Re: Planejammer

From: "Matt Hoffman" <manta928@?????.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 8:34 PM


> On Aug 25, 2007, at 11:11 AM, Steven wrote:
>
>> If you add in the fact the Arcane (as the MERCANE) are mentioned in  the
>> Manual of the Planes, iirc...it all ties up.
>
> I always thought that was a really dumb name. Unless you're talking  about 
> Arcane what have the bottom halves of fishes.
> Anyhow... just one more 3rd-edition "revision" that's perfectly fine  to 
> ignore as we strive to continue on with the Spelljammer setting  :-p

I thought that someone (BtM or Shattered Fractine) had explained the Mercane 
away as a Planewalking race related to the Arcane. So they would both be 
related races, like the three Gith races or the many elven subraces.

Whoever suggested it, I think it is a great idea, because the Arcane can 
market their products to spacefarers while the Mercane can market different 
products to planewalkers. The two races can acquire goods each other wants 
and exchange them in planejamming communities.

I think it would be fun to have an entire pantheon of Arcane/Mercane gods, 
all of whom are in charge of various aspects of commerce. Evil gods could 
encourage shady deals and confidence tricks, while good gods could encourage 
honest trading and subsidised prices for poor communities. Lawful gods could 
encourage accurate measurements of weights and measures and thorough 
accounting techniques, while chaotic gods could encourage wandering 
bard-like traders and the sale of random goods in "lucky dip" sealed boxes.

The religion of the Arcane/Mercane could literally state that everyone *can* 
buy their way into heaven. The trading activity of the Arcane could then 
give each individual Arcane kudos among his/her peers, with the most 
successful traders having the highest status in their communities. Arcane 
can even be forced to buy the right to marry the person they want (with 
higher status wives or husbands costing more cash) and a private education 
system can give the children of rich Arcane a much better start in life.

BTW: The Mercane are not the only relatives of the Arcane. There is another 
related race called the Michaelcane...

..but not a lot of people know that! ;-)

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/