Spelljammer’s Steamspace – Desert Winds

Steamspace

A fascinating cluster of worlds unlike any other.  There is one true world within steamspace, an incredible Gas Giant that bounced between several sun-like star shapes.  Orbiting the giant are many moons which foster life, while acting as a means of sampling the greater world for the benefit of the denizens below.  This charter details the various inhabitants upon each of the moons.  The Known Moons of the Gaseous Body, a cosmic cradle that harbors a bubbling and steaming watery world below known as “Steam Titan”, are as follows: Bashar, Destiny Expanse, Victoriana, Noire, Metallum and maybe even more.  Splinter from the Iron Coil Gnome crew became a vital part in the infrastructure and well being of the moons themselves.  While the company presence in the Crystal Sphere fizzled as fleets of Minoi entered roughly ten years ago, they left behind means of survival on otherwise hostile worlds.  Enter moons built on extremes and oddities.  Behold a fantastic gas giant that tethers all of them together, the very source of wondrous power here.  But for today, let us look at the first two moons.

Author’s Note: Remember my Weird Western?  Al’Bashar?  Bits on Space Victorian British?  Blatant Stephen King rip-offs?  Well, it’s all part of the same world cluster!  Also, expect a handful of homages to bits of pulp, sci-fi and then some.  In fairness, this is the kind of insane crack I’d come up with when I did more with 2E AD&D.  In short, mixing Spelljammer with Masque of the Red Death Ravenloft and Gamma World 4th Edition mechanics together would make something like this.

Alza’um, Land of High Artifice Part 2. Alza’um City

Welcome. Please, step into the elevator chamber at the end of the hallway.

Alza’um, the true city beneath the smoke and mirrors. Life is far more controlled than in the port city of mysteries and merchants. However, that doesn’t make life any easier. Only the lucky and the blessed get their way in, without tricky maneuvering. Stowaways and thieves don’t make out too well. For those who make it? It’s a long way down the ladder and back up. Life in the city is a climb towards excellence. Of course, too many refuse to let others into their station.

In the beginning, a large caravan of outcasts, tinkerers, mages and artificers came together with a common goal.  They wished to craft and hone their abilities in peace, trading and sharing knowledge within their enclave.  For a while, it was a place of common ground and unity.  Racial differences of these sages and inventors mattered little, but rather their devotion to their creations and the quality of their work.  An ideal lead to a city, which fled underground after conflict with the outside world.  This racial harmony ideal lasted… until the denizens of the darkness below found themselves in inevitable conflict with the city dwellers.

Author’s Note: Part 2 continues with the namesake city! In addition, I might make some extra crunch bits soon too. Needless to say, I’m having tons of fun with this.