this, on no uncertain terms. The neogi were not an unknown race; they had been a Syllix client race like many others. However, after they freed themselves from the Syllix, they remained quiet for a long time, and nobody gave them much thought. There were other "spider" client races, which were often wiped out because of their bad temper, so the neogi were often written off as a "left over." Apparently, the neogi had decided it was time to enslave the entire universe, literally. Their first strike was in Realmspace, on what is now Garden. Of the 600 people living there, about 200 were killed, and another 200 taken prisoner. Few people gave the incident much thought, but within thirty years it became clear that the neogi were here to stay, and that they were an enemy.

Solaris: Start of the Magic Wars Relative: -1018 OC: 4018 Solaris, one of the spheres of the Penticate, had a relatively active spelljamming society, but this changed when the order of the Nimar (a group of very powerful mages) suffered a schism. With the two opposing factions battling with one another, the planet of Cartania was plunged into a state of total war, and eventually the entire sphere was pulled into the fray. Even though the wars started as a conflict between opposing factions of the Nimar and their personal armies, the entire population was drawn in, as the various kingdoms joined the conflict for their own gain. Solaris quickly became a sphere filled with pirates, warring navies, and marauding space creatures. Those people who travelled there were probably looking for easy loot as pirates or mercenaries.

The Years of Blight (The First Inhuman War) Relative: -1000 to -902 OC: 4036 to 4128 Technically, this period can be included with the First Inhuman War, but is distinct enough to warrant specific attention. During this period, the various humanoid races begin to travel around the known spheres making their living at raping, pillaging, and looting. Most of the attacks were isolated, but they were consistent enough that any nation with a spelljamming fleet had a standing guard ready to engage them. The humanoids worked in all of the spheres of the old Chiten Empire. The only noteworthy exception was Solaris, where the increased local spelljamming activity brought on by the Magic Wars made it too difficult to slip in and out without a problem. Of all the races in the spheres to take action against the humanoids, only the elves had an organized plan for dealing with them.

Charter of the Imperial Elven Navy. Relative: -998 OC: 4038 Based at Evermeet on Toril, the various elven nations of the known spheres devised a long-range plan for dealing with the humanoids. The various spacefleets of the elves would maintain constant patrols around important worlds, and deal with the humanoids whenever then arrived. This became the basis for the Imperial Elven Navy, which exists to this day. It started out as an highly organized militia force as opposed to a unified navy, however. That would come later.

Arrival of new races. Relative: -980 OC: 4056 With the onset of the years of blight, several new spacefaring races begin to appear. Among them were the Grommam, Hadozee, and Giff.

Arrival of the Gnomes Relative: -921 OC: 4115 At about this time, Krynnish Gnomes begin to travel the known spheres, eager to assist against the humanoids. Their ships were described as "badly designed" and an "insult to engineers everywhere." Collectively, most people wished they had stayed on Krynn.

The Battle of Greela. Relative: -902 OC: 4134 In response to the increasingly organized humanoid fleets, the elves begin to take the offensive. At first the battles were isolated and short, but very bloody. The first true fleet to fleet battle between the Imperial Elven Navy and the humanoids was in Greyspace, near Greela, an elven stronghold. The Battle of Greela is considered the start of the First Inhuman War by most historians, even though the conflict had been in progress for over a century by the time the battle took place. Within two years of Greela, humanoid and elf fleet to fleet battles, and battles between ground troops became very common in most of the known spheres.

Creation of the Batship Relative: -900 OC: 4136 Little is known about the Batship, but one thing that is known is that it was created at about this time, in a crystal sphere far beyond the Trullian Ring. Many sages believe that the wizard who created it is still alive, and attempting to find a way to stop it.

Greyspace: The Destruction of Borka Relative: -876 OC: 4060 Most of the decisive battles of the First Inhuman War were fought in Greyspace and Realmspace. Borka, in Greyspace, was one of the humanoid's major command centers, and when the elves couldn't gather the troops to conquer it, they destroyed it. A temporal planar rift was created below the surface of the planet, which tore in apart. This was the beginning of the end for the humanoids, who were never able to recover from this defeat.

Radolespace: End of the First Inhuman War (Battle of Armistice) Relative: -872 OC: 4064 After the destruction of Borka, the elves fought a series of quick campaigns to trap the humanoids on the surfaces of planets. Sadly, they did tear some other planets apart. The last major fleet to fleet battle was above the ice planet of Armistice in Radolespace, which ended in a decisive victory for the elves. In the treaty that followed, the humanoids were forced to the planet's surface, and their ships destroyed. This event left the elves the dominant race in the known spheres, a position they have held until very recently. The elven navy remained intact as a barrier against any invaders. At first, the navy sought to protect all free races, but as time wore on they became more concerned with elven interests at the expense of any others.

The Insectare War Relative: -868 to -862 OC: 4168 to 4174 After a brief lull, conflict resumed when the Insectare tried to seize control of the elven navy, and the worlds it protected. It was later determined that the insectare were planted by the Neogi. During the Inhuman War, the neogi had been silent, apparently allowing one of the major groups to be victorious. Since the elves won, the neogi sought to eliminate their only remaining rival. The plot, thought well planned, was foiled. The elven navy eventually purged itself by killing not only every ins ectare in its ranks, but any elf who freely associated with them. Over 10000 elves were killed, the few remaining insectare went into hiding, and the neogi were on the run.

Solaris: Close of the Magic Wars Relative: -852 OC: 4184 Cartania's Magic Wars, which had raged without a pause for almost two hundred years, came to an abrupt end when the last of the Black Nimar were banished to the icy moon of Dirax. This should have set things back to normal, but the various kingdoms had decided they had had their fill of magic and the Nimar, and chased them to the farthest reaches of the planet. A year later, the few remaining Nimar somehow summoned the Spelljammer (how they did this has never been explained), which *landed* in a wide bay (Farbay) and carried them off, never to return. Shortly thereafter, Cartania was sealed inside a magical bubble which prevented any spelljamming vessel from entering or leaving. This act effectively ended spelljamming in Solaris, even though ships still visited the other worlds of the sphere. With the main world inaccessible, no one, including the elves, considered Solaris to be worth the effort, and the sphere became a backwater.

The Rama'tal'ain. Relative: -743 OC: 4295 This year heralded the arrival of a potential new menace, the Rama'tal'ain. The Rama'tal'ain are described as short, vaguely humanoid creatures with oddly shaped limbs. Without provocation, this (somewhat) humanoid race began to conquer every world in their home sphere, including the planet Trabarax. Trabarax is the home world of the Tabaxi, a feline humanoid race. The invaders were reportedly cruel beyond measure, and eventually many of the native Tabaxi were forced to flee into space. The Rama'tal'ain have not proven to be a major threat in the grand scheme of things, but they have the potential. Most major spelljamming groups keep an eye on them, just in case.

Realmspace: The Birth of Elminster. Relative: -521 OC: 4517 During the spring of this year, the man who would eventually be known as Elminster of Shadowdale, perhaps the most powerful mage alive, was born. During the first 50 years of his life, he made his mark as a famed adventurer-wizard. Today, he is known for his knowledge of nearly everything related to the Realms, including spelljamming. A personality cult has developed around this colorful man in the last century.

Solaris: Breaking of Cartania's bubble shield. Relative: -475 OC: 4563 After the departure of the Nimar, Cartania was encased in a large magical bubble that prevented any spelljamming ships from Reaching the planet. This magical bubble appears to have drawn its power from specific points on the planet. During this year, a major earthquake apparently destroyed one of these "terminals," and since the Nimar were no longer around to mend the shield, the gap began to grow. After twenty years, the shell was essentially gone, and within a decade spelljamming had resumed on a low scale. It would steadily increase during the next century.

Krynnspace: The Cataclysm Relative: -364 OC: 4674 The Cataclysm is one of the most horrible, and best-documented disasters in the Radiant Triangle. Growing conflicts between the gods of Krynn, and various powerful individuals on the planet resulted in a series of magic storms that nearly ripped the planet apart. Spelljamming (what little there was) came to a very abrupt stop. Kyrnnish gnomes would return to space about a century later, but not in great numbers.

First major dealings with the Dohwar Relative: -345 OC: 4693 The Dohwar claim to have originated in Heardspace, and shortly after entering space they made a living as freight haulers. It would not be long before they began to peddle goods wherever they could find a buyer. Their business terms tend to be somewhat shady, and their goods questionable. The Dohwar concentrate on goods that the Arcane do not normally deal with, but the Arcane still find them a nuisance, and would like to see them back in Heardspace, permanently.

Cult of Ptah forced underground. Relative: -300 aprox OC: 4723 The Cult of Ptah, famous for their barge ships, was scattered around the known spheres at about this time, and lost any vestige of the organized group that it once was. Many historians have called the Cult the "Ghost of the Al'Malamut Empire." For a long time the Cult used to talk about the glory of the old empire, and often promised to rebuild it. If they had any serious plans of doing so, they were crushed due to a combination of in-fighting and external opposition. Today the cult is becomming a major player again. Since abandoning the Al'Malamut credo (after a revolt in Holy Creche), the cult has ben turning its attention to missionary work and scholarship. They may have an alterior motive, but if they do they have not revealed it yet.

Realmspace: First dealings with the K'r'r'r Relative: -212 OC: 4826 In the vicinity of The Garden, a group of travellers encountered what came to be known as the K'r'r'r Unity Fleets. The strange, spider- like creatures were verbally aggressive, with talk of sending all groundlings back where they belong. This hostile reception did not involve any blows. To date, the K'r'r'r are a minor threat wherever they occur, and from time to time they have threatened some small worlds.

Plague of the Clockwork Horrors. Relative: -205 OC: 4833 During this year, some of the worlds on the known spheres were plagued by Clockwork Horrors. Even worlds that had no active spelljamming were effected, so how they managed to reach so many worlds has never been adequately explained. One historian has suggested that the Clockwork Horrors were originally designed by either the Juna or the "First Ancestors" as a teraforming tool, and that they were programmed to periodically "reset" various worlds. The behavior of the mechanical creatures lends some credibility to this theory, but it is unlikely that this will ever be proven. At any rate, the plague was short, but highly destructive.

Realmspace: Arrival of the Batship. Relative: -200 OC: 4838 The Batship, for reasons that have never been fully explained, settled in Realmspace at about this time. It is known to have traveled through Krynspace at one point, apparently before settling here. At first, the strange ship was seen in the vicinity of Garden, but soon moved closer to the sun. Today, it travels a random path between Toril, Anadia, and Colair, apparently resting in the Tears of Selune. The Batship has proven to be a major hazard for anyone it encounters. It attacks other ships without provocation, and such attacks are usually fatal for the target ship. The elves have attempted to stop the craft from time to time, but to no avail.

Solaris: The First Elven Civil War Relative: -187 OC: 4851 The Imperial Navy has never dealt with Solaris in a professional manner. This year saw the uncovering of a plot to bind the elven nations of the sphere closer to the navy. For several years, the elves had been becoming more isolationist in outlook, so this plot was not well received! The war was short, but costly to the navy, who lost whatever ground-based support they might have had in the sphere.

Spiralspace: Founding of Bral Relative: -152 OC: 4886

The city of Bral, now known as the Rock of Bral, became an incorporated stronghold during this year, by Barron Cozar, a notorious pirate. At first the city was simply a pirates hold. Spiralspace, having direct currents to all the worlds of the Radiant Triangle, and Solaris in the Pentiacate, was an ideal place for pirates to work. Other beings had used to asteroid before, but the humans who founded Bral were the first to attempt a serious settlement. Today, Bral is a busy commercial sight, with space travellers from all over passing through on a regular basis. Bral has also been profiting from the conflict between humanoid and elf on the spheres main world, Spiral.

Krynnspace: The battle of Krynn Relative: -142 OC: 4896 This battle is famous for who fought in it: The Spelljammer and a Neogi flotilla. It has been suggested that the Neogi were planning to conquer Krynn, or at least a large portion of it, but the Spelljammer intervened. The battle was furious, and the Spelljammer was eventually destroyed. However, the Neogi were badly decimated as a result of the fight, and were unable to launch their planned assault. As an aside, the Spelljammer was sighted a year later in Greyspace, proving that the great ship does somehow "regenerate."

Arcane in the Radiant Triangle Relative: -80 OC: 4958 By the year, the Arcane had several establishments and business operations in the Radiant Triangle. Since they had a firm commercial hold on the Pentiacate, they decided to expand. Despite their aggressive marketing tactics, only individuals took interest in spelljamming, and no large nations: the ones who would make high yield, bulk orders. The only notable exception to this was Shou Lung on Toril, who would have an active spelljamming fleet within the decade.

First contact with the Dracon Relative: -60 OC: 4978 The Dracon, or dragon centaurs, first appeared in remote sections of the known spheres at about this time. In the time that followed, they became more common. Presently, most major spaceports have a "dracon town," with goods and services catering to the race.

Solaris: The Second Elven Civil War Relative: -56 to -21 OC: 4942-4947 In a set of plots and schemes more devious than the first, the Imperial Navy tried again to subjugate the elven nations of Solaris. They also tried to undermine the human kingdom of Muldravia, which was becoming a potential threat. Again the navy was discovered, and the situation was quite volatile. The human Muldravians were dragged into the conflict, and quickly proved themselves a power to be reckoned with. In the end, the elves had managed to undermine their own power base, leaving the human Muldravian Empire as the dominant spelljamming power in the sphere.

First verified contact with the Scro. Relative: -54 OC: 4984 In a number of spheres, human and demi human travellers noted the appearance of the orc-like Scro. The Scro claim to be the "next rulers" of space, the successor to the old humanoid fleets. So far they have not succeeded in this goal, but they have proven themselves to be very dangerous, and travellers would be wise to avoid them.

First confirmed sightings of Mindspiders Relative: -50 OC: 4988 The Neogi, who had been very quiet for several decades, made their presence known again by revealing their newest ship: the Mindspider. These small, lithe ships proved to be very dangerous, even more so than the Deathspiders, which had for long been the mainstay of the neogi Alliance. Today, the Mindspider is one of the most feared ships in space, and the most common reaction is to either attack them on sight, or flee. There are rumors of a new, dual-helmed neogi ship, but to date no one has confirmed this.

Start of the Vodani Wars Relative: -11 OC: 5027 In an unprecedented series of events, spelljamming powers from all of the Radiant Triangle joined together to battle the Vodani Empire. The Vodani controlled some twelve spheres just outside the Triangle, and they wanted to conquer it. Plain and simple. At first the Vodani wars were very limited in scope, but as they progressed they became more intense.

Realmspace: Pirate Bloodjack Relative: -10 OC: 5028 With everyone busy with the Vodani, one human pirate, known only as Bloodjack, began his now legendary career in the worlds of Realmspace. His flagship is reported to be a heavily armored hammership that could go one-to-one with an Armada. Several ships operate under Bloodjack's banner, and he is now one of the most notorious crime lords in Realmspace. Supposedly, he is at odds with Clive of Garden, but all indications are that the two have an "understanding." Bloodjack is not all together evil, but he is dangerous. One should avoid him if possible. If that isn't possible, then speak very carefully.

Close of the Vodani Wars Relative: -9 OC: 5029 In a battle of epic proportions, a united fleet consisting of ships from all over the Radiant Triangle, and several from the Pentiacate, defeated the Vodani fleet above their capital city. The Vodani empire, which spanned 12 spheres at its height, broke into five major parts, with regional warlords plying for the vacant office of emperor. Also, despite the victory of the Elves and their allies, the power of the Elves was noticeably shaken, and they are now in decline. The Neogi also proved their worthlessness, by turning tail on the allies at the last minute.

The Geonomicon Relative: -8 OC: 5030 After the Vodani wars, it was discovered that most "definitive" works on space were out of date. The Geonomicon was commissioned by the Seekers in an attempt to change this. Since its release, the work has proven highly influential, though somewhat flawed. The Seekers are currently discussing a new edition of the work.

Krynnspace: The War of the Lance Relative: -7 OC: 5031 The War of the Lance is highly documented, and brought major changes to Krynn. In terms of spelljamming, however, it served to interrupt space travel in Krynnspace yet again. Space travel continued, but most ships from Krynn were used for various aspects of the war efforts, such as laying siege to flying citadels or as troop transports. When the wars ended, most space travel fizzled out. It continues on a low level, but at present spelljamming is a novelty in Krynnspace.

Telden Moore Relative: -4 OC: 5035 According the Krynnish records, during the spring of this year a renegade Squid ship crashed into Telden Moore's farm on Krynn, destroying most of it. This marked the start of one of the biggest hunts in recent history, as *everyone* tried to get a hold of Telden and his magical cloak, which turned out to be an ultimate helm. Telden himself would eventually wander the known spheres for almost two years, searching for The Spelljammer.

Start of the Second Inhuman War Relative: -3 OC: 5036 The reasons for renewed conflict between the elves and the humanoids has yet to be fully explained. All that is known is that the old rivals are once again bent on destroying one another. How this will turn out remains to be seen. The humanoids have yet to demonstrate a focused plan for their conquest, and the elves, still strained from the Vodani wars, are not the great force they used to be.

The Battle of the Broken Sphere Relative: -3 OC: 5036 The drama of "The Cloakmaster," Telden Moore, ended very abruptly and very violently in the winter of this year. Over three-hundred ships fought each other near a fissure in the Broken Sphere, in the Trulian Ring. The prize? The Spelljammer itself, which was itself involved in the battle. Telden Moore had found the great ship, but everyone in the universe was trying to claim it. In the end, two thirds of the ships were destroyed, and the Spelljammer itself was reportedly destroyed. However, psion ic and magical investigation found no wreckage of any kind. Also, the broken sphere began to re-close less than an hour after the Spelljammer vanished. Sadly, the hostilities of the Second Inhuman War resumed about six months later.

Realmspace: the Avatars Relative: -1 OC: 5038 During this year, Avatars, or gods in humanoid form, actively walked about the Realms, often causing trouble. Some have labeled this the "Time of Troubles." The increased activity by deities in Realmspace caused a temporary drop in spelljamming activity, but all indicators are that things will soon return to normal.

Today: Relative: 0 OC: 5039 Today, things don't look very good. The Second Inhuman War is getting worse, especially since the elves are clearly loosing ground. The Illithids are preparing to make a come back, especially in Theiaspace, where they have been openly attacking human and demi human settlements. In Terraspace, several kingdoms are ready to go to war as a result of a conflict called the "Venecian Schism." In Solaris, the elves and the Muldravians are shouting at one another again. There is also a growing number of vigilante and pirate activity, and several people think that the Magic Wars are about to resume. In Omnispace, the major spelljamming powers are aggressively trying to capture every major magical artifact there is to find. Sadly, this had brought about a great deal of unrest. The recent unexplained disappearance of Sphereworld, the fourth planet in the system, has been linked to this careless use of magic. There is one piece of good news. In Heardspace, a group of elven ships confirmed seeing the Spelljammer. Apparently it had re-formed itself, or it was not destroyed as originally thought. It was reported as being slightly larger, the citadel appeared to be made of marble and precious metal, and the ship itself had a blue, crystalline appearance.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Appendix A: 51 uses for a dead neogi. (From the readers of SPJ-L)

Hey, the ugly beasties have to be good for something!

1. A Foosh Ball for a giant 2. Makes a great back-scratcher when attached to a tree (use those spider legs!), just ask the Good Ship GUMP ;-) 3. Stick it in the corner, and have a Bean Bag sitting chair before Styrofoam is invented! 4. Skin makes a great multi-person Halloween outfit 5. Works as a "whoopee cushion" for really large creatures 6. Nail it to the wall and use the outstretched legs as a sword rack. 7. As above, but for hanging clothes. 8. Use the head/neck for a puppet ("Neogi heads, neogi heads, roly-poly neogi heads...") 9. Animate it and use it to carry drinks at parties (a la R2D2 in Return of the Jedi). 10. Trampoline for kobolds 11. Target practice for giff (aim for tattoos). 12. Set it up in the front yard of your next-door neighbor who has all of those cats. 13. Put it in the window to discourage Jehovah's Witnesses. 14. Put an "I love Lolth" t-shirt on it and catapult it onto drow ships. 15. Pop their legs off, and let giants use them as bowling balls. 16. Scare away Little Miss Muffet. 17. Hang it from a tower with a bungee cord for a fun ride. 18. Use it as compost for extra sturdy elven man'o'wars. 19. Pinate (sp). 'Nuff said. 20. Take the legs off, cast levitate on it, and impress your groundling friends with your "pet Beholder". 21. Use in large numbers to make Neogi Creole - a Spacesea Giant favorite. 22. The legs make great shiskabob skewers. 23. Outfit the head with a mouthpiece, drill holes in the legs, and use as bagpipes. 24. Animate a bunch of them and jettison them onto an enemy ship - its loads of fun. 25. Use as a Magic Jar for someone you really don't like - great practical joke. 26. Lick their stomachs and stick them from the roof. Hang candles. 27. Send friendly surprise packages to your local Elvish Armada. 28. Use their skins to make a giant flag embroidered with NEOGI SUCK. (Was actually done once). 29. Extra catapult ammunition. 30. Speaking of ammo, use them in a jettison. Dead neogi don't care. 31. Sell them to those backward bumpkins on Oerth as Giant Space Spider Things. Better yet, display one and charge admission. 32. Fill them with feathers, they make great pillows. 33. Animate a bunch of them and get a marching band going. Chitter- chitter... 34. Archery practice. Don't want to shoot your ship up, do you? 35. They make wonderful hats. 36. Tastes great, just like hairy chick mixed with eel 37. Neogi Szechwan, 'nuff said 38. Makes a good pillow for any 10'tall humanoid 39. Makes for great ballast in hot-air balloons, although they can get a little messy when dropped too far. 40. Stick a pole through the bodies, and create the first Spelljamming Ship Wash-O-Matic! (The gnomes would love this one) 41. Use as a table centerpiece during a diplomatic function, especially if you don't care about the outcome. 42. A chandelier for the person who has everything. 43. A hood ornament for a Gnommish sidewheeler. 44. Be the life of the costume party. (Old Masters are especially good for this.) 45. Young neogi, when filled with oil and given a wick, make great hanging lamps. 46. Instead of using as a lamp, take the aforementioned young neogi and use them as hanging planters. 47. When petrified, they can add that "extra touch" to a large rock garden. 48. Cut the legs off and use as a snowboard. 49. Take two, discard all but two legs, strap the neogi to your feet and use the legs as poles. Presto! Cross-country skies. 49. As above, but modify for use as water-skis. 50. Put a mummified young in your supervisor's/advisor's/teacher's desk. It's a million laughs. 51. Take three or four and stick them in someone's closet, then be sure to catch the look on their face the next time they open it!

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

APPENDIX B: A Spelljamming Bibliography (First Draft, 11 Feb 1994), by Michael Bauser.

PART ONE: Introduction Here's the list (that I promised back in December) of Spelljammer- related articles published in Dragon and Polyhedron magazines. It's only current through issues 197 and 90, respectively, but I'll submit a revised version as soon as I get my bookshelf up to date. See Appendix 3 about additions or corrections.

None of the usual citation formats works very well for gaming magazines, so this one uses my own peculiar format, which should be comprehensible. The notation "D153a" for instance, indicates the first SPJ article in Dragon #153, and lets me right "see 153a" in my notes instead of "see `Awash in the Phlogiston". Aren't I a lazy bastard? "P" entries are for the RPGA's Polyhedron Newszine, and "Du" is Dungeon Adventures. The articles are listed in more-or-less order of publication.

PART TWO: The Bibliography

P48a "Spelljammer" (preview) by Jeff Grub, pg. 23.

D153a "Awash in the Phlogiston" (errata) by Jeff Grub, pp. 94-95.

D159a "Rough Times on Refuge" by Ed Greenwood, pp. 10-14.

D159b "Bazaar of the Bizaare" by Steven E. Schend, pp. 15-18.

D159c "The Dragon's Bestiary" by Brown, Denning, & Johnson, pp. 3-35.

P55a "Spelljamming Monsters" by Conners, Donovan, & Moore, pp. 15-18.

Du28a "Visitors from Above" (adventure) by Shonn Everett, pp. 50-69.

D179a "Ladders to the Sky" by Allen Varney, pp. 89-92.

P71a "Highlander" (adventure) by Minniear & Bassingwaite, pp. 7-12.

D183a "Avast, ye swabs, and heave to!" by Richard L. Baker III, pp 21- 26.

P73a "An 1889 Crystal Sphere" by Timothy B. Brown, pp. 26-30.

P74a "A New Crystal Sphere" by Timothy B. Brown, pp. 21-24,34.

D185a "Magic With an Evil Bite" by Jason M. Walker, pp. 21-26.

P81a "His Majesty's Spacial Service" (adventure) by Tom Prusa, pp. 10- 21.

D193b "Weapons of Mass Destruction On Sale Now!" by Matt Weber, pp. 23- 28.

APPENDIX ONE: Sage Advice The following issues of Dragon Magazine contain "Sage Advice" articles by Skip Williams which answer at least one (but often only one) question about the Spelljammer setting: 170, 171, 175, 185, 191, 192.

APPENDIX TWO: Related Articles The following articles were not written expressly for Spelljamming campaigns, but cover topics that should be of interest to Spelljammer DMs. The FAQ (earlier in this work) lists several of them.

150a "Sunset World" by Stephen Inniss, pp. 18-25,65. (A non-SPJ article about a world conquered by mind flayers. Contradicts some official material, but still very interesting.)

152a "Ecology of the Umber Hulk" by Tony Jones, pp. 10-13. (Everybody loves umber hulks, right?)

D160a "Up, Away, and Beyond" by Bruce A. Heard, pp. 30-35. (Article of space travel rules for Mystara (the D&D "Known World"). Might be useful when Mystara becomes an AD&D world this year.)

D174a "Bazaar of the Bizaare" by Matthew P. Hargenrader, pp. 90-94. (Article is about ioun stones. Includes a short discussion of the Arcane as Vance's archveults.)

D175a "Editorial" by Roger E. Moore, pp, 6,7,100. (The Giant Space Hamster editorial.)

APPENDIX THREE: Corrections & Additions This is a first draft and I *know* it's not complete (I'm a little behind on my magazines because of a problem with my subscription service). More importantly, it only has one entry from Dungeon Adventures, because I don't regularly buy that magazine. If anybody wants to send me information on the missing Dungeon articles, my e-mail address is [email protected] or [email protected]. I'll also consider adding things to the Related Articles list--I know there were "Ecology" articles printed about Mind Flayers and Beholder, for instance, I just don't have those issues handy right now. Corrections of mistakes, of course, are always welcome.

/--\ v \ # # /\ _____#########^_/ | ------<_o_###_ ___ / ------>>>> ~~~ _/_____/ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Acknowledgements

Michael Bauser ([email protected] or [email protected]), for the Spelljammer bibliography.

Joe "Scooby" DuBois: the beetle ship.

Ville Lavonius: Portions of the Timeline, the worlds contained in the "Travel Log" section, and the bulk of the FAQ section.

Todd Montgomery ([email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]): Revised encounter tables, and the Great White ship.

The Phantom ([email protected], [email protected]: The Remora ship, and the hull improvements section. In space, no one can hear you yodel!

Richard J. Pugh: Portions of the Timeline, the two adventure seeds, and the stag beetle ship.

"Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," and the Spelljammer logo, are trademarks owned by TSR hobbies, and are used here without permission under the assumption of Fair Use.

Of course, with the line canceled, they may even object to that...

Thanks should also go the the readers of the Spelljammer listserv, SPJ- L. During it's short life, this server has resided on three different servers, and list membership ranging from eight to seventy. It just goes to show that you can't keep a good game down!

Keep on 'Jammin!