Re: Faeriespace - Was: Fairyspace Expansion

In message <BAY135-DAV8B02181F3A793CA0320239AA40@???.gbl>
          David Shepheard <david_shepheard@???????.com> wrote:

> 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".

Oops.
> 
>> 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.

Traditional Faerie Lore, there is the 'Bright' or seelie court, and 
the 'Dark' or Unseelie court. Think not so much law court as royal 
court - there is a certain amount of social status among traditional 
faerie lore. There are 'Upper Court' and 'Lower Court' Sidhe 
(Fairies), Upper Court resemble D&D elves, lower court include pixies, 
brownies, leprechauns, etc.
> 
>> 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.

Actually, a good idea, with further thought I'm going away from my 
initial elemental world idea.
> 
> (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.)
> 
Also good ideas - noted.

One idea I've had since I wrote all this the description in 'Crystal 
Spheres' implies that the inhabitants don't just live on the planets, 
but on the tree itself - that is a huge amount of living space - this 
sphere could end up being one of the most populated known!

[snip obsolete idea]

> 
> 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.

Traditionally, fairies tended to be somewhat antagonistic of religion 
- ok, in 'real' faerie lore, they were actually antagonistic of the 
Christian church (which ties into an idea that they were 'faded' pagan 
deities). The old D&D supplement "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk" came up 
with a way of applying this sort of concept to the Mystaran cosmology.

My view of Aelivere is that he is not a god as they are traditionally 
thought of, he neither needs or desires worship, but he does have the 
sort of power level you would expect of a god.
> 
>> 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.

Most of the 'standard' D&D races are based upon (however loosely) 
mythological beings that were described as 'fay' - especially elves. 
Forgotten Realms deep history (at least, according to the chronology I 
found on Candlekeep) has a close relationship between the Fay and 
elves (IIRC, the fay introduced elves to Toril).
> 
> 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).

Interesting idea - it may be able to more than just this ;-)
> 

[snip - comments on races]

Ok, noted, and yes, I agree we need more variety - we have a whole 
sphere to populate!
> 
> 
>> 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.
> 
> ;-)

Not all evil elves are (or should be) drow - but if you really want 
them back, I'll revert the Mratzal - but I'm still have some evil, 
filed-teeth schemers somewhere here ;-)
> 

[snip ideas about drow] - interesting ideas.

> 
> 
>> 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.

Yup, I'm still thinking on those. Plus there is a whole lot of faerie 
lore as well.
> 

[snip]

> 
> 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.

One of the hazard of visiting a faerie mound ;-)
> 
> 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.

Or vice versa - I was thinking of having 'Faerie Lords & Ladies' who 
would have exceptional abilities that could be used as you describe.
> 
>> 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.

Granted - although, if they stay long enough, they may become fay.

Another idea, although I'm not sure where I'm going with this, is that 
the Great Tree could link to Yggdrasil, allowing access to some outer 
planes. Also, there may be a connection with the world of Garden in 
Realmspace?
> 
> 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.)

Yup, seen them both ;-).
> 

[snip - trying to make this post of reasonable size ;-)]

Good ideas/comments about my ideas.
> 
> 
>> 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.

I just could think of what to do with 'em when I wrote that.

> 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:
> 

[snip lots of very good ideas - well done!]

> 
> 
> 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.

Agree
> 
>> 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
>

Thanks, a lot of very good ideas there - I'm still kind of partial to 
my ideas about the various races - but I need to think thing through a 
bit.

-- 
Charles