Maj Space: The Belt - Veiled Worlds (2nd draft)

This is the second draft of the Veiled Worlds, in The Belt in Maj
Space.  Some worlds are detailed, and there is more DM info.

OK?


Veiled Worlds - 22/Sep/06

One of the reasons that the dwarves are cautious about exploring
The Belt is that they have so far discovered at least three
'Veiled Worlds' (they guess there might be up to another thirty),
something which they make considerable attempts to hide from
non-dwarves.  These attempts have been mostly successful, but
there are still a few myths about there being some very strange
worlds in The Belt.

A Veiled World is one which from a distance looks just like a
boulder, at least 25 ft. in diameter.  As you get closer to one,
within about ten times its diameter, it seems to get bigger (or
maybe you get smaller, it is difficult to tell).  As you get to
its diameter away you find you are entering the air envelope over
an entire world, typically spherical, of diameter between 10
miles (size class B (Diminutive)) and 4,000 miles (size class D
(Small)) in diameter.  Landing on and leaving these worlds is
just as difficult as if they were a conventional world of that
size, and they are just as prone to have weather, so an
incautious approach with an insufficiently powerful means of
travel might mean that you are stranded there.

Leaving a veiled world by any means, whether for visitors or
locals, means that you 'get bigger' when leaving, and 'get
smaller' on arrival.  This also applies to magical travel via
things like Teleport and Gate.

The only hint that there is a veiled world around is the 'veil'
which always surrounds one of them.  This is the sun getting very
slightly dimmer (about -10%), so as to gather enough light from a
large enough area of wildspace to illuminate the world properly. 
This dimming is easily overlooked, unless you are a very
experienced traveller in The Belt - attempting to map its extent
so as to guess where the veiled world is, that is in the centre,
would not be an easy task.

GM Option: If desired some veiled worlds may be 'locked', so that
those who are living on them may not leave until someone visits
them from the outside.  This 'unlocks' them, and the locals can
then come and go as freely as anyone else.  Cruel GMs might have
'locked' worlds that wont let visitors leave, either, until some
sort of special task is done.  Or maybe some sort of complex task
that visitors have to complete to allow locals to leave.  Such a
lock would also affect things like Teleport, and you would need
something like Gate to evade the lock.  It is possible that the
dwarves are afraid to let something really nasty free from a
locked world out into The Belt.

Veiled worlds allow the GM to place anything they like in The
Belt, and have the world quite difficult to find again, except to
the most skilled navigators.  Entire 'lost' civilizations that
only the exploring player-characters initially get to know about
can be placed there.  It is recommended that GMs think carefully
before adding any intelligent races to such worlds which do not
appear elsewhere in the system.

Albrect (2.76AU, Small(D) Sphere 4,000ml diameter (apparent size
1000 ft.; Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the largest of the three
(highly secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by
the dwarves.  This is a rather mountainous world, about half
oceans, with a temperate climate, and is in fact where the
largest proportion of the dwarves in The Belt live.  The mining
possibilities there are reasonable, and mining is what quite a
lot of the more traditional dwarves do there, but it is in
general easier to extract materials from the Starstones.  The
world is more than self-sufficient in terms of food, and there is
still plenty of room for expansion; quite a few of the dwarves of
The Belt retire there, if they feel they are getting too old for
the dangers of wildspace.  The only intelligent life there is
dwarves (there were no previous inhabitants), but there is all
the animal life you might expect for Northern Europe.  Most
spelljammers would describe this world as boring, and there is
not a lot of travel to and from it.  Quite co-incidentally there
is always at least one Dwarven Citadel within at most a few hours
travel at spelljamming speed from here.  There are four Large
Rock Boats armed with turret-mounted Heavy Ballista fore and aft,
always ready to take-off from Albrect.

Bertold (3.8AU, Tiny(C) Sphere 1,000ml diameter (apparent size
250 ft.; Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the mid-sized one of the three
(highly secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by
the dwarves.  This is a rocky though not mountainous world, about
half ocean, that with work might be good for farming, except that
it is 'infested' by goblins.  There are hundreds of goblin
tribes, all over the world, dug-in from just below the surface
all the way down into the Underdark.  Most of them spend their
time feuding with and raiding each other, but they quickly unite
if anyone tries to wipe-out one tribe at a time.  The goblins are
the only intelligent life on this world, and they've eaten most
of the larger wildlife (and any previous inhabitants), apart from
birds, and some goats that they have semi-domesticated.  While
the goblins don't have access to any spelljamming, the dwarves
are quite worried about what would happen if they found a way off
of this world, and they make considerable attempts to keep an
inconspicuous guard on it.

Wird (3AU, Tiny(C) Sphere 200ml diameter (apparent size 50 ft.;
Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the smallest of the three (highly
secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by the

dwarves.  This is a smooth-surfaced grey rock sphere, with very
gentle rises and dips in it and no visible water or weather.  It
is littered with elegant one-story buildings, in a variety of
sizes, mostly one or two room, but a few much larger - the most
immediate impression is of a long-disused necropolis.  The rooms
seem to contain nothing but dust, and any inscriptions have long
worn-away (or been carefully erased...).  There is no detectable
life on this world, but something seems to renew the air.  People
visiting this world for more than a few hours get increasingly
uneasy, and start seeing movement out of the corner of their
eyes.  The longer they stay beyond that the longer it will take
to stop having nightmares about unending, bloody, and hopeless
(no matter how brave they are in waking) battles, where they die
again, and again, killed by unclear laughing figures, who
obviously have no mercy at all.  GM Note: This is where the
spirits of the uncivilized War Elves (see Durin) are bound, using
all the power that the elven races and their gods could raise, so
that they cannot be restored to life to trouble anyone ever
again.  This entire world counts as an artifact, and its
influence is probably why veiled worlds exist in this system.

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/