Twilitespace: Outreach

Hello All!!  Finally, the last of the major worlds of Twilitespace is
complete (not counting rouge worlds, comets, or other nifty stuff!:) 
Anyways, this one took a while, as I had to sit down and draw up the
restrictions and limitations of the "tech" of one of the cities.  In any
case, I had some fun with this one, and the races upon Outreach do not
match up exactly with their entries in the MM.  Some of the devices I
added in *could* overbalance a game, but hopefully the restrictions upon
them will keep them in line (at least they are not flooding the
spaceways:)
	In any case, this a large addition, and is broken into several posts.

Outreach
Planet Name:		Outreach
Planet Type:		Spherical earth body
Planet Size:		E
Escape Time:		4 turns
Satellites:		2
Distance from primary:	2,000 million miles
Day Length:		68 hours
Year Length:		250 months
Population Analysis:	Elves, illithids, and goblin-kin

	Outreach is the most distant planet of the Twilite system.  Outreach is
a mid-sized world, with a diameter of 5,500 miles and a circumference of
about 17,000 miles.  There is no flattening at the poles, so equatorial
circumference is equal to the polar circumference.  The axis is slightly
tilted, but given Outreach's distance from the sun, seasons do not
occur.
	The surface is cold and dark.  Much of the surface is covered in ice
and snow.  Rugged mountains and glaciers are all too common.  The land
is locked in perpetual twilight.  The sun appears as a star slightly
brighter than the others.  Lighting conditions on Outreach are roughly
equal to starlight, no matter if it's day or night.  The moons are
nearly invisible in the night sky, as the light that reaches them is too
little to reflect adequately.
	There are no oceans on Outreach, but there are several small inland
seas.  These seas, no more than 100 miles across at most, are always
warm, entirely due to geothermal activity in the area.  The seas are
shallow, with the deepest sea having a depth of 2000'.  Most seas have
bottoms that only go half as deep.
	There are many large open plains areas, surrounded by higher mountains
and plateaus, where seas may have existed once.  That is unlikely,
however, since such seas would have been frozen glaciers year-round, and
there is no evidence that Outreach lost that much water at anytime in
its history.
	This is a fairly dry planet, and deserts of dark brown sand are
common.  The lack of large oceans has resulted in little cloud cover,
with what cloud formations that do form tend to center on the seas. 
There is a great deal of water trapped in the soil, which nourishes
plant life and many animals.

Climate and Weather
	Despite the great distance to the sun, Outreach is much warmer than it
should be.  This is due to the geothermal heating that Outreach's core
generates.  The heating is to such a degree that there is no temperature
difference from the equator to the poles.  The only difference is
altitude and terrain.  Generally, the uniform temperature of the planet
is at about 35 degrees F, just above the freezing mark.  Cold winds make
it seem much colder.  In the plains regions, the temperature is constant
and rarely fluctuates.  The mountainous areas get far colder as they
reach their peaks, with the highest mountains having their temperatures
drop well below -100 degrees F.  The glaciers can also have such low
temperatures, as well as bitterly cold winds.
	There is little to no weather on Outreach.  Clear skies are the norm. 
The only places that have any precipitation are the seas, which is
mostly snow.  Snowfall is rare, however, and happens only about once a
month or so at any given sea.  Areas away from the seas receive almost
no rainfall at all.  These areas are hit by bitterly cold winds and
support little life.

Appearance from Space
	Outreach is nearly invisible until a spelljammer practically runs into
it.  The surface is dark, and does not show well against a black void. 
When viewed from orbit, Outreach appears as a dark brown orb with the
rare dusky white spots.  Those spots are cloud concentrations, and
signify a sea.  The formations swirl around the sea, but are generally
very small compared to the rest of the planet.

Continents
	As there are no oceans large enough to break the land up, Outreach can
be considered a single large continent.  There is about 20 inland seas,
the largest being the Reaching Sea.  It is located on the equator at the
heart of a large valley.  The other seas are scattered at random
throughout the planet.

Life Forms
	For such a cold and dark world, there is a great deal of life on
Outreach.  The large plains regions immediately surrounding the seas and
forests are all covered with a short, stubby grass.  This grass, called
grey leaf, grows to about 2" high and grows in bush-like
concentrations.  Grey leaf is deadly poisonous to humans, but is readily
consumed by the native animals.  It grow close to the ground for maximum
benefit from the geothermal heat.  Breaking up the grass are forest of
giant mushrooms, which can grow as much as 25' tall.  The mushrooms have
large caps, and the area below the mushrooms are warmer than normal
because the enlarged caps trap the heat the planet radiates.  The
mushrooms can be consumed by anyone, providing more than enough nutrient
for those who devour them.  Mushroom forests concentrate near the seas,
but can be found on the plains as well.
	The majority of this world is open desert, where little plant life
survives and even less animal life can survive.  A breed of hardy cacti
cling to the edges of the deserts, but the heart of the deserts are
devoid of life.  The lack of rainfall is undoubtedly to blame.
	The small seas hold a host of fish, crabs, and underwater plants.  The
wildlife of the seas dwell in volcanic-warmed waters, and thus have
certain toxins in their systems that is poisonous to humans.  The other
beings of Outreach have long adapted to the toxins and are immune to
them.
	The herbivores that feast on the grass and mushrooms are great rothe. 
The rothe have shaggy coats, large horns, and no intelligence.  The
brains of the rothe, however, are very large, but seem to serve
absolutely no function what so ever.
	The skies of outreach are filled with insects of all sizes and shapes. 
Most of these insects are harmless, but there are a few species that do
suck blood.  Those insects, which resemble tiny wasps, are dangerous in
the fact that they can carry deadly diseases.  Anyone bit by those
annoying insects run a 1 in 5 chance of contracting a disease, which is
fatal 3 time out of 8 unless a cure disease spell is used.  The majority
of the insects fly about, feeding on the grass or sucking blood from the
rothe.  They are, in turn, feasted upon by the numerous bats, spiders,
and giant lizards, which are the predators of the planet.  The lizards
are the second most dominant predator of the planet, devouring both
insects and the rare rothe that has become too sick or weak to escape
the lizards' jaws.  The spiders are most common in the mushroom forests,
but larger versions roam the plains, hunting insects.
	There are a few more dangerous creatures that roam this world.  The top
predator niche is filled by displacer beasts, introduced here by priests
of Croll.  The displacer beasts sometimes serve as hunting beasts, but
mostly haunt the plains.  
	There are also a number of carrion crawlers about, which act as
scavengers, cleaning up whatever the predators leave behind.  They also
sustain themselves on a diet of insects, but prefer the meat of dead
rothe.

-- 
Night Druid