[URBIS] Other Worlds, Other Planets

[Jürgen Hubert]

I've always thought that other planets get the shaft in most fantasy worlds - except for Spelljammer, which tends to feel "tacked on" to the "standard" fantasy worlds. This is curious, because powerful wizards should be fully able to visit these distant worlds - and certainly there would be something out there exploring and exploiting!

With this in mind, I've decided to put in descriptions of the other planets in the same solar system of my campaign setting from the start. I've talked earlier about the kind of people who would visit these worlds. Here, then, is an excerpt about these planets themselves:

"The Worlds Beyond

Other planets can be seen circling in the night sky above. Sometimes, mighty archmages have visited them, bringing back tales of strange and fantastic places if they bother to tell about their exploits at all.
And sometimes, the inhabitants of these far-off worlds come to visit this one.


Magrith
A hot and wet world covered by dense jungles and deep oceans.
Known inhabitants of this planet include carrion crawlers, chuuls, digesters, ethereal filchers, ettercaps, fungi, othyughs, phantom fungi, purple worms, shambling mounds, spider eaters, stirges, and tendriculous.

Rothea
The homeworld of humanity and many other intelligent races besides. Its geography and people are detailed elsewhere. Its soliary moon, Uluth, appears lifeless to the naked eye, but explorers who braved its airless surface tell of creatures of elemental earth who have made their home there. Some tales tell of vast underground cavern complexes with thriving ecosystems, but these reports must be considered apocryphal at bet.
Also noteworthy are two large rocks with a length of approximately one hundred miles each that are located at the points where the gravitational pull of Rothea and Uluth cancel each other out. These are commonly called "Uluth's Herald" (or "the Herald") and "Uluth's Servant" (or "the Servant), and appear approximately four hours before (in the case of the Herald) or after (in the case of the Servant) Uluth in the sky. Some diviners have reported seeing structures on the surface of these moonlets, pointing to inhabitants, but the truth behind this remains a mystery.

Yethrod
A wet world with a dense atmosphere, Yethrod is perpetually shrouded in mist. Yethrod has almost no natural elevations like mountains that break through its dense cloudcover. Instead, it has massive plants that are many miles high and that have been dubbed "world trees" by explorers, whose upper surface reaches beyond the clouds and hungrily drinks all the surface it can get. Its massive seeds float as well, thanks to lighter-than-air gases that acumulate in its interior. The seed trails a long root behind it that reaches all the way to the ground. When that root finds a locale that is suitable as a base for the world tree, it fixes itself to the ground and grows until it becomes the massive trunk of an adult world tree.
Below its cloud cover, the atmosphere of Yethrod has a very low visibility. This has caused the animals of this planet to have underdeveloped visual organs - indeed, eyes are often entirely absent. On the other hand, they have a keenly developed sense of hearing, and most beings orientate themselves by sonar. Some beings have developed their sonar to such a strength that they can even rend flesh with it, and use it for hunting.
Know inhabitants of this planet include destrachans and yrthaks.

Surtus
A large, cool and dry world without any major bodies of water. Its wind-swept surface has a high content of iron, which gives the entire planet a rust-red color.
Known inhabitants of this planet include ankhegs, basilisks, behirs, bulettes, delvers, displacer beasts, frost worms, manticores, remorhazes, rust monsters, and umber hulks.

Calturus
The outermost planet in the solar system, Calturus presents a cold, airless surface to the observer. Its interior is still heated by volcanic activitiy, however, and all kinds of loathsome and slimy creatures thrive in the wet, subterranean cave systems.
Known inhabitants of this planet include aboleths, cloakers, darkmantles, gray renders, gricks, mind flayers, and ropers."

Any thoughts?

 

[Malachai_rose]

this is a good idea, I have always liked the idea of mixing a little cross genre stuff in ocassionally to throw the PC's a curve ball. Having other planets in your campaign seems like it would afford you the opurtunnity to have these things without resorting to alternate dimensions and such (though that can work as well). If you have any maps or detailed locations it would be cool if you posted them

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

this is a good idea, I have always liked the idea of mixing a little cross genre stuff in ocassionally to throw the PC's a curve ball. Having other planets in your campaign seems like it would afford you the opurtunnity to have these things without resorting to alternate dimensions and such (though that can work as well).

I have a few of those as well, but none are detailed yet (with one exception). Basically, the "higher planes" are clustered around a certain planet, and thus tend to be shaped by the beliefs and perceptions of that planet's inhabitants (or perhaps they shape the beliefs of the inhabitants...).

On the other hand, other planets are utterly alien environment. My inspiration for this was the Cthulhu Mythos universe, where seemingly every planet is inhabited by strange beings... Plus, it gives a good explanation for why all these strange critters like destrachans are around that don't really fit into a terrestrial environment.

If you have any maps or detailed locations it would be cool if you posted them

Unfortunately, you will have to wait for maps - my highest priority at the moment is detailing the main world (Rothea), and the main continent. The other planets are, for the moment, just a backdrop - I want to make the reader aware that they exist, and that Rothea's inhabitants are aware of them as well, without going into too much detail at the moment.

That said, take a look at the Astromantic Society, an organisation that tries to explore and study these worlds. And here are a few exerpts from my setting that have links to space exploration as well:

From the "Flannish Cities" section:

"Bodenwald (Metropolis, 1,837,284): In Bodenwald, the Astromantic Society was founded, and the city still serves as its headquarters. Thus, Bodenwald serves as the center of most activities involving the exploration and colonisation of other planets, and many people who hope to start over on a new world come here. The city has become rich by trading exotic goods and minerals from the colonies, and its zoological gardens, which feature many creatures from other worlds, attract many scholars."

From the "Star Mountains" section:

"This equatorial mountain range is named for the fact that the stars seem closer here. The moon and the planets often appear twice as large as usual, and the stellar constellations in the night sky shine much brighter than elsewhere. This isn't just a trick of the light - while traveling to other planets normally requires mighty magics (usually involving the support of a nexus tower), in this region a simple teleport spell will do. As a result, some scholars, mages, and explorers maintain bases here to support their exploration of other worlds - and beings from other worlds have colonies in or beneath these mountains."

Neubodenwald (Large Town, 34,572): This heavily defended town serves as a major way station for the Astromantic society. Many prospective off-world colonists spend some time here before being transported to their final destinations.
Sslush'tra (City, 123,276): The illithids who rule this subterranean city are known to experiment with the creation of new species - and the modification of old ones. They use the easy access to other planets in the Star Mountains to capture creatures from other worlds and use them as hosts for new mind flayers."

In other words, travel between the planets is something that is integrated into my setting, even if it is not a defining aspect (any more than space travel defines our modern world...).