The Spelljammers of High Sorcery and the Conclave of Spelljammers 1/3

**The Spelljammers of High Sorcery and the Conclave of Spelljammers**

Back in a period of the Age of Dreams called the Foundation the Orders of
High Sorcery were formed to defend magic and constructed several Towers of
High Sorcery protected by magical groves. One of these groves was called the
Shoikan Grove. The Orders of High Sorcery had no contact with spacefarers
until shortly after the War of the Mountain when a refugee port town called
Bright Horizon sprung up close to the Shoikan Grove.

In 2081 PC one of the wizards wandering through the Shoikan Grove was
shocked when he looked up to see something that looked like a cross between
a sailing ship and a giant shark flying high over the grove and heading
north towards Bright Horizon.

The wizard travelled to Bright Horizon, but by the time he got there the
ship had left. He asked around the port and was told that the ship that had
just left was called a Hammership and several of these ships had been
visiting Bright Horizons in the last year. The wizard immediately sought the
advice of the Conclave of Wizards.

The Conclave of Wizards was greatly concerned by the existence of flying
ships. The picked three wizards, one of the White Robes, one of the Red
Robes and one of the Black Robes and told them to go to Bright Horizons,
meet with the captain of one of these flying ships and travel up into the
sky to discover more about them.

The three Wizards of High Sorcery learned that the ships were called
spelljamming ships. They spent more than a year flying around on different
spelljamming ships, visiting the various planets that wander across Krynn's
sky and talking to the spacefarers who live in wildspace. They discovered
that wildspace ended at something called the crystal sphere and that
countless other crystal spheres existed outside their own crystal sphere.
They also learned that the spelljamming ships were powered by magic and that
they could channel their own High Sorcery to move these ships by sitting on
a magical seat called a spelljamming helm. The three recognised the
importance of spelljamming and practiced it until they could fly ships as
well as the helmsmen who taught them. If Krynn was ever attacked by these
spacefarers the Conclave would need them to be able to pass this skill on.

The explorers discovered that wizards from other crystal spheres do not
worship the deities of magic worshiped on Ansalon. The people from within
their own crystal sphere, Krynnspace, did worship the same gods as those
worshipped on Krynn, but their worship sometimes took different forms and
they had no understanding of the Laws of High Sorcery and therefore no true
worship of the gods of magic.

In theory this meant that powerful wizards could come down from space and
cause chaos across the land. Fortunately, while the unregulated nature of
these alien wizards could present a threat to Ansalon and the rest of Krynn,
in reality these spacefarers had very little interest in Krynn itself and
seemed content to fly around the rest of the crystal sphere surrounding it.

As long as that situation continued it would seem that Ansalon and the rest
of Krynn would remain safe. However a small risk remained and the Conclave
of Wizards decided that for magic to defend itself Krynnspace would need to
become a buffer zone where the alien wizards could be kept away from Krynn
itself.

The sheer number of these alien wizards meant that declaring them all as
renegades would just not work. Instead a different strategy would be needed.
The Conclave of Wizards decided that observation and occasional intervention
could keep Krynn and these other worlds isolated from each other and keep
the risk at bay. In order to do this the Conclave would need some members of
the Orders of High Sorcery to master the skill of spelljamming and travel up
into the sky to protect Ansalon from afar.

These wizards would be known as the Spelljammers of High Sorcery. They would
operate from the other worlds around Krynn and would therefore need their
own leadership. The leaders of the organisation would be called the Conclave
of Spelljammers. Each of the three wizards who explored Krynnspace were
asked to choose six wizards from their own order who would join them to form
the new conclave.

*Spelljammers of High Sorcery*

The Spelljammers of High Sorcery were formed in 2077 PC. Its original
members were chosen from the few Wizards of High Sorcery who found out about
the existence of spacefarers as well as a number of conscripted wizards who
had committed minor transgressions against the Laws of High Sorcery.
However,
the organisation remained a small one and during the Third Dragon War,
almost a thousand years later, it still had less than a hundred members.

The Third Dragon war was such a threat to the Orders of High Sorcery that
the Conclave of Wizards refused to send any new wizards to the Spelljammers
of High Sorcery for the duration of the war. The Conclave of Spelljammers
knew that without an alternative source of recruits they would eventually
become so small that they would be unable to function. So they started a
long process to bring the Laws of High Sorcery to the rest of Krynnspace. At
first they discreetly spread worship of Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari to
communities across Krynnspace. But later they started to hand pick the best
wizards born on foreign worlds in Krynnspace and invite them to take the
Test of High Sorcery. Those that choose to take the test and passed were
taught the ways of the Wizards of High Sorcery and became members of the
Spelljammers of High Sorcery.

The Spelljammers of High Sorcery still consider themselves to be Wizards of
High Sorcery and therefore dress exactly the same as the Wizards of High
Sorcery found on Krynn. Like the Wizards of High Sorcery living on Krynn
they are divided into three orders. Occasionally these orders are referred
to as Spelljammers of the Black Robes, Spelljammers of the Red Robes and
Spelljammers of the White Robes. The Conclave of Spelljammers has observed
the typical arrogance that spacefarers show toward groundlings and
discourages the use of these alternative names for their orders, except when
it is important to know if wizards have spelljamming skill. Despite this
discouragement, some members of the Spelljammers of High Sorcery have been
infected by this spacefarer arrogance and see their orders as somehow better
than the groundling orders based on Ansalon.

The three orders of the Spelljammers of High Sorcery work in exactly the
same way as the same orders on Krynn, but report to the Conclave of
Spelljammers instead of the Conclave of Wizards. In fact any Spelljammer of
High Sorcery who travels to Krynn, is reports to the Conclave of Wizards and
refers to himself as  Wizard of High Sorcery until he goes back into
wildspace.

The Spelljammers of High Sorcery pride themselves on their ability to keep
wildspace a secret while on Krynn and most Wizards of High Sorcery that they
meet can not tell that they come from off world. Even members of the
Spelljammers of High Sorcery born off of Krynn are hard to tell from Ansalon
born wizards as all members are required to learn to read and write at least
one of the local languages of Ansalon before they are allowed to take the
Test of High Sorcery.

Despite their ties to Ansalon and Krynn, the Spelljammers of High Sorcery
take an active part in the society of Krynnspace. Each order of High Sorcery
has good relations with different organisations within the crystal sphere.

The Spelljammers of the White Robes are on good terms with the Star Knights
and helped set up the Knights of the Moon when the Star Knights became the
Knights of Krynnspace. The Knights of the Moon is a recruiting ground for
the Spelljammers of High Sorcery as the organisation is dedicated to
Solinari. The Hand of Reorx have occasionally hired White Robes to act as
helmsmen. The two organisations are very polite to each other, but have not
formed a close relationship. The White Robes are on fairly good terms with
the Elven Imperial Navy and the Knights of the Moon and the EIN occasionally
share intelligence.

The Spelljammers of the Red Robes are the most active group in Krynnspace as
they hire themselves out as helmsmen. They are highly valued by captains of
system ships. They can also be found on ships owned by organisations like
the Crimson Caravan or the Dream Spinners, but only sign on for the voyages
that start and end within Krynnspace.

The Spelljammers of the Black Robes are rumoured to have connections to a
group of pirates called The Strike. No connection has been proved, but
captains have noticed that ships with Black Robes helmsman don't seem to get
attacked by The Strike.

The three orders of the Spelljammers of High Sorcery use their involvement
with other spacefarers to attempt to discourage them from visiting Krynn.
They use several methods for this. When meeting arrogant spacefarers they
will sometimes subtly reinforce their prejudice against groundings and
encourage them to believe that there is nothing of value on Krynn. When
meeting cautious spacefarers they occasionally spread rumours about the port
on Taladas seizing ships and enslaving crews. The Spelljammers of the Red
Robes have even managed to get the Dream Spinners to spread a false story
about an island on Krynn that has a pack of red dragons that surround
approaching spelljamming ships and set fire to their sails and crews.

However, it is inevitable that despite the misinformation, warnings and
scare stories that some spacefarers will still want to visit Ansalon. So the
Spelljammers of High Sorcery do their best to control the flow of ships by
restricting their visits to a single spaceport close to Palanthas (the city
that used to be called Bright Horizons).

***Sidebar: Travel to other Crystal Spheres***

Travel to other Crystal Spheres

Spelljammers of High Sorcery prefer to remain within Krynnspace, but there
are times when they need to go to other crystal spheres. Some of the
benefits that a Wizard of High Sorcerer receives come from their connection
to the moons of magic, some come from their organisation and some come from
their special training.

A wizard retains the item of power they are given when they pass their Test
of High Sorcery (although depending on what the actual item is, some of its
powers may be affected while it is in the Phlogiston or another crystal
sphere). Enhanced Specialisation is a skill so is retained outside
Krynnspace. Secrets of the Orders of High Sorcery are unaffected as they
don't require a connection to other planes.

All Moon Magic benefits and penalties are related to Krynn's moons so are
lost while within the Phlogiston or other crystal spheres. Outside their own
crystal sphere a Wizard of High Sorcery prepares and casts spells as if
their prestige class levels were ordinary wizard levels. Tower resources are
unavailable outside Krynnspace, so the benefits these give a Wizard of High
Sorcery are lost until they return to their home sphere. Arcane research
also suffers outside Krynnspace, although a wizard might find other Wizards
of High Sorcery in Greyspace or Realmspace and ask them to help them.

The Wizards of High Sorcery are able to use a process, similar to clerics,
to bring their religion to a new crystal sphere, but they can only do this
on a planet that is orbited by three moons. Each of these three moons must
be connected to one of the gods of magic, so there must be at least one
wizard of each order for the required rituals to be completed. If a crystal
sphere contains its own god of magic or if any of the moons are associated
with local gods the Wizards of High Sorcery may face a lot of local
opposition to this process.

***End of sidebar: Travel to other Crystal Spheres***

*Conclave of Spelljammers*

The Conclave of Spelljammers is an organisation set up to protect the
Foundations of Wizardry from threats from wildspace. It was set up shortly
after the Conclave of Wizards became aware of spelljamming and charged with
dealing with all off-world threats to the Orders of High Sorcery. Officially
the Conclave of Spelljammers is answerable to the Conclave of Wizards back
on Ansalon, a continent on Krynn, but as long as Krynn does not come under
threat the Conclave of Spelljammers is left to themselves.

The Conclave of Spelljammers enjoys its relative independence and has always
been very strict at ensuring that all Spelljammers of High Sorcery
understand that their first loyalty is to Krynn and the Conclave of Wizards.
In fact any wizard who disputes the rulings of the Conclave of Spelljammers
is entitled to make an appeal to the Conclave of Wizards back on Krynn.
However, there is no record of this right of appeal ever being used.

The Conclave of Spelljammers is modelled on its parent organisation. It has
exactly twenty one members with each of the three Orders of High Sorcery
having equal representation. Each faction picks one of their number to be
the spacefaring representative of their order. These three members are
called the Spellmaster of the White Robes, the Spellmaster of the Red Robes
and the Spellmaster of the Black Robes.

The Spelljammers of High Sorcery keep their existence secret from most
Wizards of High Sorcery. So most of those wizards know nothing about the
Conclave of Spelljammers. Only those wizards who travel into wildspace find
out about the Conclave of Spelljammers and even then they usually only find
out about it indirectly. The Conclave of Spelljammers has managed to limit
the number of spelljamming ports on Krynn and is therefore able to keep an
eye on the people travelling up into wildspace. Wizards of High Sorcery who
leave Krynn are quickly contacted by a spelljamming wizard from their own
order. In most cases the spelljamming wizard offers to act as a mentor to
the new wizard. While acting as a mentor the wizard from the Spelljammers of
High Sorcery is also assessing what their reason for going into wildspace
is. If they have travelled into space to escape the justice of the Conclave
of Wizards then they usually don't get very far.

(continued in next post)

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
http://www32.brinkster.com/virtualeclipse/