Mirrorspace: Melodya (Planet) Part 1

This is the first of a probably two-part writeup of one of the Planets in
Mirrorspace. The idea struck me when listening to trance-music; there are
usually only few and poor lyrics found in that music, but one line was
something like "...open your mind to the music". "Open your mind...", I
thought. "...open mind, there was something similar in psionic combat,
wasn´t it?". After two hours of brainstorming, the idea was born and
started to grow. It still does.


MELODYA

Only few contributory planets were known for outdoing Mirror Prime in
anything. Melodya, as it was called after the Great Renaming (1) was
celebrated for it´s supremeness in all things musical.

The following lore was compiled from countless sources: general rumors and
legends, recounted among spacefarers during long voyges, or stories found
in books standing in libraries of grumpy sages. The lion´s share are
excerpts from a research report penned by Alleyna Syloar, Member of the
Seekers, whose elvish roots (2) were responsible for awakening her interest
in music at large and the legendary music from Mirror in particular. She
recently presented it to her fellow seekers; the book is currently
duplicated and will be added to all Seeker- libraries throughout the Known
Spheres.


Melodya was at all times known for three things in particular: it´s rich
and delicious agrarian produce, it´s highly dangerous underdark, and music.

The planets population were first and foremost farmers: compared to most
other worlds, only few cities dotted the idyllic landscapes. Due to a very
mild climate, “Farming´s the way to live”, as an old melodyan proverb said.
There were a small number of human mining communities in the mountains,
sure, but only where metals could not be traded from dwarves or gnomes.
People who preferred the darkness of the night below to the beauty of
nature were rare. Even before spelljamming became common knownledge to the
population at large, there were many sphere-wide operating trading
companies who disguised as seafarers, only to take off after sailing
offshore. In those old times, a healthy profit could be made with fruits
from Rummna (3).

As in every society, there were those who were driven by wanderlust. Many
of them became Quisamae (4), Bards. They roamed the world, wandering from
thorp to village to hamlet, spreading news and song. On Melodya, since time
immemorial bards were the predominant group of magic users. Sure there were
clerics, and a view mages too, but three out of four “gifted” were followed
the bardic path. The only other noteworthy group who had supernatural
abilities (apart from monsters like beholders, of course) were those with
psionic powers, a remarkably large number compared to most other worlds in
the known spheres.

Many Quisamae joined adventuring groups at some point of their live, to
collect inspirations for new songs. Because there were only little ruins on
Rummna, most adventurers turned either to monster-hunting in the
inhospitable mountains, deserts or jungles, or toward the underdark for
excitement, fame and treasure. The tunnels and caves below held countless
civilizations, both lost and living. Treasures could be found, but more
often, death - or even worse fates.

The deeper reaches of Rummna´s underdark were dominated by Mindflayers, who
in turn secretly bowed to an ancient race so powerful that none (5) of the
surface-dwelling races even suspected their existence: Aboleth. The huge
amphibians were masters of the mind, psionics even the Illithids could
generally not resist. The Mindflayers served as intermediaries for their
masters, their eye and arm (or tentacle, to be anatomically correct...) in
the upper reaches of the underdark. Because of their hatred for the
blinding light of the sun, the Illithids in turn used charmed communities
of dwarves, gnomes, orcs, goblins and kobolds when dealing with
the “surfacers”.

The Aboleth, with their incomprehensible knowledge (6), constantly devised
plans for world domination. Most were countered by adventurers, never
recognizing who the real mastermind behind their enemies (drow, deep
dwarves, kuo-toa or other races of the night) was. Unlike most evil schemes
in the universe, one of these plans eventually  succeded...


Footnotes

(1) Soon after Mirror had established official control over the last
planetary body in the sphere, all “Tributaries” were renamed. The new names
denoted what Mirrors culture held dear; after a few short years, only
insignificant minorities still used the various names that had over the
course of history developed. All but the staunchest critics of Mirror Prime
(or “Vice Prime”, as those who disliked the sphere´s cultural, political
and economic center called it) used “Meloya” when referring to the planet.
(2) The halfelven lass was brought up by a couple who served in the
EIN, and found that rigid structure of the Navy was not to her liking. She
turned towards the Seekers and soon joined organization.
(3) “Rummna” was one of the old names of the planet before the Great
Renaming. It stems from the elvish “rum na”, roughly translating
into “ancient meadow”.
(4) Another word borrowed from an elvish dialect. It was composed
of “quis” (chant, or chanting) and “ama” (strider, to stride).
(5) Apart from a handful of powerful individuals (successful
adventurers or learned sages)...
(6) These creatures inherit all knowledge of their parent had at the
time of their birth and gain from every sentient being they consume. Nobody
apart from Aboleth themselves ever came even close to estimate what that
means, and the members of that race don´t tell.