Re: Faeriespace

From: "Charles Taylor" <nerik@?????????.?????.??.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: [SPELLJAMMER] Faeriespace


> Ideas coming thick and fast now - good ideas there!
>
> I think I should clarify what I mean by 'courts', as what I have in mind 
> is
> actually quite simple:
>
> Seelie/Bright Court = Upgood
> Unseelie/Dark Court = Vastdarken
>
> I think I'll just use the Crystal Sphere names in future to avoid
> confusion :-).

Upgood and Vastdarken work better for me, as they are in the canon material.

:-)

..of course, with those groupings being things that are not fully 
explained, I'm happy to see any sort of suggestion for how information comes 
from Upgood and Vastdarken to Armon. By all means include Seelie and 
Unseelie material in your suggestions, but if you can strip out the names 
and define them in terms of *this* crystal sphere, it will work a lot better 
for people who don't have your knowledge of mythology.

> Anyway, I now have a further request for ideas; there are 16 'suns' in
> Fairiespace - does anyone have any ideas as to names (and any other
> interesting features) for them?

If planets are turned into apples, then the suns would obviously need to be 
oranges!

;-)

(Or grapefruits, lemons or some other form of citrus fruit.)

Actually if the suns are fruits, then we could literally make the "Sun 
Seeds" seeds that come from suns that fall off of the tree. This could give 
the DM another adventure idea: visiting dead suns to cut out and collect the 
Sun Seeds.

Mind you, that also implies that the planet-apples could have Planet Seeds 
at their core. So if we used planet-windfalls, a DM could also send players 
to collect "Planet Seeds" from rotting worlds.

Maybe the Shrakma Tree could have asteroid sized fruit, nuts or berries on 
it, as well as apple-planets and orange-suns. Maybe some of the seeds from 
the Shrakma Tree could be the origin of *some* of the liveworlds in other 
crystal spheres.

I've got a mental picture of Faeriespace beholders travelling around in a 
hollowed out asteroid-sized hazelnut. Like other Faeriespace residents, they 
would be different to normal beholders. I'd keep them evil, but have them 
view themselves as the master-race in Faeriespace* working for "Aelivere the 
Queen of the Ultimates". "She" could appear to the beholders be a "hive 
grandmother"** (and perhaps be viewed as the "true" ancestor of their race). 
They would, of course, be attacked by any beholders who visit Faeriespace 
from other crystal spheres. Maybe they would assume that other beholders 
were all insane corruptions of their true form.

* = Actually, one way to use your idea of courts, would be to have each race 
see their role in Faeriespace as the most important role. We know that 
Aelivere can appear as any race, so that should reinforce everyone's idea 
that their race is the master-race. Even less powerful creatures like 
Kobolds could believe that *their* contribution to society is the only thing 
holding shrakma together.

** = Before you go off to look up a Hive Grandmother, I'd better save you 
some time and tell you that I just made it up.

:-)

> Finally, does anyone have/know of any artwork that would be suitable for
> showing the great tree and/or various world of Fairiespace which we could
> use? I recall finding a diagram of the sphere somewhere, but I cannot
> remember where, and my search-fu has failed me.

If we want this to go onto Beyond the Moons, it would probably be better to 
locate an artist who could draw a giant tree in a circle* with bright 
oranges and world sized apples. I'm not sure how you could convey the scale. 
Maybe it isn't actually possible to see all of the Shrakma Tree from one 
place. Maybe the drawing could be a simplified map.

* = That circle would be the crystal sphere wall. I believe that the roots 
of the tree should touch the bottom (nadir) of the sphere or that a "layer" 
of earth should cover the bottom of the sphere.

I remember some old postings where someone Loki had an artist that was 
willing to make artwork for Beyond the Moons and/or Planewalker. Is he/she 
still available?

"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/