Banesun

Hi all!
	I've started work on a new sphere, called the Banesun after it's
primary.  This sphere guide was started over a year ago, but only
recently have I started really working on it:)  Anyways, it started off
modeled loosely after Clusterspace, but has undergone many changes and
revisions over the last few weeks.  To start things off, here's the
primary of the system, the Banesun:)

The Banesun
Name:			The Banesun
Type:			Spherical Radiance Body
Size:			H
Escape Time:		24 turns
Satellites:		8 planets
Day Length:		75 hours
Year Length:		none
Population Analysis:	creatures from the elemental plane of fire

	The primary of the Banesun crystal sphere is a crimson-red fiery body. 
It is a giant of a sun, a bloated red orb of hydrogen combustion.  The
Banesun is over 500,000 miles in diameter, a monster of a sun.  It burns
with a tremendous amount of energy, heating the entire sphere.
	The surface of the Banesun is a hellish environment of fire and
brimstone.  Massive flares and storms race across the nearly endless
surface.  Sages warn that approaching the surface is impossible; the
heat is enough to cause any ship to be instantly destroyed, even if it
is cooler than most typical stars.  For some odd reason, no amount of
fire resistance will work; all spells of protection of any sort fail to
work within 50 million miles of Banesun's surface.  Even creatures
normally immune to fire perish on the surface, including fire giants and
red dragons.  Only creatures made of pure fire can survive, such as
effreets and fire elementals.
	The atmosphere of Banesun is absolutely poisonous to humanoids, even if
they somehow managed to reach the surface.  This photosphere is even
hotter than the surface, forever protecting the surface from intrusion. 
It is very thick, with a radius of over 75,000 miles above the Banesun's
surface.  It glows with its own energy, casting the sphere in its famous
hellish red light.  Nothing, it seems, lives in the photosphere.  Sages
knowledgeable in such matters (and have communicated with efreet from
Banesun) speculate that, somehow, the photosphere saps away life from
any creature, even those of fire.  Thus, the efreet never the leave the
surface of the sun, as there is a safe zone that goes up to 10 miles
above the surface.
	The interior of the Banesun is completely unknown.  As there is no
definite surface, it is impossible to know where the atmosphere ends and
the interior begins.  Most sages agree that is probably is like any
other sun while priests have their own theories.  They claim that at the
center of the Banesun beats the heart of a powerful god, who no lies
forgotten and dead.  His power was sacrificed to create the sphere.

Climate and Weather
	Even for a sun, Banesun is stormy.  Flares and firestorms cover no less
than half the globe, and any area can expect a firestorm to race across
within five minutes.  Some flares are huge, reaching up to 100,000 miles
into space.  These deadly bursts of solar energy eject vast quantities
of super heated gases and chunks of molten rock into space.  The gases
condense as they cool, creating new comets when they reach the outer
system.  The rocks likewise cool, but into asteroids that tend to find
stable orbits in one of the many asteroid fields or belts.  Many have
unstable orbits and will eventually (after several centuries) crash back
into the Banesun.
	It is unknown how the effreet survive the fierce nature of the
Banesun.  The winds are enough to rip apart whole worlds with a single
gust.  By all rights, the effreet should not be able to survive it.  Yet
they do, and remain a mystery for the sages.

Appearance from Space
	From anywhere in the sphere, the Banesun seems unnaturally large and
bloated.  It pulses with energy, bathing the entire sphere in a hellish
red light.  The Banesun is far dimmer than most suns, and can be looked
upon without harm to the eyes.  Flares have been reportedly visible as
far out as Shade without use of a telescope.  The many violent storms
are clearly visible, tearing across the surface like waves of fire.

Continents
	As the Banesun is a sea of liquid fire, there are no landmasses
anywhere.  No special stone or metal cities are able to survive.  It is
unknown why this is, as continents are known to survive on suns that are
far hotter and even more deadly.

Life Forms
	There is only two species of life on the Banesun, effreets and fire
elementals.  In both cases, they seem darker and more violent than
normally encountered.  They are very anti-social, and would rather kill
each other than establish communities.  They are also very hard to
summon, requiring a wish spell to bring them from their hellish home.
	It is unknown why the effreet choose to live on the Banesun.  Nor is it
understood why they stay.  The Banesun is not a healthy climate for
them, and it seems to turn them against each other.  The brutally harsh
environment kills many effreet, yet the species endures.
	The fire elementals seem to be born of the fire of the Banesun and thus
connected to it.  Though these elementals are often five times bigger
than normal, they are nearly impossible to control when summoned. 
Nothing less than a full wish spell will bring these creatures from
their home.  A second wish spell is required to establish control over
the elemental, and that only lasts 1 round per level of the caster. 
These elementals are hateful and destructive; when away from their home,
they seek to destroy everything around them.
	One sage has speculated as to why the elementals are so violent and why
the effreet don't leave.  The elementals, he claims, are the spirits of
the dead in Banesun.  Their souls are drawn to the Banesun like moths to
fire, taking shape as great bursts of living flame.  He further claims
that the effreet are descendants of criminals from the plane of fire,
and were stripped of their ability to leave.  Somehow, they survived and
even thrived in the brutal climate.  The cost was, however, their
ability to plane shift and any form of society.  The sage has even gone
on to speculate that the effreet are slowly loosing their intelligence
and, if anything, becoming more savage than before.

Guide to Groundlings
	As there is no social order on the Banesun, there are no groundlings. 
Only the effreet count towards an intelligent species, but they are too
busy trying to survive and kill each other to care about societies or
contacting space cultures.

Resources and Trade
	None.  Other than the comets and asteroids ejected by solar flares, the
Banesun has nothing of interest.

Ports of Call
	None.

Other Considerations
	For some unknown reason, the Banesun brings out the worst in people. 
Ships that have traveled within 100 million miles of the Banesun report
that fights become much more common, people are constantly agitated and
tense, and mutinies are much more common.  Sleep is nearly impossible to
get, as most visitors are too tense and uneasy to relax enough to fall
asleep.  The gith of Gith's Fury have adapted to this and it does not
affect them at all.

-- 
Night Druid