MetalSpace 2.0, & name search

Alrighty then,
here is a pre-final version of this sphere write up. That means it's youre
last chance to either inspire or shoot holes in it. I do intend to continue
supplementing this sphere in the future so chime in at any point . Anyway,
here is a much more developed take on it, much has changed.:

MetalSpace

Metalspace is a very small crystal sphere that is the main source of raw
materials for the Arcane / Mercane here on the prime material plane. It is
roughly half the size of an "average," sphere, and floats above the plane of
the phlogiston near the Arcane / Mercane sphere known as Refuge.

The only place on its surface where a portal can be opened is on the
"north," pole relative to the flow. In adddition openig a portal in this
area requires the use of an Arcane / Mercane constructed portal opener.
Spells and psionics are not effective, and portals do not ever naturally
occur here. When a portal opener is used it always opens up a one mile
diameter portal which remains open until two minutes after the last ship
goes through.

The stars on this sphere's interior are towering forges of shellstuff at
which work titanic beings, oblivious to any attempt at contact. It is said
that the items they forge are made for the gods and are of purest urdrukar
(a metal that naturally shields against scrying magic-see Arms and Equipment
Guide WOTC). It is this concentration of urdrukar that effectively cloaks
the sphere from Arcane / Mercane detection, or so folklore would have
it.Ships met within the sphere are boarded immediately by troops from
Garatoch's Adamantium Fleet (60% Dwarves, 20% Giff, 20% Dwarves and Giff).
Often the fleet ships will give intruders a head start in order to alleviate
the boredom of guard duty.

Another odd quality of this sphere comes into play upon leaving it. A geas
(caster level 20) is cast upon those aboard the exiting ship. Those failing
to save can never tell anyone the sphere's location or commit it to a map,
unless given permission by an Arcane / Mercane.

The Soul Forge
Planet Type: Spherical Fire Body
Planet Size: H
Escape Time: 24 turns
Satellites: 1 planetoid
Day Length: 37 hours
Year Length: none
Population Analysis: None Known
Climate: as the elemental plane of fire.
Prominent Land Features: The Sun does have certain features, but they are
completely unusable to the standard character races.

Around the Sun, in an orbit one million miles out, are three magic-dead
globes known as sargassos. These are 100,000-mile diameter areas that
effectively shut down all helms, and other magic. There are also three wild
magic areas of similar size which alternate with the sargassos in the same
orbital plane in which the effects of arcane and divine magic are
randomized. Neither of these areas have any effect upon The Invisible Art
(psionics).

Oddly enough, there are no known fire based beings that make their home on
the Soul Forge. Some attribute this to an "extradimensional harmonic," set
up by the sargassos and wild magic zones as they orbit the star. Others say
the Arcane / Mercane banished them and have ensured they shall not return.

Garatoch
Planet Type: Spherical Earth Body
Planet Size: E
Escape Time: 4 turns
Satellites: 1 moon
Day Length: 24 hours
Year Length: 365 days
Population Analysis: Predominantly Dwarves, Humans, Illithids, Goblinoids,
Gnomes, and Giff.
Climate: Is a varied mix,much like our own Earth.
Prominent Land Features: Garatoch is 99.99% water. The only land on this
ocean covered planet is the island of Garatoch. Extensive underdark.
Resources/Trade: Precious and Arcane / Mercane metals and gemstones. Ioun
stones.
Ports of Call: The City of Garatoch

The composition of Garatoch is a little different from other worlds. Instead
of a nickel-iron core, Garatoch has an adamantium-mithril core. The planet
is liberally laced with veins of adamantium, mithril, naturally occurring
Ioun Stones, and many other Arcane / Mercane and exotic minerals and ores.
There are even rare veins of Orichalcum, that mineral so prized by those who
craft items of magic (Reduces XP cost of creating magic items by 15% when
used. At least 50% of the raw materials used must be Orichalcum to gain this
benefit). There are also several varieties of psionically active crystals
found only here. In addition, the high quantities of urdrukar present on
this world make the planet itself immune to scrying magics of less than epic
scale.

Appearance from Space: From wildspace Garatoch does not look quite like a
water world. The high metal content of the world ocean gives its waters a
rusty red color, shot through with streaks and currents of coppery green.
The planet seems relatively featureless from space when viewed from the
Island side. The island itself is impossible to make out from orbit using
the unaided eye. Incoming Arcane / Mercane vessels and Adamantium Fleet
ships use a special guidance crystal that locks in on the city's port in
order to land. Sometimes during the storm season you can see monstrous
hurricanes 700-1,000 miles across moving slowly across the surface.

The Hammer of Morradin: This placid seeming smoothness of the surface is
broken on the opposite side of the planet, as The Hammer of Morradin (a
superstorm, see climate and weather below) fills fully a third of the
visible surface.

Climate and Weather: The surface of Garatoch experiences a standard range of
climates. Since most of the planetary surface is water the big danger is
storms and hurricanes. Having no landmasses to break up these storms, they
sometimes reach a truly titanic size. The island of Garatoch sits in one of
the more temperate zones of the world and has commensurate weather. It is
also shielded from the worst of the storms by The Skyshield (see below)

The Superstorms: With no landmasses to impede them, hurricanes grow to
astonishing size on Garatoch. It is not unusual to see storms between 400 -
700 miles across! Another unpleasant feature of the superstorms is that they
last for months at a time. The most impressive of the superstorms is The
Hammer of Morradin, a superstorm over 1,000 miles across, this incredible
hurricane occupies a stationary position on the opposite side of the planet
from the Island of Garatoch. Spelljammers be warned, no known ship has ever
survived entering the atmosphere within 500 miles of The Hammer's outer
edges...(see Appearance from Space, above) Fortunately for all, The Hammer
is geostationary and does not move across the planet's surface making it
easily avoidable. There are legends that there is another path to the
planet's underdark on the surface beneath the eye of The Hammer. Many ships
over the centuries have tried to brave the eye, but none have returned. Any
ship attempting to enter the eye, even by diving directly down from outside
the atmosphere, encounters destructive turbulence (Skill Check: Pilot
Spelljammer DC 18 or take a Ships Critical Hit. DC increases by +1 each
consecutive round) It is often speculated over drinks that this is an
emergency exit for the illithids of the deep dark....

Continents: None. The Island of Garatoch is the sole landmass of the planet.
It is an irregular island approximately 400 miles across and roughly twice
that north / south. It rises approximately three miles high. The cone of an
extinct volcano whose caldera is a full sixty miles across has been sculpted
into a city .The surface of the island is barren rock, scoured by wave and
wind until nothing lives. A single river pours forth from the southernmost
wall of the caldera, large enough for a brave captain to sail upon.

The Skyshield of the Arcane / Mercane: The island is protected from the
superstorms by a series of magical nodes arrayed in a five pointed star
across the island which generate a magical shield which blocks any weather
worse than a light thunderstorm. Lightning never strikes below this dome
(including called lightning). The nodes themselves are natural outcroppings
of arcane metals and crystals which have been activated and linked by
extremely ancient and powerful magic. It is unknown whether destroying or
dispelling one of these nodes would be enough to bring down the Skyshield,
but no one has ever gotten the opportunity to try. Thos educated in the ways
of magic compare the power of this grib to that of the legendary elven
Mythals.

Life Forms: There are three different ecosystems on Garatoch- The World
Ocean, The Underdark, and The City of Garatoch. All lifeforms on this planet
are completely adapted to the high metal content in the water, off worlders
however cannot consume it without purification magics. ( Dam 1d2 Con;
Secondary Dam 1d2 Con; Fort Save DC 16 negates- Easily purchased in the
city.). The exception to this are the Dwarves and their distant kin the
Gnomes. Visiting Dwarves suffer no ill effects from the water, and in fact
praise it as being "hearty, flavorful, and extremely refreshing." Gnomes do
not find it as toxic as other races do, but also do not enjoy it the way
that Dwarves seem to (+3 to their save). Another oddity of the water is that
in small doses, teaspoon size, it actually acts as a tonic for most humans
and demihumans (+1 to saves vs. diseases). The locals are immune to this
postive effect of the water as well as the harmful ones. There has even
beeen a very limited amount of trading in Garatochian Mineral Waters in the
past few decades.

The World Ocean: The flora and fauna of the world ocean are reminiscent of
many water worlds; fish in all their varieties, sharks, squid, kraken,
whales, and according to legend a wide variety of sea monsters. Various
aquatic dinosaurs have been spotted here, and there are rumors of seagoing
aberrations as well. For the most part this ocean, the majority of the
planet, remains unexplored except for the fishermen who hug the coast of the
Island of Garatoch. No sentient seagoing races have been reported, but
anything could be down there....

The City of Garatoch: The City has been exquisitely carved from the caldera
of the the volcano over the past 5,000 years. The terraced balconies of
homes and shops extends down the shaft for as far as the eye can see. The
population is mostly dwarves, although there are a few other races that have
maintained a presence here such as the giff, gnomes, and humans and a small
population of catfolk.

The Underdark: The shaft of the volcano extends fro hundreds of miles into
the core of the planet, as do the mining operations. The planet itself is
riddled with caverns and tunnels, producing an extensive, if partially
flooded, underdark. The fauna of the underdark tends mostly towards
aberrations and crystalline lifeforms such as the crysmal. Over the
centuries many other races have been encountered deep within the bowls of
the planet including illithids, aboleth, deep gnomes, and svirfneblin. There
are rumors of two great illithid cities, remnants of their ancient empire,
existing deep in the chasms of the earth. There are also many creatures from
the elemental plane of earth and the quasielemental plane of mineral here
due to the many breaches and gates to these two planes.

Another set of stories relating to the deep dark concern themselves with
Shazzarat, a colossal ancient gem dragon who sends his crysmal servitors
throughout the underdark keeping note of all....

Guide to the Groundlings: This sphere was originally colonized by dwarves
under Mercane sponsorship 5,000 years ago. The dwarves were given minig
rights to the greatest treasure trove in the Outer Flow, in return they
would never leave the sphere, and the Arcane / Mercane / Mercane would be
their only customers.

The single landmass is a colossal volcano jutting up from the surface of the
world ocean. In the centuries since colonization the cone has been sculpted
into a baroque city, the buildings merging with the walls of the cone itself
and extending for many miles below the surface. An extremely lawful and
extremely wealthy mining city, Garatoch is a fusion of oppulence and
functionality that that is stunning to behold. The city exists solely to
extract exotic metals, minerals, and gems from the planet. When not working
the residents enjoy a rich cultural life including gladiatorial games,
symphonies, and art.

The Dwarves are descendants of the original settlers, and they never let
anyone forget it. The giff, gnomes, and humans comprise about 20% of the
total population. There is also a large number of visiting Arcane / Mercane
at any point in time. The city itself is completely geared towards mining
and smithing, and has the highest populations of Dwarven MageSmiths known.
The standard of living here is very high, as shown by the circulation of
mithril coins (1 mp=20 pp) amongst the common population. They realize that
they could not maintain possession of their holdings and standard of living
without the protection afforded by the Arcane / Mercane. As a result they
are tremendously loyal to the Arcane / Mercane, even if it is a loyalty
built upon self interest. Any of the dwarves showing an aptitude for The
Invisible Art (psionics) is immediately sent into training to become
illithid slayers and are detailed to guard operations in the deep dark.
There is a much higher percentage of psi active dwarves on Garatoch than
found elsewhere in the spheres (5% of total Dwarven population).

The giff are the descendants of mercenary squads hired on hereditary
contract by the Arcane / Mercane to help defend the sphere. They have had a
good thing going here for generations, and they know it. High pay, exotic
weapons, and a hereditary commission make this their ideal contract. The
lack of outright conflict is oft ameliorated by hunting down self styled
"adventurers," who have found a way into the sphere.. It is also not unusual
for those giff dissatisfied with the relative peace to seek blood and
excitement in the Grand Arena as gladiators.

The gnomes and humans are the descendants of long standing allies of the
Arcane / Mercane. While the gnomes here are master craftsmen they are NOT
minoi (tinker gnomes). You will periodically find clockwork devices created
by them, but there is no mass production.Everyone on Garatoch sees himself
as a master artisan, and many are. It is rumored on the streets of Garatoch
that some amongst the uper classes were relocated here by the Arcane /
Mercane and given new identities in order to hide them. From what no one is
exactly certain...

In the Underdark there are tribes of humanoids, elementals, and abberation
in abundance. There are miner's tales of two great illithid cities occupying
vast caverns in the Deep Dark, splinters of their once formidable empire.
According to the tales these cities exist in constant conflict using thralls
that have been "altered." Rumors of drow pop up every few decades, but there
has never been anything to substantiate them. Other tall tales include
sightings of the dreaded aboleth, and tales of a pair of twin beholder
cities locked in constant race wars.

Cuisine
Seared Slag Grouper: Slag groupers are found in the waters around the island
in abundance. Since a spellcaster is required to prepare them for safe
consumption the dish is somewhat costly. After a fish is cleaned heat metal
is cast on it. The enormous amount of metal in the fish cooks the grouper as
it glows white hot and burns its way out, leaving it fit for consumption
even by offworlders. There are a number of different ways the fish can be
prepared after this. It is currently in vogue to brais(cook slowly in fat in
a closed pot with little moisture) the meat in thoqua fat.

The Adamantium Fleet
Garatoch's Navy is extremely well supplied with Arcane / Mercane devices and
weaponry. Those ships that are not Dwarven Citadels are generally armor
plated with mithril (80% chance) or adamantium (20% chance). All are
outfitted with planetary locators, cloaking helms (unless they use a forge),
and Force Lances. All fleet ships are also equipped with Arcane / Mercane
guidance crystals that allow them to home in on The City of Garatoch when
returning.

The greatest danger to an army is not an enemy, but sheer boredom. High pay
is great, but constant inaction is a horrible fate for a warrior.
Fortunately there is a steady stream of ships with dishonest intent that do
make their way into the sphere. This provides a constant game of hide and
seek between raiders and the Adamantium Fleet.

Often ships will be given a head start before fleet ships will pursue. The
hunting down of unauthorized intruders is almost considered sport. Vast sums
in mithril coins change hands amongst fleet Captains on an almost weekly
basis as they bet on who will scuttle the most spelljammers, capture the
most raiders, and other similar subjects.

10 Dwarven Citadels

20 Hammerships

9 Battle Dolphins

11 Squidships

3 Smalljammers

20 Dragonflies

4 Bombards (All Giff crews)

6 Turtleships



All of the citadels except three remain in orbit around the planet Garatoch
with roughly half the fleet while. The other three citadels patrol the
system with the remaining fleet, focussing on the area between Garatoch's
orbit and the crystal shell.

Verdigris
Planet Type: Spherical Earth Body
Planet Size: C
Escape Time: 2 turns
Satellites: none
Day Length: 18 hours
Year Length: 365 days
Population Analysis: Garatoch Military (Dwarves), and stranded scro
Climate: cool and dry but very dusty
Prominent Land Features: endless plains of greenish dust.
Resources/Trade: none
Ports of Call: Mithril Base (only for ships of the Adamantium Fleet and
representatives of the Arcane / Mercane)

Climate and Weather: There are no open bodies of water on the surface of
Verdigris. The moon seems endlessly flat and featureless, a vista of
flatlands covered with greenish dust. The temperature never rises above 70 °
or drops below 50 °. It is calm, monotonous, and dreary.

Appearance from Space: A featureless coppery green sphere.

Continents: N/A

Life Forms: There are no known lifeforms native to Verdigris. Dwarves,
humans and giff occupy the naval base, and there are renegade scro (castaway
survivors of a mission to raid the City below) eking out an existence in the
barren environment of the moon. There is a minimal amount of flora and
fauna, all of it rare and too small to prove a threat.

Guide to the Groundlings: Verdigris is populated almost entirely by members
of the Adamantium Fleet. (racial proportions are the same as the City, with
one exception. Giff comprise 25% of the total residents).

Thanks to all who helped me get this fleshed out, particulary Adam and smu
anonymous!
George "Loki," Williams
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