3e Spelljammer Cosmology (part two - the phlogiston)

The Plane of Incandescence (The Phlogiston)

Material Plane sages often describe the phlogiston as a rainbow ocean or
a multicolored ether sea, which to planar sages is a misnomer. The Plane
of Incandescence is infinite in size and visitors can see in every
direction, regardless of orientation. However, the plane appears to have
an up and down to it despite being three-dimensional and having a
variant gravity, which is frightening to a novice traveler. Of all the
planes of existence, the phlogiston is the most unlike any other.

The phlogiston is best described as a great, endless void of rainbow-
colored ether, both above and below with varying levels of thickness to
the plane's ether. These thick regions of ether form dense tubes or
'rivers' between the crystal shells and any object of, at least,
planetary size.

The ether of the flow is thicker below than above when one enters the
plane and this is how natives of the Material Plane came to refer to the
flow as a multicolored ocean. In reality, the plane's ether is simply
not as dense in the upper half of the plane as the lower half. This
gives the appearance of a thick, multicolored ether ocean below a thin,
multicolored ether sky.

The other key features of the Plane of Incandescence are the millions of
crystal shells that 'bob' in the ether of the flow. This too, as planar
sages put it, is a misnomer. The crystal shells don't so much as bob as
they do drift through the ether of the phlogiston. Crystal shells
gravitate towards the ether of the plane and are almost always found
where the ether is the thickest. This means that the crystal shells tend
to drift somewhat parallel to each other through the central part of the
plane, near the ether rivers.

Of course, there are exceptions such as the sphere of a world called
Athas which isn't linked to an ether river and is, therefore, next to
impossible to get to, even for those who know where to look. And while
this phenomenon isn't common it isn't unique to that sphere. In fact, it
isn't even that rare, as there are billions of crystal shells drifting
through the ether-filled void of the phlogiston. Thus, crystal shells
can be found anywhere on the plane at any time as the drift
continuously.

Planar sages point to the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron as an example
of how the drifting of the crystal shells works within the Plane of
Incandescence. On Acheron, colossal, continent-sized iron cubes float
through an airy void. The main difference between the two planes is
that, on the phlogiston, the ether of the plane keeps the crystal shells
from colliding. For when two shells drift together the ether becomes
thicker between them providing a natural barrier to prevent disaster.
The shells then drift apart each going in the opposite direction of
their original heading. It is this random drifting which forces crystal
shells into any and every part of the phlogiston.

Phlogiston Traits

The phlogiston is coterminous to both the crystal shells and wildspace
but not to the Material Plane. And neither is it coexistent with the
Material Plane. Thus, one has to move from the phlogiston through the
crystal shell to wildspace first then to the Material Plane on a
spelljammer. However, the phlogiston is coexistent with the ethereal
plane.

The phlogiston doesn't have an atmosphere of any kind and is a perfect vacuum.

The phlogiston has the following planar traits:

  a.. Objective Directional Gravity
  b.. Standard and Flowing Time: While engulfed in the 'rivers' of the
flow, time passes more quickly (2 hours = 5 hours). Otherwise, time is
standard in the flow.
  c.. Infinite Size
  d.. Alterable Morphic
  e.. No Elemental or Energy Traits
  f.. Mildly Neutral Aligned
  g.. Enhanced Magic: Any divine or arcane spell with the fire
descriptor is considered maximized on this plane. Most knowledgeable
travelers know better than to cast such spells in the flow.
Phlogiston Links

Two main links to other planes exist on the phlogiston - the crystal
shells and the ether rivers. The crystal shells link directly to
wildspace through the use of arcane or divine spells that allow a
character to create a portal, teleport or even phase through the shell.
And while it can be said that the ether rivers don't link physically to
another plane beyond the phlogiston, it is important to remember that
each individual shell is its own demiplane unto itself. Thus, the ether
rivers of the phlogiston are like extremely thick conduits through the
rainbow void.

Because the phlogiston is coexistent with the ethereal, it is possible
to shift to that plane through the use of arcane & divine magic or
psionics. This means that a spell such as Ethereal Jaunt and
Etherealness could allow a character to escape the phlogiston if their
air supply becomes tainted. For while there isn't any oxygen on the
phlogiston, there isn't any such restriction on the ethereal. Note that
a journey from the phlogiston into the ethereal and then on to wildspace
would be a very long journey unless the character happens to be near a
crystal shell. There aren't any benefits to following the path of an
ether river while ethereal (you can see into the phlogiston from the
ethereal just as with the Material Plane). Time and movement are normal.


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The Winds of the Flow: A Variant Look at the Plane of Incandescence

What if the phlogiston had an atmosphere? Yes, yes, I know but what if
it did? How would that change the nature of the Phlogiston? Well, for
one thing it would be easier to travel the spheres and undead monsters
such as the ancient mariner would likely exist but could with some
modifications. And the creatures that currently exist would have a lot
of compitition, as DMs opened up the flow to more creatures than you can
shake a stick at. Imagine drifting taverns and community on massive
floating elemental earthburgs like in the Astral or maybe even kindori-
riding thri-kreen warriors migrating from part of the plane to another.
Or maybe aerial castles and cites floating on semi-solid ether clouds
filled with blue-skinned elves, gith, tinker gnomes or maybe even those
lovable giff warriors. Anything is possible.
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Phlogiston Inhabitants

While the phlogiston isn't the most hospitable place for living things
that require oxygen to survive, it isn't a lifeless void. In fact, the
phlogiston, like wildspace, is teeming with a vast array of unique
lifeforms beyond the frequent travelers simply passing through from one
sphere to another.

Many beasts, both magical and mundane, have adapted to the vacuum of the
flow. Creatures such as flow sharks and stingrays are common; as are
flow barnacles (and the rarer infernal barnacles) and the shark-like
scavvers. Another large beast that is only found on the phlogiston is
the delphinid. These strange fish-shaped creatures are fairly harmless
and love to 'swim' through the flow along passing spelljammers. Other,
rarer, beasts include such things as puffers, kindori (space whales),
the spaceworm and krajen. Adult krajen, or space squids, are the bane of
the space lanes. Spelljamming crewmen fear for their lives at the mere
thought of an adult krajen being nearby.

Many other creatures may be encountered in the flow but usually they
aren't native to the plane. The allura, bionoids, graeae, monitors,
plasmoids, silatics, star selkies and survivors have all been
encountered in the phlogiston.

However, there are a few higher order lifeforms living on the Plane of
Incandescence. The greatest of these are the radiant dragons and the
sarphardin. Of course, these dragons are also encountered in wildspace
but many planar sages believe the radiant dragons were originally from
the phlogiston. The sarphardin is more often encountered in wildspace
but is just as home on the phlogiston as well. Another sentient life
form that is native to the plane is the flow ixitxachitl. These
relatives of the aquatic ixitxachitl on the Material Plane originally
developed on the Plane of Incandescence but can now also be encountered
in wildspace as well. It is said that there are vampiric flow
ixitxachitl that often can be found leading the lesser flow ixitxachitl.
Spacefarer's often refer to ixitxachitl as space streakers.

One other lifeform is native to the phlogiston - flowfiends. These
malevolent Outsiders are evil, sentient beings that have been
transformed by an evil entity called the Great Father. Once transformed,
the flowfiend loses all knowledge of its former life and becomes
completely genderless. They 'swim' through the flow looking for food or
other victims to convert, as this is the only way to add to their
numbers. Some sages speculate that the Great Father created the
flowfiends to conquer wildspace and Material Plane.

Beyond natural life, almost any form of undead could be encountered on
the phlogiston from undead beholders to shadows and wraiths. Ghosts are
a real menace due to the Ethereal Plane's coexistent nature to the Plane
of Incandescence. Worse still are the ghost ships of those unfortunate
enough to have died on the plane due to suffocation or starvation. Of
course, the flow has its own undead menaces - the ancient mariner and
the ephemeral. An ancient mariner is the undead spirit of a member of a
long-lost race that once sailed the phlogiston. While, ephemerals are
believed to be the spirits of individuals who have died in the
phlogiston that look like dusty-gray humanoids.

Who or what your characters encounter on the phlogiston is only limited
by ones imagination. Below are some Monster Manual II creatures that
could easily be adapted to or encountered on the flow.

Banshee                                              Fihyr, Great                      Shadow Spider

Breathdrinker                                     Ixitxachitl (native)            Sirine (native)

Chaos Roc                                          Jahi                                    Spell Weaver

Cloud Ray                                           Kopru (native)                 Teratomorph

Dire Hawk                                           Legendary Eagle              Thri-Kreen (spelljammer)

Elemental, Air Weird                        Legendary Shark               Windghost

Ether Scarab                                       Leviathan                          Yak Folk (spelljammer)

Ethereal Doppelganger                    Megalodon                        Titanic Template

Ethereal Slayer                                   Morkoth (native)             Warbeast Template

Famine Ghoul                                     Neogi (spelljammer) 

Fihyr                                                    Ragewind 

Movement and Combat

Travel on the phlogiston is usually accomplished by visitors on
spelljamming vessels. Rarely, does a visitor ride through the flow on
the back of a kindori, for example. However, those creatures and
intelligent races native to the plane usually have a means to travel the
plane safely. Regardless of the mode of transportation, all travelers on
the phlogiston use the ether rivers to travel from place to place.

Travelers have discovered, over the ages, that the greater the density
of the ether rivers the faster time and spelljammers move. Since the
difference in time is minimal in the rivers of the phlogiston, they are
the fastest way to travel the spheres. Spelljammers can move though the
upper half of the plane just as they can through the lower, denser half.
It's simple way too slow for longer journeys without the aid of the
ether rivers. Note that natives of the plane never have to worry about
an increase in time while within the ether rivers of the flow.

As for movement while on a solid object, the planes Objective
Directional Gravity means that up and down are relative to that object
you are standing on. Therefore, a character can literally walk on either
side of a spelljamming vessel, without worrying about failing off. Long-
time spelljamming races have perfected the art of creating spelljammers
that take advantage of this fact. This gravity effect also means that
anything that escapes the gravity well of a spelljammer or other large
object will float away from that object into the void of the flow until
it comes in contact with another solid object.

Remember that the crystal shells exert no gravity upon objects or
people. You cannot stand on a crystal shell but you can push off one in
order to float away from it. Note that a single character of any size
cannot alter the trajectory of a sphere by pushing off it, not even if
that character is of colossal size. This goes for Avatars as well. (You
know someone's going to ask that one.)

Something in the nature of the plane and the crystal shells always
forces those entering the plane to appear in the theoretical middle of
the phlogiston, as they leave a crystal shell. In other words, if a
spelljammer attempts to leave a particular sphere, say, at the top of
the shell then it will appear on the other side of the shell at this
theoretical middle of the flow, as the center of the plane is evident
for that sphere. Confused yet? Why this happens is a mystery indeed.
Some planar sages suggest it is part of the universe's design or that
the magic needed to pass through the sphere causes this. Of course,
there is some deviation to this rule but for the most part a
spelljamming vessel will appear within 10d100 miles of this theoretical
middle of the plane.

Phlogiston Combat: See Leroy Van Camp III's excellent 3e Ship
Construction and Combat Rules at Spelljammer: Beyond the Moons for how
to run ship-to-ship combat on the phlogiston. I will probably add more
details on person-to-person combat while floating in the void, during
the second pass of this document.

Features of the Plane of Incandescence

The Plane of Incandescence isn't known for its sights but there are few
places worth mentioning. Some of these locations and phenomenon are
considered little more than rumors by skeptics and nay-sayers.

Astromundi Cluster: This fabled sphere, also referred to as the
Shattered Sphere and Clusterspace, is said not contain any planets but
only countless asteroids orbiting endlessly around the sphere's sun.
More startling than this is that it is said that it is inhabited. Can
you find this lone crystal sphere drifting through the Phlogiston? Can
you find it and more importantly, can you live long enough to escape it?

Destroyed Crystal Shells: This is something that was never meant to
happen. A Crystal Shell that has been shattered, allowing the ether and
radiance of the phlogiston to mix with the blackness of wildspace. Such
a destroyed sphere would be hard to miss as the countless, relentless
undead of the sphere's dead worlds come screaming forth into the flow
seeking to undo life wherever they find it.

Massive ether tornadoes rip across the inner bowels of the shattered
sphere. The sphere's collapsed sun sucking in the ether of the flow, as
a radiant black hole - beautiful and deadly. The planets broken and
lifeless - massive asteroids and meteors near the sphere's edge, some
slipping into the depths of the collapsed sun, while others drift off
into the rainbow void as oddities of a disaster not even the gods would
dare speak of.

These are the legends told by the inhabitants of the phlogiston. Expand your mind and you campaign!

The Etherdeep: Spelljamming sailors whisper of a tale told in the ports
of call from one end of spheres to the other. They whisper of a place
deep beneath the Ether rivers of the flow called the Etherdeep. Is said
that if you take your spelljammer deep enough the ether becomes so thick
in places that time speeds up so much that you go backwards in time
rather than forward. Spelljamming captains with too much bravado have
been lost in time in this place or so the story goes.

And all manners of strange creatures are said to exist in the etherdeep.
Flow morkoth, kopru and worse. It is said that if you travel far enough
you come out on the other side of the plane in some bizarre alternate
reality where beholders and the neogi rule. Others say that on the other
side of etherdeep are the home spheres of the arcane. Finding out could
be a death sentence, as the etherdeep is said to be able to strip away
years off your life.

Ether Shift: Some of the oldest elven captains talk of a place on the
plane where everything reverses called Ether Shift. The ether rivers of
the lower half twist upward into the ether sky, which quickly becomes
clogged with the dense ether rivers while the lower half opens into a
thinner ether sky, giving the perspective of being upside down to those
use to the natural order of the plane - relative to the known spheres.
Of course, most people think these old elven captains might want to
consider drinking less elven wine.

Flowfalls: Some travelers have reported seeing huge multicolored
waterfalls that seem to flow up, relative to the observer, into the
upper half of the plane stretching into the distance and out of sight.
It is also rumored that a single solitary sphere drifts within the
flowfalls near the edge of the falls, balanced precariously on the edge.

The Lost Dead God: Some spelljamming captains swear they have seen the
massive remains of what is obviously a dead god, floating through the
phlogiston. Sages believe that, if it exists, the god was brought to the
Phlogiston by its faithful followers in hopes of reviving the dead god.
These followers are gone now but the lost dead god remains. Were these
captains blinded by the radiance of the flow or does this lost deity
exist? And they swear they saw the god stirring.

Radiant Triangle: These three spheres are no legend. They are the
spheres of Realmspace, Krynnspace, and Greyspace. They form a stable
triangle in the chaotic drift of the Phlogiston. Travel is possible in
both directions between Realmspace and Greyspace, and between Greyspace
and Krynnspace. However, an ether river does not connect Realmspace and
Krynnspace, so while a direct trip from one to the other is possible, it
is very slow.

Sphere of the Spider Moon: The home sphere of Andy Collins' Spelljammer:
Shadow of the Spider Moon. Buy the magazine buddy!