Re: [ItV] Spelljamming and Technology - article

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dreamer" <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk>


> In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Sun 09 Jan, David Shepheard wrote:
> > From: "Dreamer" <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk>
> >
> > > If DMs consider that the history of spelljamming goes back
> > > thousands or tens of thousands of years, and even further if you
> > > talk to the elves or dragons, they may wish to ask why it has
> > > been reasonably stable.  They may care to say that, just as in
> > > the 'real world', all sorts of discoveries have been made over
> > > the ages.  These would include the inventions of ancient Greece,
> > > or China, or Arabia.  However, the right combination of
> > > circumstances never quite arose so these gave rise to a
> > > technological civilisation.  And, that the situation is the same
> > > in the Spelljamming setting.  Or, they may want there to be some
> > > sort of stabilising force, which works secretly, behind the
> > > scenes, gradually smoothing out any disruptions, that would cause
> > > radical changes to the Spelljamming meta-culture.  If so, then
> > > any contact with a high tech civilisation might be the trigger
> > > for this stabilising force to go into action.  Possibly foiling,
> > > if not completely resisting, any attempts by PCs or others to
> > > 'upgrade' the Spelljamming meta-culture with high tech.
> >
> > I would have thought that the stabilising force, of which you
> > speak, is the Imperial Elven Navy.
> >
<snip>
> This is interesting!
>
> This is the sort of speculation, I was hoping to encourage, which
> might allow DMs to consider different slants on what is going on.
>
> As for destroying the souls, I would have thought bottling them,
> and leaving the bottles in the possession of an elven god of
> secrets, would be a reasonable substitute, and deals with the
> issue that in some campaigns you cannot destroy souls. (Injure,
> yes, imprison, yes, totally destroy, no.)

Wouldn't this involve taking a lot of evil souls into Arvandor? Would the other gods Elven
and Olympic gods allow this?

If you can't destroy souls, then perhaps someone would have to make some sort of soul
catching weapon to stop the souls making their way over to the afterlife. Perhaps someone
could invent soul stealing swords. The sword could be a magical device containing some
sort of gem used as the focus for soul trapping magic. Maybe after each sword is used to
kill someone it could take on the personallity of its victim and be able to talk to the
user. I like the idea of a Scro sword swearing and cursing at any Elf that wielded it! And
if these swords could only contain one soul, then maybe they have a lot of them sitting
around at their secret base. All of them desparate to get found and taken away! LOL

If you want to go down the technology route then perhaps this could be partially
technological and could be similar in purpose to those ghost catching gadgets in the film
Ghostbusters.

Another alternative is to freeze creatures in time instead of killing them. Perhaps a
spell like flesh to stone could be used for this. As long as the resulting statues were
preserved they might be able to contain the souls for ever.

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/