Campaign of the Month: April 2011
Planejammer: The Spelljoined
The Prime Material Plane - Phlogiston
Phlogiston Traits
The phlogiston is coterminous to both the crystal shells and wildspace but not to the Material Plane. And does not touch the Material Plane. Thus, one has to move from the phlogiston through the crystal shell to wildspace first then to the Material Plane on a spelljammer. The phlogiston is coexistent with the Ethereal Plane but does not touch the Plane of Shadow. The phlogiston doesn’t have an atmosphere of any kind and is a perfect vacuum.
The phlogiston has the following planar traits:
- Objective Directional Gravity
- Standard and Flowing Time: While engulfed in the ‘rivers’ of the flow, time passes more quickly (2 hours = 5 hours). Otherwise, time is standard in the flow.
- Infinite Size
- Alterable Morphic
- No Elemental or Energy Traits
- Mildly Neutral Aligned
Enhanced Magic: Any divine or arcane spell with the fire descriptor is considered maximized and empowered on this plane. Most knowledgeable travelers know better than to cast such spells in the flow.
The Phlogiston isn’t known for its sights but there are few places worth mentioning. Some of these locations and phenomenon are considered little more than rumors by skeptics and nay-sayers.
Astromundi Cluster: This fabled sphere, also referred to as the Shattered Sphere and Clusterspace, is said not contain any planets but only countless asteroids orbiting endlessly around the sphere’s sun. More startling than this is that it is said that it is inhabited. Can you find this lone crystal sphere drifting through the Phlogiston? Can you find it and more importantly, can you live long enough to escape it?
Destroyed Crystal Shells: This is something that was never meant to happen. A Crystal Shell that has been shattered, allowing the ether and radiance of the phlogiston to mix with the blackness of wildspace. Such a destroyed sphere would be hard to miss as the countless, relentless undead of the sphere’s dead worlds come screaming forth into the flow seeking to undo life wherever they find it.
Massive ether tornadoes rip across the inner bowels of the shattered sphere. The sphere’s collapsed sun sucking in the ether of the flow, as a radiant black hole – beautiful and deadly. The planets broken and lifeless – massive asteroids and meteors near the sphere’s edge, some slipping into the depths of the collapsed sun, while others drift off into the rainbow void as oddities of a disaster not even the gods would dare speak of. These are the legends told by the inhabitants of the phlogiston.
The Etherdeep: Spelljamming sailors whisper of a tale told in the ports of call from one end of spheres to the other. They whisper of a place deep beneath the Ether rivers of the flow called the Etherdeep. Is said that if you take your spelljammer deep enough the ether becomes so thick in places that time speeds up so much that you go backwards in time rather than forward. Spelljamming captains with too much bravado have been lost in time in this place or so the story goes.
And all manners of strange creatures are said to exist in the etherdeep. Flow morkoth, kopru and worse. It is said that if you travel far enough you come out on the other side of the plane in some bizarre alternate reality where beholders and the neogi rule. Others say that on the other side of etherdeep are the home spheres of the arcane. Finding out could be a death sentence, as the etherdeep is said to be able to strip away years off your life.
Ether Shift: Some of the oldest elven captains talk of a place on the plane where everything reverses called Ether Shift. The ether rivers of the lower half twist upward into the ether sky, which quickly becomes clogged with the dense ether rivers while the lower half opens into a thinner ether sky, giving the perspective of being upside down to those use to the natural order of the plane – relative to the known spheres. Of course, most people think these old elven captains might want to consider drinking less elven wine.
Flowfalls: Some travelers have reported seeing huge multicolored waterfalls that seem to flow up, relative to the observer, into the upper half of the plane stretching into the distance and out of sight. It is also rumored that a single solitary sphere drifts within the flowfalls near the edge of the falls, balanced precariously on the edge.
The Lost Dead God: Some spelljamming captains swear they have seen the massive remains of what is obviously a dead god, floating through the phlogiston. Sages believe that, if it exists, the god was brought to the Phlogiston by its faithful followers in hopes of reviving the dead god. These followers are gone now but the lost dead god remains. Were these captains blinded by the radiance of the flow or does this lost deity exist? And they swear they saw the god stirring.
Radiant Triangle: These three spheres are no legend. They are the spheres of Realmspace, Krynnspace, and Greyspace. They form a stable triangle in the chaotic drift of the Phlogiston. Travel is possible in both directions between Realmspace and Greyspace, and between Greyspace and Krynnspace. However, an ether river does not connect Realmspace and Krynnspace, so while a direct trip from one to the other is possible, it is very slow.