Ander

The Hollow Garden

Ander is a settlement formed inside a hollow asteroid. It is perhaps unique in that its sole inhabitants are not so much animal as they are plant. Ander is named after the progenitor of the native race, known locally as Andrians. The Hollow Garden has been established for 500 years, since the asteroid that houses it was discovered by Ander the First.

But first, a little history:

In the beginning, Ander was a refugee from a dying sphere. His home world, Ansech, was slowly dying as its sun grew dimmer and weaker. Ansech was, long ago, a land of laughter and song. The poets and bards of Ansech were known throughout the neighboring worlds for the ingenuity and inspiration of their songs. As the sun died, however, the songs and the laughter grew fewer. Ander's people cannot survive the dark; without light and water (Andrians require no food) they wither and die.

During Ansech's last days, a decision was made. The last wards of the songs of Ansech would go forth in the great ships that had once been used to float among the clouds that wreathed Ansech's highest peaks, thus to find other worlds and have children and learn to laugh and sing again. Ander was the last to leave, as his task was to tend to the gardens where the great ships and spires of Ansech were grown. Ander's ship was loaded down with the finest and the rarest plants from his garden.

On his lonely journey, Ander visited many worlds, though none he found as fine as his home. Always the sunshine was too hot, or the soil too hard or too dry. None of the worlds he visited could be a new home for his people, and soon he grew old.

One day, Ander saw what he thought was the light from Ansech's sun. When he went to investigate, he found that the light emanated not from a sun at all but from a tunnel into a perfectly spherical asteroid. When he investigated further, he found that the entire asteroid was hollow. The central chamber was three score miles in diameter, and the central shaft through which he had entered was large enough to admit four ships like his own at once. The entire inner surface of the sphere, Ander found, was lined with a most pure and fertile soil. Ander decided this must be the new home he had sought for so long, and that was where he built his home. In the fertile soil of the inner walls he planted those plants he had taken with him from his garden, and beneath the central shaft and the miniature sun he left his ship. Ander took the never-drying pool of pure water from his ship, and he placed that, too, beneath the miniature sun of his new home. In time Ander was many times a father, and a grandfather. His ship grew into a great tree beneath the nourishing sun.

In time Ander became too old to enjoy the songs and the laughter of his children and their children, and he became one with the soil that fed his beloved garden.

Or so the bards tell.

The modern Ander is both a flourishing garden and a home for poets and storytellers. Anyone visiting Ander today would be amazed at the variety of plants growing there. If nothing else, the Andrians can help any traveller in need by giving them fresh fruit and water. If they are in need of repairs, the Andrians are skilled at mending wooden ships or those of the elves. If that isn't enough, the Andrians could supply a complete new ship; the tree that grew from Ander's ship produces seeds regularly.

The Andrians ask nothing in return for their kindness, but they are always curious to know the stories behind their visitors. It is considered rude, in fact, to leave without relating your entire life's history. The chief occupation on Ander is the creation, learning, and recitation of new songs. PC bards or historians would soon find themselves very popular.

The chief storyteller of Ander is also the ruler. They are always at least a level 3 bard, and affix the honorary prefix 'Ander' to their names. It is customary for especially aged Andrians to leave Ander by spelljammers grown from the central tree; however, the Ander is forbidden to leave without choosing a successor. The current Ander, Marteth (Ander the Fourteenth), has only ruled for a short time. She took over after the last Ander, Anithi, left to journey among the stars. Marteth is at least a L10 bard; as an Andrian her statistics are identical to a human. The Ander is always the best writer of songs and stories; as such, Ander Marteth will be the first to meet any visitors and learn their tales. Ander Marteth is very friendly, and will help the PCs in any way she can.

Ander is not equipped with large weapons of any kind. However, in order to attack it one would have to enter the central shaft, putting oneself in a vulnerable position before Andrian archers.

Andrian ships are analagous to flitters.