Twilitespace: Outreach part 3

Resources Trade
	Outreach has abundant resources, but such resources are difficult to
get at.  The mountains yield an iron that is strong and light weight,
but is not affected by sunlight.  That iron is used by the drow to
construct their armor and weapons.  Gold and jewel mines are run by
duergar overseers, but worked by goblin slaves.  Riches from these mines
are either distributed to nearby drow or duergar cities or handed over
to the dragons.  One type of plains dwelling spider has a ivory-like
outer shell, and is hunted for its shell.  Most of the food is poisonous
to non-natives, but the mushrooms are a delicacies on numerous worlds. 
The mushroom stalks are useless to make ships with, but do burn well
with almost no smoke.  In addition, there are many places in which
crystal grows naturally on the planet's surface.  This crystal is highly
valued by the drow, because it is easily shaped and extremely durable. 
They use it in both their constructions and their few spelljammers.

Ports of Call 
	There are well over a dozen city-states on Outreach.  Each is unique in
its nature, outlook, and atmosphere.  The most prominent cities are
detailed individually below.

Mechanism 
	The largest city on Outreach, Mechanism is also the center of duergar
technological advancement.  Built atop a large, circular plateau,
Mechanism is host to the duergar factories (as few as they are),
residents of the rich duergar and drow residents, and the massive High
Tower of Kain at the very heart of the city.  The city is connected to
Scrap and a half dozen other supportive towns via rail lines.  A rail
line descends from the city by running down along the edge of the
plateau, circling the city twice.  It connects to a rail station at the
bottom, which in turn connects with the supportive towns.
	The city is divided into four quarters.  The first quarter is the
residents of the rich and powerful drow and duergar, who rule the city
as overseers, managers, and supervisors.  Their homes are fairly well
built of metal or stone, depending on the individual tastes of the
owner.  The second quarter is the location of the factories of the city,
which churn out various tools, weapons, and other trinkets of industry. 
The third quarter is the residents of those laborers that dwell in
Mechanism.  Though the buildings are shoddy and poor in comparison to
those of the duergar and drow, they are far better than those of Scrap. 
The last quarter is devoted to a small docks area, which sports
warehouses, taverns, and a small lake for water-landing spelljammers. 
Spelljammers of almost any race are welcomed here, as the duergar are
eager to sell their wares to anyone.  At the center of Mechanism is the
Tower of Kain, which is over 1000' tall.  This spire serves as
headquarters for the rich robber barons of the city, the center of the
Church of Kain, and the government building of the city.  The building,
and indeed the whole city, is owned by the Corporation, which is made up
of the richest robber barons of the city.  The President of the
Corporation is the richest and most powerful duergar of Mechanism.

Scrap 
	The less of the two "technological" cities, Scrap lives in the shadow
of Mechanism.  Scrap is separated from Mechanism by a mere three miles,
and a rail line connects the two cities.  The city is little more than
the slums within which the laborers of Mechanism dwell on their off
shifts.  The whole city is built from the trash and cast-off junk from
the richer Mechanism.  As a result, the buildings of Scrap are unstable
and are prone to collapse.  The train station is the best maintained
building in the whole of Scrap.

Shadow of the Night 
	The largest drow city that handles spelljammers, Shadow of the Night is
a popular resort for drow and duergar spelljammers, both from Outreach
and even those from other spheres.  The city can easily handle up to a
score of spelljammers, both water and land landing craft, but their
ports are almost always half full.  Shadow of the Night is a rowdy
place, where tensions run tight between rival nations of drow and
duergar.  While the residents are more interested in trade, the captains
of the drow ships often attempt to export their various religions upon
Outreach, particularly that of Lloth and Vhaeraun.  So far, there have
been few converts to these vengeful deities, and their places of worship
are no more than small shines maintained by their tiny followings. 
Ironically, the only drow deity who has managed to achieve worship
enough to found a temple is Eilistraee, who has more priests alone than
Lloth and Vhaeraun have priests and followers combined.  This infuriates
those deities to no end, but they are in no position to do anything
about it.

Shan-ze-muil 
	The Illithid city of Shan-ze-muil welcomes only Illithid and neogi
ships.  Any other ship that attempts to land there will be shot down by
the many catapults (hidden along the cave walls).  If the ship gets pass
the catapults, illithids will astral project themselves up to the ship
to deal with the intruders personally.  By that time, only teleport or
other similar magic will save the ship (or crew).

Twinkle 
	A drow city located deep in a fungus forest, Twinkle is a small city of
hunters and ranchers.  The drow are, to the surprise of many, honest and
hard working people.  They consider themselves the wardens of the vast
Farflicker Forest (the largest fungi forest on Outreach) and protect it
from invaders.  The plains surrounding the forest are thick with rothe
ranches, which are run by drow mounted on giant lizards.  They produce
vast amounts of meat that they export to other cities for a very healthy
profit.  Goblins are well-treated here, at least those who are
hard-working and honest.  The drow of Twinkle have no time for laziness
or sloth.  Additionally, numerous half-drow find their way here, where
they find a higher amount of tolerance than elsewhere on the planet.

Moons of Outreach
K'pzzz'shn
	An odd-shaped lump of rock in space, K'pzzz'shn is little more than a
large asteroid.  It barely holds an atmosphere and only a few hardy
plants cling to life on the rocky surface.  Once completely uninhabited,
K'pzzz'shn has become the home to a clan of beholder-kin.  These
renegades have escaped the ravishes of their kin in other spheres to
settle into a peaceful existence on this most remote place.  Here they
have found peace and have established a new and unique society.
	Roughly eighty beholder-kin dwell in K'pzzz'shn.  They survive by
devouring the fungus that clings to their tunnel homes.  At the top of
the order is a group of 8 Examiners, who handle all of the important
decisions.  Defending the asteroid is a squad of 20 Lensmen led by a
Spectator commander.  The rest of the population is comprised of
Watchers, orbus, and several mutant beholders (most of whom have lost
use of many of their eyes).  For the most part, they want only to be
left alone.  They have no facilities for spelljammers of any sort, nor
do they encourage visitors.  

Cor'zzune 
	Little more than a great rock in space, Cor'zzune is both the name of
the second moon of Outreach and the name of the nation of beholders that
dwell within it.  The moon is over fifteen miles across and its exterior
is completely barren.  The interior is laced with tunnels and vast
chambers within which the beholders dwell.  The beholders are a
secretive race, hiding their war fleets and armies from prying eyes
until they are ready to conquer the sphere.  The beholders of Cor'zzune
number at least 200 true beholders, 10 lesser hive mothers, and the
massive Queen Cornz, who rules over the whole nation.  The moon also
hides a massive army of perhaps thousands of lensmen in stasis and
hundreds of other beholder-kin.  Their fleet is growing at a
frighteningly fast pace.  It is rumored that they have contacts on
Outreach, providing them with slaves for their foul and alien
experiments.

Pulser 
	The outermost moon of Outreach is the bizarre Pulser.  The moon appears
as a pair of connected crescent worlds, each 1500 miles from tip to
tip.  At the center of Pulser is a small, reddish dwarf of a fire body
no more than 20 miles across.  The exterior of the crescents are
uninhabitable, both rugged and barren, but the interiors are lush
tropical jungles.  The jungles are the haunt of goblins and hobgoblins,
who are hunted by drow spacefairers for slave labor.  There are no large
settlements on Pulser, though it is thought that the scro may have a
base here, where they are trying to recruit goblins in their holy war
against the elves.  If this is true, they have not likely made contact
with the drow or duergar, as neither race have shown much interest of a
more aggressive space policy.

Other Considerations
	The drow of Outreach are far different than their brethren in other
spheres.  They are mostly neutral, with some evil tendencies.  They lack
high magic resistance, but do retain the innate abilities.  Some drow
have different innate abilities, depending upon whom they worship.  The
other creatures of Outreach are standard and unchanged.

Duergar Technology 
	"Technology," when applied to the level of advancement displayed by the
duergar, is a strong term.  The duergar technology is heavily dependant
upon magic as its power source; without magic, the many devices of the
duergar simply don't work.  While the duergar have the basics of steam
engines, factories, and even mechanical looms, most of these inventions
are left fallow.  The duergar lack many of the necessities to take full
advantage of their technology.  Some of these needs have been
substituted with magic, but the lack of the other necessities are simply
too great.  Of these, fuel is the primary need that magic can
substitute.  Coal and large quantities of oil are not found on Outreach,
and the few supplies of oil that are found are small and needed to
grease machines.  The duergar have discovered a way around this through
use of elementals.  By hiring drow mages to summon elementals, the
duergar can bind them into their machines and make the elementals make
the machines work.  Unfortunately, this is very expensive and drives the
costs of making those machines upwards.  Thus, the costly machines are
rare.
	The second problem, which is much harder to "fix" with magic, is a lack
of a large labor pool.  Outreach is not a populous planet, and most of
the population is tied to farms, ranches, or mines.  Slaves taken from
other worlds is one solution, but death rates among slaves is very high,
and the duergar raids are too few to fill their labor requirements. 
Worse, the duergar must spend a great deal of time crushing slave
uprisings and attempts to form unions.  It is a problem that frustrates
the duergar to no end.
	A third problem is transportation.  As water routes are rare and
usually very shallow on Outreach, almost all goods must be shipped by
land.  Rails help with the moving of bulk goods, and a few gates can be
used to instantly transport goods from one city to another.  Yet, there
is no planet-wide network of easy transport.  Hauling goods across
thousands of miles of open plains is far too expensive for most
merchants.  Drow mages are working on the problem, but have no easy or
cheap answers.
	The last major problem, the no amount of magic will solve, is the lack
of a market.  The same labor shortages that plague the duergar also
creates the biggest obstacle to their fully exploiting technology.  The
vast majority of the people of Outreach are too poor to afford the
expensive goods created by the duergar.  In fact, the only beings that
can afford most of the expensive merchandise created by the duergar are
other duergar and rich drow.  The utter lack of a suitable market to
dump goods on has prevented any sort of wide-scale industrialization and
mass production of cheap products.  Other than a pair of city-states,
"technology" has not seriously impacted the rest of Outreach other than
simple trinkets found in town markets.
	That being said, it is important to note that the cities that do
indulge in technological advancement are heavily influenced by
technology.  Machines and numerous devices are common in Mechanism, and
are common sights on the streets and buildings of that city.  Scrap and
the other supportive towns are less influenced by technology, aside from
scrap metal for building material and work for the residents of those
towns.
	Listed below are the more common technological feats of the city of
Mechanism:
	Steel: The biggest product produced in Mechanism is steel.  The foundry
is the city's biggest employer, and huge amounts of steel was needed to
construct the city.  The foundry is not nearly as productive as it once
was, and over two thirds of the building lays idle.  The steel of the
city is of high quality and large quantity.
	Hellcat Cycle: A symbol of wealth on Outreach, the Hellcat Cycle is a
two wheeled vehicle powered by an 8 HD air elemental.  These machines
are very expensive, and operate best on open stretches of flat land,
such as the desert flats or the roads of Mechanism.  These machines are
extremely expensive, and buyers should expect to pay in upwards of
25,000 gp.  These machines can achieve speeds up to 65 miles per hour,
and roar with a life of their own.  The robber baron who makes these
devices has a factory that can produce up to five of these things a
year.  He is a cagey duergar warrior named Harley.
	Airship: Only a few of these craft have been built to date.  It takes
at least four years to build each of these craft, and each is an
expensive affair.  The average cost of each of these craft is at least
half a million gold pieces!  Despite that, the airships are considered
well worth the money.  They are sturdily built of steel and lifted by
eight turbines, each powered by a 24 HD air elemental.  Each craft can
hold 40 passengers, 5 crew, and 15 tons of cargo.  They can move up to
50 miles per hour.
	Dragon of Iron: The name for the trains that connect Mechanism with its
supportive towns, there are seven Dragons of Iron.  Each train has 8
cars and an engine which has the general shape of a dragon.  These
trains are powered by steam engines, which are heated by a 24 HD fire
elemental.  These trains can achieve speeds of 25 mph, and each car can
carry 100 passengers or 40 tons of cargo.
	Firearms: The duergar of Outreach favor powder weapons over melee
weapons.  Thus, one of the major exports of Mechanism is firearms and
powder, which is both light enough to transport and expensive enough to
make it worth their while.  Firearms produced by Mechanism are sized for
dwarves, with rifles half normal size.  A result of this is that these
weapons have half normal range but take only ½ the time to reload. 
Mechanism produces starwheel pistols, muskets, and blunderbusses

-- 
Night Druid