SJ Organistions - Was: Renaming the Unhuman Wars

From: "Adam Miller" <night_druid3000@?????.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: [SPELLJAMMER] Renaming the Unhuman Wars

I've split this off as it has got fairly big and doesn't all relate to the 
Unhuman Wars any more.


> --- David Shepheard wrote:
>> As far as I know, the SJ timeline is not very well
>> developed.  I'm not sure if Paul has left out a lot
>> of unimportant events, but I get the distinct
>> feeling that very few human governments are actually
>> active in wildspace. At the moment, I can only think
>> of the Shou Lung and Netherese.
>
> Rock of Bral, Vodoni, & the royal house of Greatspace
> are the only three I can think of off-hand which have
> a powerful SJ presence, outside of Clusterspace.
> There are organizations, but none have a definate
> "home base" from which they originated.

Hmm, there is some information in The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook:
* The Celestians come from the Griff Mountains, on Oerth, in Greyspace.
* The Church of Ptah claims to have no headquarters.
* The Elven Imperial Fleet is commanded from Lionheart. (Which I believe 
that you or maybe Paul have down as moving around.)
* The Company of the Chalice has its HQ on Gondorin, in Herospace (although 
I don't think they started off there).
* The Pragmatic Order of Thought hasn't got an official HQ, but is active in 
The Free City of Greyhawk on Oerth. (I would guess that they keep this 
activity secret from groundlings.)
* The Trading Company is active on Bral and has isolated training bases on 
several worlds.
* The Smith's Coaster has its HQ in a dwarven citadel in The Grinder in 
Greyspace.
* Gasper Reclamations has its HQ in The Tears of Selune and is also active 
on Bral.
* The Sindiath Line has its HQ on part of Greela in Greyspace.
* The Chainmen have no central HQ, but are thought to have bases in the 
Grinder in Greyspace and Garden in Realmspace. (I can see them moving around 
as The Pragmatic Order of Thought chases them from world to world.)
* The Seekers have their HQ at Compendium, which might be a sphere or world. 
They deny or admit the existence of Compendium. (I'd say that Compendium 
would be hidden. It could be a dyson sphere or a hollow world.)
* The Xenos are said to have a base in an all-human "enclave" called Purity. 
(This is just asking to be boosted up to a unknown crystal sphere outside 
Known Space called Purityspace.)
* The Shapers have no central HQ. (They are basically a society within the 
Wizard School of Evocation, so it doesn't make sense for them to have a 
central HQ. Because The Shapers work against other schools of magic, I would 
imagine them clashing with the Wizards of High Sorcery in Krynnspace or the 
Red Wizards of Thay in Realmspace. I might even expect them to be a 
semi-secret society, rather like the Freemasons.)

We know that Clusterspace humans are trapped in their Hotel California 
sphere, so don't have to worry about them.

I think we need to have a few more human organisations, so might need to 
build some up.

I'd like to see The Grey Sword (from Greatspace - SJA Crystal Spheres page 
35), "recognised" as the local government of the asteroid belt (which I call 
"The Great Barrier") and have them swear fealty to Bruin Shambrath, or at 
least sign a peace treaty.

We *might* be able to infer points of origin for organisations like the 
Company of the Chalice or the Pragmatic Order of Thought, but if we can't 
I'd argue that we should make a best guess for each one and place them all 
in a location within Known Space. Maybe some of these organisations should 
originate from adventuring companies rather than individual governments. 
Their original membership could hail from different worlds of even different 
spheres.

I see Spelljammer's spacefaring society as being concentrated on asteroids, 
like the Rock of Bral, where ships that are unable to land can dock on the 
gravity plane. So I'd be happy for many of these human organisations to have 
their points of origin on places that are similar to Bral. They wouldn't 
need to remain in those places. They could just have met their for the first 
time.

(It might be useful to make sure that at least one asteroid belt (in a 
planetary orbit), at least one asteroid ring (in a lunar orbit around a 
planet) or at least one asteroid cluster (in a planetary or lunar orbit) is 
put into any of the fan-enhanced crystal spheres we put into Known Space.)

The Company of the Chalice is led by the Grand Knight, who is a paladin. I'd 
suggest that the original leader was a paladin. Considering that they need 
helmsmen and are a lawful good organisation, I think they should have a 
strong association with lawful good religions in many of the sphere's of 
Known Space.

The Knights of Krynnspace (Star Knights) are an organisation that can be 
useful to us. I think they would be obsessed with protection of their home 
sphere, but they are a natural extension of the Knights of Solamnia. To 
avoid "contamination" of Krynn, I like the idea that these knights can rule 
themselves and that their leader could do "what he thinks is in the best 
interest of Solamnia". They are very similar to the Company of the Chalice, 
so I think they would either replace them in Krynnspace or fight alongside 
them.

I think that the Company of the Chalice would have relationships with lots 
of other local knighthoods. If there are several organisations, like the 
Knights of Krynnspace, that defend smaller areas of Known Space, then 
perhaps the Company of the Chalice can defend against larger threats and act 
like a UN peacekeeping force. I can imagine them recruiting paladins, 
knights, warriors and clerics from one sphere and sending them to another 
sphere.

The Sentinels (SJR6 Greyspace) seem to be defending Greyspace. They seem 
very similar to the Company of the Chalice or the Pragmatic Order of 
Thought, so I think that they might be allied with or evolved from one of 
these two organisations. The POTs would probably be the best organisation to 
associate The Sentinels with as they could be a bunch of random POTs who 
turned one day and decided that the sphere needed their help.

Considering that The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook has the Pragmatic Order 
of Thought down as being active in Greyhawk, I think that I could be sold on 
The Sentinels being connected with them.

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