Spelljammer Spelljammer Confirmed (MAYBE, April Fools?)

[dave2008]

I would rather, the "crystal" spheres are what gravity looks like from the perspective of the shallow ethereal in outer space.

Ether is the element that all forces are made out of, including natural forces like gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces. When in outer space in the ethereal plane, one can see the gravity around each planet, and it looks like a blurry watery sphere, or crystal sphere. Similarly a galaxy has a gravitational field around it.

The edge of the crystal is diffuse, more like the halo around a candle flame, but nonluminous and more like blurry crystal.

Then maybe the Phlogiston is like the Ethreal jet stream that leads to different "crystal spheres."

EDIT: In googling how to spell Phlogiston I just learned that it is the name of an old, now debunked, theory of chemistry related to combustion. I had no idea!

 

[Yaarel]

Then maybe the Phlogiston is like the Ethreal jet stream that leads to different "crystal spheres."

EDIT: In googling how to spell Phlogiston I just learned that it is the name of an old, now debunked, theory of chemistry related to combustion. I had no idea!

We will see what "phlogiston" is in D&D 5e.

But based on earlier editions, it can easily be: phlogiston is an other name for the shallow ethereal that is inside the material plane, in contrast to the deep ethereal that has no connection to the material plane.

phlogiston = shallow ether

 

[Ath'kethin]

Then maybe the Phlogiston is like the Ethreal jet stream that leads to different "crystal spheres."

EDIT: In googling how to spell Phlogiston I just learned that it is the name of an old, now debunked, theory of chemistry related to combustion. I had no idea!

We will see what "phlogiston" is in D&D 5e.

But based on earlier editions, it can easily be: phlogiston is an other name for the shallow ethereal that is inside the material plane, in contrast to the deep ethereal that has no connection to the material plane.

phlogiston = shallow ether

The entire crystal sphere idea, along with phlogiston and wildspace, are derived from Ptolemaic ideas (that's some ancient Greek stuff).

I always loved Spelljammer partially because it just runs with the idea of "what if ancient ideas about physics were actually accurate?" and built from there.

 

[ersatzphil]

EDIT: In googling how to spell Phlogiston I just learned that it is the name of an old, now debunked, theory of chemistry related to combustion. I had no idea!

There were a ton of weird historical things I learned from D&D, including the Ptolemaic model of the cosmos and phlogiston theory. I vividly remember someone turning around in a SAT prep course many moons ago, and demanding to know how the #$@&% I knew what a "falchion" was.

 

[Nikosandros]

The idea that the Ptolemaic model is actually about physical spheres is a myth. The rotating spheres are a mathematical model. The sum of several circular motions as an approximation of a periodic motion. In modern Mathematics it is known as a Fourier expansion.

 

[overgeeked]

There were a ton of weird historical things I learned from D&D, including the Ptolemaic model of the cosmos and phlogiston theory. I vividly remember someone turning around in a SAT prep course many moons ago, and demanding to know how the #$@&% I knew what a "falchion" was.

Don’t forget the math, probabilities, and vocabulary thanks to Old High Gygaxian.

 

[Yaarel]

The entire crystal sphere idea, along with phlogiston and wildspace, are derived from Ptolemaic ideas (that's some ancient Greek stuff).

I always loved Spelljammer partially because it just runs with the idea of "what if ancient ideas about physics were actually accurate?" and built from there.

Of course, Spelljammer is nothing like Greek phlogiston anyway.

Greek phlogiston is more like the D&D fire element.

The crystal spheres actually are understood to be force, by the medieval period, in other words gravity. In some ways force is energetic like fire and in some ways it is wavelike and transparent like water, but they understood that force has no matter whatsoever.

 

[Parmandur]

EDIT: In googling how to spell Phlogiston I just learned that it is the name of an old, now debunked, theory of chemistry related to combustion. I had no idea!

Spelljammer is all about the trippy bringing back of debunked pseudoscience!

 

[Parmandur]

Nothing is confirmed until it is written on the page

EDIT: I do want to clarify to I am open to a reimagining of the crystal spheres, in the lines of what @SkidAce suggested. I just don't like the idea of a physical object.

Even once it's on a written page, it's malleable from WotC point of view. But for this, expect Perkins to stay faithful to the quirks, based on his personality and history of using precious edition material.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

What if the phlogiston is a "fusion" of material plane and the ethereal? Or other plane but by dark-matter and dark-energy (modern quantic physics) that become demi-material with special vibrations.

Could the phlogiston the perfect place to hide secret demiplanes? What can happens there? It sounds a boring space where you can't use fire.

What if a cosmic event altered the flowrivers within the phlogiston, stopping the inter-sphere trade travel, being the astral sea the new path?

What if the oortlings are the cause of a conflict between fraals (little gray aliens) and illithid? Let's imagine the fraals discover the potential genetic of the oortlings, and they are too valious to be only food for the mind-slayer, starting a wave of abduction/rescue. These become the parents of a new generation of transgenic hybrids, but also recoving the faith by their ancestors. You can bet oortlings deities to be really furious with illithid.

What about the aliens from "D&D Odissey: Tale of the Comet"(raels and kir overseers) and the module "where the chaos reigns" (oards), and the sheens, the constructs from Dragon Magazine #258?