Re: Faeriespace - Was: Fairyspace Expansion

Sorry for the delay with this. I've been busy at work.

From: "Charles Taylor" <nerik@?????????.?????.??.uk>
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 1:12 PM
Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] Fairyspace Expansion

> As we've been 'fleshing out' two of the other spheres from Crystal
> Spheres,
> I thought I'd post my ideas concerning Fairyspace.

You have spelt the name of the sphere wrong. It should be "Faeriespace".

> Thoughts on the Planets
> -----------------------
>
> There are 8 planets (and 16 suns) in Fairyspace, divided equally between
> Upgood (The Seelie or 'Bright' court) and Vastdarken (The Unseelie
> or 'Dark' court).

Where does this idea of two courts come from? I couldn't find it in the the
original Crystal Spheres text. It sounds suspiciously like some form of
government and that would clash with the section about Aelivere (and
possibly the concept of shrakma).

I think you should stick with the original idea that there is no government.

> I've decided that each court gains one world of each
> elemental type, but substituting liveworlds for fire worlds (we have the
> 16
> suns for fire worlds, if we need any).

It is such a waste to take this weird tree-based-star-system and turn the
planets back into "normal" planets. I think they should *all* be liveworlds.
The worlds grow on the (unnamed) tree. I think they should all be gigantic
apples, or some other fruit. In fact, I think there is a case to be made
that the entire system (tree, planets and suns) is one liveworld.

(I'm going to give the tree a name, for the sake of this discussion. I'm 
going to call it the "Shrakma Tree". However, that isn't an official name, 
and someone else might come up with a better discussion.)

If you make the planets giant apples you can pick a different type of apple
as the basis for each planet and give each one surface features similar to
that type of apple. Lakes (or even seas) similar to cider could also add to
the uniqueness. Real apples sometimes have worms, so I think that their
could be giant underground worms*. This could create an unusual "underdark"
with long smooth tunnels.

(* = These could be the same size as the spice worms in Dune.)

> So we get:
>
> Upgood
> ------
>
> Genla - Air World
> Freemor - Earth World
> Agron - Live World
> Tiqua - Water World
>
> Vastdarken
> ----------
>
> Morath - Air World
> Krag - Earth World
> Beastra - Live World
> Mish - Water World

There are tons of apple varieties on this page:
http://www.applejournal.com/useall01.htm

They all have slightly different appearances and could be used as 
inspiration. You could even use the names of some apple varieties as names 
of towns and cities on the worlds.

> Inhabitants
> -----------
>
> Aelivere appears to be a local god-like power, and could be considered to
> be equivalent to Oberon, which begs the question, if he's Oberon, who's
> Titania?

Although Aelivere, seems to be god like (or at least avatar-like), the 
locals believe in "shrakma" - they do not worship gods. Even though Aelivere 
"invented" shrakma, I'd probably like to build on the idea and have local 
clerics, druids, paladins, rangers, blackguards and other divine 
spellcasters gain power from "the force of shrakma". The beauty of shrakma 
is that it can be both good and evil, so you can do whatever you want with 
it.

But divine servants who devote themselves to, and gain power from, shrakma, 
would give this crystal sphere a religious culture that was divorced from 
the usual racial pantheons. I personally think that helps separate these 
races from the same races elsewhere.

> All local creatures should be 'fairy' variants (for those using 3.x, they
> should all be of Type 'Fay'), many such beings will have illusion or
> charm-
> type magical abilities of some sort. No native creatures are ever affected
> by natural agin This includes the local demi-humans.

I don't think I like that particular suggestion. The canon material doesn't 
say that these are fairy races that look like other races. On top of that 
calling a creature an "elf", but making it something else, could be 
confusing.

Certain fairy creatures are able to charm other races, and I would prefer to 
view Aelivere as a fairy demi-god who has the ability to charm entire races 
into living under the principle of "shrakma".

I'd like the Crystal of the Moon to be some form of artifact that has the 
power to transform newcomers into "stepford wives" (or "stepford husbands"), 
although I'd like the process to be much much more gradual (with newcomers 
changing their opinions rather than being replaced by dopplegangers).

> Ggaarin Elves: Seelie sidhe, can become invisible, or disguise themselves
> by magic. Most live on Agron.

I would much prefer these to be conventional elves. In fact Ggarin elves are 
the elves that live in the forest of Kyanis. There could be several other 
types of elves (based on all the typical elf types) that live on the four 
planets of Upgood.

> Raczmar Gnomes: Similar to svifneblun, most live on (or in) Freemor or
> Agron.

Again the canon material says these are only found in Armon. So I'd suggest 
putting good gnome variants on all the worlds of Upgood (and perhaps evil 
gnomes on the worlds of Vastdarken).

> Dulan Dwarves: Most live in Freemor.

These are not a Dulan race - they are a Dulan clan. So should be restricted 
to the area that a single dwarven kingdom would normally occupy. I'd put 
many other clans on the worlds of Upgood.

The dwarves mine an "almost endless supply of precious metals and stones". I 
would suggest that this supply should be built into the sphere-sized-tree. 
If the sap of the Shrakma Tree contained all sorts of minerals it could form 
layers of gems or precious metals.

> Mratzal Elves: Unseeli sidhe, _not_ drow, they resemble Ggaaarin, but many
> file their teeth into points. Most live on Beastra.

Huh? You stole my drow! I want them back.

;-)

Actually, I think you are missing out on a trick here. Faeriespace isn't 
just a place for PCs to visit. It is also a place that a DM can use as the 
home of PCs.

The Mratzal Drow are a special race, because the believe in shrakma and are 
therefore not chained to Lolth and all the stuff that goes with her. I think 
this would allow DMs to create spacefaring NPC drow who are not part of some 
sort of multi-sphere anti-elf movement. They can just be evil because they 
think that is the correct choice for getting by in the universe.

I like the fact that the females are not dominant and that powerful males 
don't get zapped by Lolth.

I think that sort of thing has a lot more potential for re-use elsewhere 
than a faerie race that will be tied into this single sphere.

But back to the point, I think that Mratzal would be a single type of drow, 
and I'd be tempted to make as many drow variants as elf variants. I think 
someone made a product with aquatic drow and all sorts of other drow and I 
think that would fit in well across the worlds of Vastdarken.

> Wellow Goblins: Most have some form of magical abilities, usually live on
> Beastra or Krag.

I would want to put goblin kingdoms on the planets of Vastdarken and have 
them fight the other evil races for territory.

There are a lot of races in the description, that you have ommitted. I'd 
like each race to either have its own territory or to live among other 
races.

> Local Conditions
> ----------------
>
> Time and Space are 'changeable', a visitor could spend a day here to find
> that years have passed in other spheres, or could spend years here to find
> that a day has passed outside. Local distances are subject to change
> without notice, and the more powerful denziens can use this to
> take 'shortcuts' around the sphere (at times outrunning even spelljamming
> vessels).

I'm sorry, but I don't like the time changing effects at all. They are far 
too disruptive. If I jump a campaign forward 100 years I'd have to create a 
new Krynn a new Toril a new Oerth, etc, etc, etc.

I'd be open to other faerie effects (like evil creatures getting caught up 
in an irrisistable dance if they try to invade Upgood). But I'd like to tie 
anything like that into actual Fey creatures. I'd like them as a group to be 
more powerful than the non-Fey races.

> Another feature is the 'Fairy Roads' these appear to be portals linking
> Fairyspace to many other worlds (like Toril and Oerth). It is possible
> that
> these were more common in the past, and were more frequently used.

While this is a good way to link this sphere to other spheres, it would 
imply that you would get non-Fey creatures in Faeriespace.

As I don't want all of the races here to be fey creatures, I'd be happy for 
the non-fey creatures to be immigrants. I'll expand this below.

> Ships of Fairyspace
> -------------------
>
> Where the locals use ships (usually for fun) they tend to use ships that
> mimic living creatures (such as the various bird-ships and the elven
> butterfly ships).

One good reason to use ships, would be for people on Upgood and Vastdarken 
to communicate with The One King. I'll make more comments on ships below.

> Organisations
> -------------
>
> The IEN try to maintain a presence, but have a problem that their crews
> tend to 'go native' after a few decades (or weeks, depending upon your
> point of view) of service.

If elves "go native" then that would imply that there were non-fey elves 
(i.e. proper elves) in the sphere. I'd prefer to have things that way. In 
fact, I'd like the elves to be "charmed" by the principle of "shrakma" and 
to decide that their previous mission was not important.

Putting the time-distortion effects to one side, I'd like the existing elves 
of Faeriespace to help charm newcomers. I'd like them to be so sure that 
"shrakma" is better than the elven culture elsewhere that they act a little 
bit like a religious cult.

I don't know if you have seen the episode of Star Trek where Spock becomes a 
hippy, or the film where his brother brainwashes everyone into going to 
visit "god", but I'm thinking of local elves that are that zelious about 
"shrakma". (And I'd make similar sorts of suggestions for all the other 
races.)

You mentioned elven butterfly ships, and I'd actually make all of these 
ships originate from other crystal spheres. I would have a pilot of an elven 
flitter fall in love with a local elf, get married and abandon his flitter 
until some demand of "shrakma" caused him to need to take an important 
message to another part of Faeriespace.

I'd do the same thing for all the other hull types. I'd have them all be 
ships that came from somewhere else, landed and then were abandoned.

Having an entire crew of a large ship "go native" at the same time, isn't 
realistic, so for larger ships, I'd have one or two crewmen jump ship after 
a period of time. A captain (or another officer if the captain has gone 
native) could decide to leave the sphere if he got worried about missing 
crew. This would make smaller ships more common in the crystal sphere.

Having too many ships go missing, would also cause problems, so I'd give 
visitors a period of grace before any charm effects started to kick in. If 
you tie this charm effect into the Crystal of the Moon and make it easy to 
resist, but add a +1 to the saving throw target every month you could create 
something that usually takes at least several months to kick in.

> The Seekers have established a research base here, (which causes some
> headaches).

I don't see headaches if they eventually go native (in their own way). I'd 
have them slowly become more and more obsessed with studying local things 
(so that they became less and less likely to want to leave). I'd also have 
them find more and more things that their idea of truth and the principle of 
shrakma have in common (this would be because each race and perhaps each 
person could have their own personal shrakma concept that fits in exactly 
with their morals and culture).

> The Pragmatic Order of Thought have also established a base and 'safe
> house' somewhere in the sphere.

If the POTS came to Faeriespace, I'd have them get hooked up with the 
locals. The POTS appeal to chaotic loners and I'd have natives with slightly 
different personal views of shrakma (that differ from most of their race) be 
attracted to members of the POTS.

I'd have these non-typical natives wander around the various planets of 
Upgood and Vastdarken. (I'd even have a few good creatures go bad and a few 
evil creatures go good.) These creatures could still be obsessed by shrakma, 
but could have their own personal interpretation that they are convinced is 
the correct one. They could even see their entire race as somehow wrong. A 
non-typical native gnome, or a good local drow, could meet up with one of 
the POTS and talk to them about evil things within Faeriespace that need 
fixing.

If the POTS got hooked into this sort of logic they could spend their entire 
lives stopping the evil races of Vastdarken from attacking the planets of 
Upgood.

> Most other organisations have no or littele presence in this sphere.

No presence? I say bring 'em on. But have each one assimilated over time. 
Write the organisations you don't want to use into Faeriespace's past and 
have them as organisations that have been totally absorbed. For example:

I'd have the Company of the Challice represented by a hereditary Grand 
Knight who doesn't even know where the title comes from.

I'd have converted Tenth Pit infiltrators become so obsessed with 
controlling the population of Faeriespace, that they organise the occasional 
attempted invasions from Vastdarken to Upgood (not understanding that 
shrakma demands their actions). I'd have the name lost in time or distorted 
into something like "Tensit".

I'd have members of The Trading Company slowly come to realise that there 
are riches that money alone can not buy. I'd have them fight for or against 
the forces of Vastdarken in exchange for land and titles. I'd have them get 
more and more involved in local culture and have local husbands and wives 
and children who have no desire to leave the land "won" by their parents. In 
fact the children could be less obsessed with keeping the land and newer 
visitors from The Trading Company could  take over land that had been taken 
over several times before. Giant fortresses could be built, only to fall 
into ruin a hundred years later.

I wouldn't trap many of the trading companies, as they have little reason to 
stay in the sphere. But The Chainmen could become a bit of a problem. I 
might have an evil race that is associated with slavery suck in members of 
The Chainmen and tempt them into setting up "the ultimate slavery 
organisation". This could easily become a plan that takes an entire lifetime 
to impliment. (Some level of slavery can be a natural part of shrakma, 
countering out the freedom on the worlds of Upgood.)

The Xenos are easy to deal with as they would vanish into the human 
population of Vastdarken and turn into a local branch of humanity that 
plotted against other Vastdarken races. (Shrakma can benifit from some 
conflict between the evil races.)

I'm sure you could do similar things to all the organisations that are not 
closely tied in with specific crystal spheres.

> Adventure Ideas
> ---------------
>
> Either of the three orgainsations above lose contact with one of their
> Fairyspace assets, and send the PCs to investigate (maybe the lost base is
> just 'timeslipped'... or not).

The plot from Crystal Spheres would be my preferred introduction to 
Faeriespace.

> Sun Seeds (from Crystal Spheres) are /incredibly/ powerful items, maybe
> the
> PCs find that they need some more, in which case, what /other/ 'little
> jobs' is Aelivere going to find the PCs to do as payment ;-).

I'd suggest making lots of other special materials that can only be found in 
Faeriespace. This would allow the PCs to negotiate with any of the local 
factions.

But if you want them to go to Aelivere and buy more Sun Seeds, then I'd 
probably try to think of creatures or NPCs that are beyond the influence of 
shrakma. Good PCs probably wouldn't fight good NPCs, but they could be sent 
to attack a group of evil clerics, who are trying to build a temple.

You could probably also send the PCs to fight pirates and other dangerous 
new invaders.

"Pay no attention to the kender behind the curtain."
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/