The War of the Spheres was a conflict between the Free Space Alliance, which was a coalition composed of most spacefaring races of Realmspace, Greyspace, and Krynnspace, and the twelve crystal spheres under control of the Vodoni Empire.[4]
Location
The early stages of the war consisted of small incursions by vodoni ships into the three free crystal spheres as a prelude to invasion.[5] The late stages of the war were fought within Vodonispace, the crystal sphere containing the seat of emperor Vulkaaran and the main command center for the planned vodoni invasion.[3]
The command center of the Free Space Alliance was the Rock of Bral in the Tears of Selûne.[3][note 1]
History
Causes
Vulkaran rose to power when the sun of Vodonispace went nova. Having saved his civilization from the brink of extinction, he ruled the people with an iron fist and then set out in a path of conquest. With the aid of an army of artificially bred lycanthropes, Vulkaran imprisoned the original deities of the sphere and conquered an entire system of crystal spheres.[6] Having secured a system of twelve spheres, Vulkaran then set his eyes on three free spheres that did not possess a sizable presence in space and were barely aware of each other's existence: Realmspace, Krynnspace, and Greyspace.[7]
Relative position of the twelve spheres of the Vodoni Empire (black, gray) and the three spheres of the Free Space Alliance (white).
In the early days of the war, the armada Arrow of Justice, commanded by admiral Icarus of Realmspace,[8] had intercepted several vodoni attacks, but always too late to be of any help. In one such attempt, the ship intercepted a group of adventurers with valuable information on the vodoni. The Arrow of Justice promptly escorted them to the Rock of Bral to participate in the first meeting of the Free Space Alliance in order to assess the threat of a vodoni invasion.[9]
The meeting included representatives of all spacefaring races.[10] Delegates from Realmspace included Villiam D'Corson of Calimport and Ande D'Vis, leader of the Wildfire League, an organization of pyromaniac vigilantes that patrolled Realmspace.[11]
The adventurers and some of the delegates were then sent by Andru and the war commanders on a mission to scout the enemy's intentions and to attempt some diplomatic contact.[10]
Battle
The intelligence collected by the scout mission indicated that the Vodoni were preparing for a full-scale invasion of the three crystal spheres. The Alliance then launched a preemptive strike into Vodonispace in order to stop the invasion before it began. The attacking fleet soon lost its advantage when the neogi changed sides mid-battle.[12]
In the meantime, a strike team composed of the adventurers, then armed witth intelligence acquired from their previous scout mission, was dispatched to attack Vulkaran in his enormous spelljammer, in order to defeat him once and for all.[13]
Aftermath
With Vulkaran defeated and the vodoni deities freed from their captivity, the Vodoni Empire and the threat of invasion came to an end. The people across the twelve spheres were liberated from Vulkaran's reign of terror. However, vodoni breeders and enforcers still lurked elsewhere in space, waiting for an oportunity to strike again.[13]
Combatants
The Free Space Alliance was led by the Arrow of Justice.[14] Its forces included large contingents of humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes, as well as smaller numbers of mind flayers, beholders, lizardfolk, ogres, and, initially, neogi.[15]
In the late stages of the war, the neogi switched sides and turned against the Alliance.[15]
Appendix
Notes
- ↑ The Rock of Bral was originally designed to be placeable in any crystal sphere of the DMs choice, as stated on p. 94 of the Concordance of Arcane Space and p. 2 of Rock of Bral. However, it was then claimed to be one of the Tears of Selûne in both Faiths & Avatars and the Lands of Intrigue boxed set. On the other hand, the Spelljammer novel The Maelstrom's Eye depicts the Rock of Bral as being in the same crystal sphere as two other "worldlets", Spiral and Ironpiece. Fans of the Spelljammer campaign setting have given this sphere the unofficial names "Spiralspace" and "Bralspace", but author Roger E. Moore seems to have gone out of his way to never name the Rock's sphere, consistent with the original publications. Since Spiral and Ironpiece are only worldlets, it is within the realm of possibility for them to also be part of Realmspace, as is the Rock of Bral, leading to no conflict between The Maelstrom's Eye and the two FR sourcebooks.
Further indirect support for Spiral and Ironpiece being in Realmspace with the Rock of Bral comes from Moore's own article on the scro in Dragon Annual 1. On p. 46, Moore claims that the Second Unhuman War came to Realmspace in 1360 DR. The Maelstrom's Eye is set in 1361—or at the very latest early 1362 DR—and the former book describes the scro Tarantuala Fleet having already been in the sphere of Spiral for a whole year (p. 19). A second fleet returns to Realmspace's Garden in the sequel, The Radiant Dragon, too late for a date of 1360 DR, so Moore's dating of the Second Unhuman War may refer to the earlier fleet in The Maelstrom's Eye, if that fleet were indeed in Realmspace.
Later Spelljammer sourcebooks also add support to Realmspace being the canonical location of the Rock of Bral even for the "pure" Spelljammer setting. The adventure module Under the Dark Fist involves the PCs being picked up by an elven Armada named Arrow of Justice and taken to the Rock of Bral. Notably, the War Captain's Companion boxset states that Arrow of Justice is captained by Icarus, and he is said to work "strictly in the Realmspace crystal sphere."
Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), p. 3. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), p. 50. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chaps. 2–6. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.). ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chap. 1. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 21, 24, 28, 44. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), p. 2. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Dale "slade" Henson (March 1992). “War Captain's Guide”. In Jon Pickens ed. War Captain's Companion (TSR, Inc.), pp. 19–20. ISBN 1-56076-343-4.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 9–10. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chap. 2. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 56–57. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chap. 4. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chaps. 5, 6. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), chaps. 1, 4, 6. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Grant S. Boucher (1991). Under the Dark Fist. Edited by Jon Pickens. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 35–38. ISBN 0-56076-131-8.