Aquaspace, part two ;)

:)

Name:  Shejkano
Type:  Shell*
Size:  C
Shape:  Irregular.

 This body is the remnants of what was possibly a starbeasts, before the
great destruction that reigned in this spheres godswar.  It is shaped like a
Nautlis shell, and filled with age-old dirt and rock.  Shejkano has an
atmosphere, also kept at bay by some unknown means, that extends to
two-hundred thousand miles from its surface.

 The inside of the shell is filled, as said previously, and contains several
cities.  One is a ship construction port, owned by a n Arcane known as
Gorsh.  Gorsrh runs a tight city, with no shenanigans, but has well-made
ships built, at low costs, and with great efficiency.  He is considered an
exceptional ship-maker organization, and charges only 90% standard cost.

 One would ask why so many ships are not bought here, when it is so cheap
and effective.  This is due to the other city, which actually lies upon the
outer side of the shell, known as Garranashelein.  This city is run by
Sahaughin, who have sea-scavvers (identical to the standard ones, but with
gills and a bluish colour instead of black, able to exist only in
fresh-water) trained as their hunting dogs.  They frequently attack
unguarded, incoming ships, and as such Gorsh typically sells only to those
directed there by the Aracne, and who are under escort (the Garranashelein
never attack an Arcane escorted vessel - leading to some very strange
rumours indeed).

 Contact with Gorsh can be made through most Arcane, though those who deal
primarily in ships disdain him for some reason.

 The insides of the shell, further deeper, contain warrens wfilled with a
sub-race of the hurwaeti (see the complete spacefarers handbook).  These
Hurwaeti, known as y'thin, have fresh-water breathing gills, and the ability
to see underwater with sonar, aswell as eyes.  They rarely travel beyond the
surface, being at war with Vodyanoi whom also live in the partially
water-filled caves.  It is unkown if either of these races are natives, but
both have been there as long as their races memory allow (which is mainly
the Y'thin's point of view).

 Shejkano orbits very slowly around the whirlpool making an orbit once every
345 years.  At the moment, and for the next 75 years, it is/will be within a
fresh water aera, but spends 200 years per orbit in a salt-water dominated
area.  It is unsure what will happen to the fresh-water races during this
tiem, but it is assumed it is some magical property of the starbeast that
will modify their genetic structures to adapt (in fact, it is the starbeast
which magically regenerates the air envelope aswell).  Shejanko only rotates
once every three years, in an anti-clockwise manner.


Name:  Warldus
Type:  Liveworld
Size:  E
Shape:  Spherical

 Warldus is a live world, made of layer upon layer of sea-weed, compacted
upon top of each other.  Some layers are dead, while others live in darkness
feeding of the corpses off other pieces of seaweed, but over seven thousand,
one hundred, and twenty six different species of sea-weed have been
catalogued to date.  It has no atmosphere, but careens along its orbit,
drawing sustenance from whatever area it may be in.  The only common
property of all the weeds is the ability to survive in both fresh and
sea-water.

 Several sects of aquatic elves live within, or upon, Warldus.  There are
four fresh-water sects, and seven salt-water sects.  While the world is
within an area distasteful of the appropriate sect, the members seclude
themselves in natural-formed caves of incredibly tough sea-weed, which
distils the oxygen from whatever water it is in, and releases for the elves.
The elves farm various species of seaweed, aswell as the few animals that
live beneath the surface.

 A surprising factor is the inclusion of a gigantic hollow at the centre of
the planet.  Here, flocks upon flocks of birds live, within an ecosystem
including many different species of other animals, including rats, lizards,
and some other small mammals.  Looknig at the scene seems to remind one of a
gigantic cavern (it is over 50 miles wide), until one sees that everything
falling ends up at the approximate middle of the sphere, where there is a
small phosphorescent globe (about half a mile in diameter) which is
protected by some sort of invisible, magical shield.  How, or even why, this
is so is highly speculated, but no likely theories have been made, apart
from the gods trying to preserve some of their faunic creations during the
end of their godswar.

 Warldus orbits once every 1.2 standard years, passing through a salt-water
area for 65% of that time.  It rotates as per a standard, 24 hour day, but
does not alter its poles for seasonal effects.  It is the last planet in the
sphere, but lies just inside the half-way mark, giving some credence to the
theory another planet (or similar body) once existed.


Miscellaneous bodies/areas
 Several small cities dwell on the crystal sphere itself, which seems to
have its own gravity, and is covered generally in moss, coral, and other
sea-bed like areas.  These cities are large bubbles of air, which have
collected together to form a decent exo-sphere.  Some of them move upon
large plates on the inside of the crystal sphere, while others stay
perfectly still.  To date there are 6 major cities, 18 small villages
(farming/artists colonies mainly), and several other camps of strange and
rare creatures.  There are also megafauna travelling upon the inside of the
sphere, several large crab-like beings, one resembling a slaad with a
trident, and a final one that seems to be a sleeping (or dead) shark.

 There are also many larger than normal life-forms of these mega-fauna, a
sparse race of giant crabmen (as from the Monstrous Manual tome, but 10
times larger), many ship-sized sharks, and even dozens of large, shelled
beings, resembling the nautilus muscle, but up to 60' tall, and 30' thick.
There are humanoid races of elves, sea-dwarves, humans, y'thin, and a small
war-band of slaad also living on the wals of the sphere at various places,
aswell as a rumoured illithid prescence (presumably collecting shells to
make nautiloids out of).

 Generally within the sphere there are also sea-like creatures, such as the
rare tuna bigger than a whale-ship, and schools of carp, salmon, and
giant-squid.  DM's should make appropriate encounters based upon desired
situations.

 Along the walls of the sphere are the water-portals allowing new water to
flow into the sphere.  There are over a dozen of these portals, over
two-thirds of which are salt-water.  These are up to half a million miles
wide, and sometimes have strange lifeforms, growing at their base.  They
resemble large volcanos of water, ever-flowing.  Occasionally objects are
rumoured to pass these portals, but it is unkown how.

 There is also a large volcano in one area, close to where a salt and fresh
water portal border each other's flows.  It warms this area, aswell as
lighting it well, and grows many strange animals in its heat.  Dragons are
rumoured to live within the walls of then volcano, which is over 200
thousand miles wide, although it is currently inactive.  A steady stream of
noxious vapours, and strange gasses constantly drifts out of the volcano,
however, and ships trying to examine it run a 15% chacne for every hour
spent to close to it (within 100 miles) of fouling their air one grade.
This stream of gassess and dust slowly drifts towards the centre of the
sphere, following the paths of various flows around the sphere, looking like
a somewhat spiralled pattern.  The flow of gassess has not yet reached the
centre of the sphere, however, and is rumoured not to for another few
centuries yet, it currently resides 30 million miles from The Great Reef.


Entering, Surviving, and Leaving.
 Entrance to the sphere is made in the standard ways.  Exiting is done by
casting open portal 10 thousand miles away from the sphere (or whatever is
growing upon the sphere), creating a gate effect similar to that of
herdspace, although leaving in the same area a ship entered in is not
necessary.  Ships retain their air envelopes within the sphere as normal,
but air envelopes of very deadly or worse begin to sprout leaks along the
gravity plane, and soon fill with water.  Drifting within the sphere must be
stopped by use of a helm, failure to use a helm for more than two days while
within the middle half of the sphere results in a slow drift beginning.  It
takes close to two weeks to drift to within the 40 million mile barrier of
the whirlpool, and then only hours to perish.

 Rings of water breathing are sold frequently here, as it is a cheap and
effective way to ignore air restrictions.  Once the air on the ship is
fouled and the water begins to seep in, vulnerable items/areas are sealed
off (in appropriate ways) and crews continue to function breathing the water
with their rings.  This can be deadly, however, as the insides of most ships
weer not meant to be constantly waterlogged, and rigging and/or sails are
likely to become more of a hinderance than a help in this situation.  The
only ships most appropriate to this instance are those thatcan be fulyl
sealed, and such retro-fitting is usually suggested due to the scarcity of
air-replenishment deeper within the sphere.  All a ship needs is to loose a
few helmsmen, and find it can travel only 2/3 the normal amount of time, and
it can soon fnid its air is a great problem.

 Of course, if the ship is sealed, the air envelope is greatly reduced, and
compensation steps must be taken.


Til.

"If you can read this, i don't need glasses."
http://houseatreus.virtualave.net/index.html
tilaurin@???????.???.au