Lords of Madness & Spelljammer

Hey guys,

    just picked up Lords of Maddness (dangit, they exploited my weakness for
neogi!  I couldn't resist!  I feel so used...) and here's some stuff that
noticed in relation to SJ.  I'm adding a little Spoiler space, because a lot
has to do with plot elements and some people might not want me to spoil it
for them.












    Anyways, this is going to be interesting, since I have several different
points to address.

* Its kinda funny is to see them dance around SJ without actually
*mentioning* spelljamming.  It seems WotC now prefers an "SJ-lite" approach,
blending an extra-heavy helping of sci-fi & cuthulu in with SJ, with a
universe that probably isn't all that different than Dragonstar.

* They did some stuff with neogi with pretty much mirrors ideas I had,
although they didn't go as far with some as I planned to.  Neogi rouges are
called "defilers" who like to use poison.

* Ok, now on to the main event.  The illithids are now bizzare.  Their
backstory is that they are actually from the *end* of time, ruling when the
universe was dying.  They got into a fight they could not win, and used
psionics to send themselves back in time.  The actual illithid empire of
legend was only a few thousand years ago, falling 2,000 years ago.  Guess it
works for GH & maybe SJ, but for all the other worlds it really screws with
history.  If the passing of the empire went without FR, DL, & even GH not
even noticing, it wasn't much of an empire.  <shrug>But I digress.  Some
passages I found interesting was in the section "The Whispering Shadow",
p70-71.  There it mentions the Astromundi Chroncles (Clusterspace!).  The
exact passage reads:

    The Astromundi Chronicles, a text of ancient but unknown origin, speaks
of the illithids as a "race of monstrous spawn, hidden beneath the world by
their progenitors."  No clue is given to the idenity of these progenitors.
The text suggest that theillithids hated their creators with such a passion
that they lashed out against them and destroyed them utterly, leaving no
trace of their existance for the modern scholar to examine.

    Now, this is interesting.  This directly correlates with the "illithid
birth" storyline of the Astromundi cluster.  So here's the theory I'm
postulating.  The Astromundi cluster is set in the far, far future.  Its
origins begin long after Krynn & Oerth have fallen to dust.  The story of
the elves seem to suggest this, defeated & chased down by the scro &
goblin-kin.  The elves of AC are perhaps the last of the elven race.  The
illithids were birthed as per the story, and destroyed the primary planet of
the sphere in vengence.  In time their empire grew powerful, but was held in
check by the antillians.  In time, the antillians (or another power)
defeated the illtihids, smashing their cities and pushing them back to their
homeworld.  They activated their psionic gambit & sent themselves into the
past, far before the birth of their race, to the days of Krynn & Oerth &
Toril.  It seems to fit the facts the best.

    I'm not sure how I like the story, but there it is.  That *seems* to be
the tale of the illithids.  I could be wrong. :)

Adam

Look for my coming on the seventh month of the fifth year.  At dawn look to
the world were the Trio (plus one) that is Untouchable reigns supreme