Re: Spelljammer novel

> That was the point of joke. If your ships are being destroyed when they
> go to a remote part of the Flow, don't send them to that remote part of
> the Flow.
> Is there a reason they are there?

Curiosity killed the elf?

The IEN may be determined to find out exactly why their ships are being
destroyed, and they won't stop until they have an explanation.  So, they
keep throwing ships into the area figuring that eventually one of them
will come back with one.  Perhaps some of the ships they lost had
important people on them, so they have been sending search and rescue
parties.  This backwater region of space may be a pride issue for the
IEN, with various branches of the admiralty wanting to have the glory of
unlocking this mystery.

Sadly, this kind of thinking can create a nasty spiral.  A real-world
parallel can be drawn with some of the polar exploration missions of the
early 20th century.  One famous explorer would go into the wilderness
and vanish.  A rescue operation would be sent, but it would vanish as
well.  So, a rescue operation to save the first rescue operation would
go forth, and so on.  In one particular case, involving a British
expedition, I think it took four iterations before a resolution was
reached.  There was also the added issue of the families of the
explorers and rescuers demanding further action, even though the British
government wanted to drop the matter on the understandable grounds of
"it's too dangerous."

I can easily see the IEN getting stuck in a similar quandary, especially
if some of the lost sailors are from elven houses that have a lot of
pull with the admiralty.

--
Richard J. Pugh: the Cyberbard
http://rjpugh.home.comcast.net/