Third Place Winner in the Unique Space Station Contest!
From time to time dwarves in space are forced to abandon their massive citadel vessels when they have been worked, shaped, and mined to exhaustion, and from the exterior Leasanar seems to be one of these abandoned, derelict citadels. Leasanar was a large 700 ton citadel when it was operating, but in the years since the dwarves abandoned it Leasanar has fallen into disrepair, and has become overgrown with lichens and mosses. The effect of this is that the citadel, which was originally carved in the likeness of a dwarven warrior wearing a great helm, is pockmarked, and resembles nothing so much as the decaying head of a fallen dwarf.
Curious explorers who might wish to investigate the asteroid will find that the vast majority of passages into the interior of the citadel are blocked by cave-ins, while those passages which are intact are virtually clogged by massive spider webs. Explorers who make it through these web-filled passages will find that the interior of the citadel is far different from how it was when the dwarves left. While the dwarves still inhabited the citadel they hollowed out the central portion of it into a huge vault, with a bridge of stone extending across the center of the vault at the level of the gravity plane. This bridge seems virtually unsupported, and looks as if it should crumble and collapse, but due to its placement (it essentially can ignore gravity since an equal portion of solid stone is on both the 'upper' and 'lower' side of the gravity plane... There's nowhere it can fall!), as well as cunning dwarven construction it is actually capable of supporting virtually any weight. At the exact center of the vault the dwarves had placed their huge forges and furnaces that operated night and day to power the citadel. The bridge across the vault expanded greatly at the center to accommodate both the upper and lower forge areas, and the flames from the forges (the forges were designed with chimneys carved in the likenesses of dwarven gods, and flames would spit out of their mouths in sequence as special valves opened and closed) illuminated and heated the grand vault. The dwellings of the dwarves were carved into the inner wall of the vault, so that all of them overlooked the great forges at the heart of the community. Each level of dwellings had a circular balcony of stone which went the entire way around the vault. Since each level was smaller than the level below it, these balconies had to be suspended from the level above, rather than supported from below. Since they were carved out of living rock this was achieved by leaving solid supports of stone, and by cleverly shaping the balconies themselves, so that they were buttressed to a certain degree from below. In cases where the stone had natural flaws that would not allow this degree of workmanship the dwarven high priest shaped it using a Stone Shape spell, but this was rare.
Today the vault inside Leasanar looks extremely different from how it looked when the dwarves still occupied it. The balconies on each level have been torn down, and the interior walls and ceiling (both ceilings actually...) of the vault have been reshaped by powerful magics, destroying most of the dwellings around the edges of the vault. In their place are now large stalactite-shaped protuberances hanging from the top (and bottom) of the vault. These stalactites are hollow, and contain dwellings and buildings with other purposes. Many of the stalactites are connected to each other by delecate-looking black iron bridges and catwalks, but others can only be accessed from passages outside the vault itself. When the dwarves left the forges were stripped out from the center of the vault, and the place of dominance which they used to hold is now filled by a building which is clearly a dark temple of some sort. This temple seems to be made out of a dark type of rock, but the rock is uneven in terms of color and texture, with some areas being pitch black and smooth, other areas being rough and the color of dried blood, and other areas being other similarly grim colors. The temple has sharp spires and protuberances which extend above and below the gravity plane, and it is heavily decorated with gargoyles, arachnids, and demons.
The only other location of note within Leasanar is a cavern which has been cleverly shaped from a natural fissure in the rock. This cavern was transformed by the dwarves into a docking bay, and at one point contained a special cradle which had been constructed to hold a galleon. This cavern is only barely large enough to accommodate a galleon, and cannot hold any ship which is greater in length, width, or height by more than about 5 feet. The bay is equipped with solid stone doors which open in the roof, cunningly balanced with counterweights so as to open and close quickly and smoothly. >From the exterior it looks as though the top of the helm carved from the asteroid opens. Today the hidden docking bay lacks the cradle to hold the galleon, and instead has a simple flat floor.
Leasanar began life as a simple asteroid, but was converted by dwarves of the Starhammer clan into a citadel ship. The Starhammer clan mined out the asteroid, producing many fine weapons, and other trade goods with the riches plucked from the interior. All dwarven ships eventually become 'worked out' as the dwarves mine all of the useful ores out from the asteroid, and shape all of the stone, until there is so little that can be done with what remains that the dwarves cannot supply enough creative force to power the forges that move the vessels. At this point the citadel is abandoned, the forges stripped out, and moved to a new suitable asteroid, where the process begins again. For this reason there are many 'finished' citadels which have been abandoned over the years and which drift aimlessly through space. Many of these become lairs for all sorts of monsters, and to a casual observer this seems to be exactly what has happened with Leasanar.
In this case, however, the Starhammer clan of dwarves did not leave their citadel willingly. One day about 60 years ago the dwarves were dismayed to find that a group of 8 workers had been brutally slain. An investigation was mounted, but before a day had passed two more groups of workers had been found, and another had gone missing. A state of emergency was declared, and all of the dwarves were rallied in the main vault deep inside the asteroid. Ahead count of those in the vault revealed that a further 18 dwarves were unaccounted for. The dwarves debated what to do, and finally decided to send out their best warriors in 4 heavily armed groups of no less than 20. These groups would systematically sweep through the halls of the citadel, and flush out whatever was killing their brethren. Before long it seemed that the plan had worked, as sounds of a fierce battle were heard. A great cheer went up from the dwarves gathered in the great vault, but their exuberance turned to dismay when the battered remnants of two of the teams of warriors fled back to the vault. The other teams returned to the vault, summoned by a pre-arranged signal of a horn blast. Of the 48 dwarves who had made contact with the enemy only 7 had survived to return to the vault, and 3 of these were badly wounded. These survivors spoke of being ambushed by multiple xorn coming out of the solid stone walls of the corridors. According to them they had managed to kill 3 of the creatures, but as many as 20 or 30 others had joined the battle, easily overwhelming the hapless dwarves. The dwarves, who now numbered less than 600, and a large number of their best warriors had been amongst the 94 who had been slain, including the heroes Gornal Thorgsson, Jeorg Wolfslayer, and the doughty Tinsmith brothers. Thane Dresh Starhammer, the patriarch of the clan, called the dwarves to order, and wisely ordered all of them to leave the solid stone bridge that they were assembled on, to float in the gravity plane which bisected the massive chamber at the heart of the citadel. He reasoned that this would keep them safe from the xorn, who could easily phase through solid stone. Unfortunately his advice came too late, and the xorn struck from within the bridge at the precise moment when the dwarves were attempting to leave it. The slaughter which ensued, as the surprised dwarves attempted to fight an enemy which could escape into solid stone, was nearly total. A few dwarves had been quick enough to escape the bridge, and the beleaguered Thane Starhammer called out to them to flee to the galleon that the clan kept as a shuttle, while the dwarves on the bridge kept the xorn busy. Some of the dwarves that were clear of the bridge refused to obey this order, but nearly 50 reached the walls of the vault, and fled through the stone corridors. The last that they heard from their Thane was an impassioned plea for the survivors to immortalize this moment in song so that the Starhammer clan would not be forgotten.
The survivors reached the clan's shuttle, and, with the help of a young acolyte of Reorx who was able to take the helm, lifted off just as 2 xorn emerged from the stone walls of the enclosed docking bay. The survivors just barely cleared the closing docking bay doors, only to find themselves facing a massive Jade Spider Commandship. The drow vessel made short work of the escaping dwarves. And so, in the space of a few short days, the Starhammer clan was wiped out. The drow, who had been behind the sudden appearance of the xorn, and who had controlled the creatures using powerful magics, banished the xorn who had not been killed by the dwarves, and moved in wholesale, plundering the riches the dwarves had left behind in the meantime. It seems the drow had been searching for a base of some sort in space which they could convert into a temple to Lloth, and they had been led to the Starhammer clan's home by an influential priestess named Jobloth, who claimed that she was being given visions by Lloth herself. Jobloth renamed the asteroid Leasanar, and the drow now had a forward base in space where their vessels could resupply and coordinate their actions. The interior vault of the asteroid was ideal for the purposes of the drow, and once the drow saw this for themselves, exactly the way Jobloth had described it, many of them started to believe that the priestess really was guided by Lloth. Special ores from the underdark were imported to build the central temple to Lloth, and so the asteroid is filled with the magical emanations which are essential to many of the powers of the drow. The forges that once powered the citadel were removed to make room for this temple, and they were sold to another clan of dwarves at exorbitant prices, through a bewildering array of 3rd party agents claiming to have salvaged them from a drifting citadel in the flow.
In the years since the initial capture of Leasanar the drow have remodeled her to seem to be entirely abandoned, and have slowly moved her into an asteroid belt near a major trade route (place this in whatever sphere you wish, I didn't have a specific sphere in mind when I designed Leasanar, but it should have higher than normal drow activity) where she can be anonymous. Leasanar is regularly resupplied by 2 Jade Spider vessels one of which arrives every 2 weeks. These ships land in the docking bay to unload. Even when neither of these supply ships are in the docking bay it is usually occupied by a Jade Spider since Leasanar has become quite popular amongst spacefaring drow. The massive Jade Spider Commandships are too large to fit in the docking bay, so the standard procedure when they arrive is for them to dock with Leasanar, transfer whatever personnel and supplies they wish to load or unload, and then move away to hide amongst the asteroids.
The primary function of Leasanr is to coordinate drow attacks against the Imperial Elven Navy, and against the Neogi, who the drow call 'the ugly.' Leasanar is funded by tithing 15% of the proceeds from these raids. All drow ships which come to Leasanar are expected to report all information on ship movements and other intelligence which they have gathered. A ship failing to do this, or a ships which provides false information will be attacked on sight by the station itself, and a reward will be posted for the destruction or capture of the offending drow vessel. This situation has only occured once, when a proud captain refused to share information. Her Jade Spider Commandship was boarded and captured. All of the crew that survived the attack were slowly tortured to death. Since then no drow captain has dared to defy the station, and as a result drow raids in the surrounding spheres have nearly doubled in effectiveness. Today most drow visit the station and share information freely, not because they are afraid of the consequences if they fail to do so, but because they have seen the great success enjoyed by those ships which coordinate with Leasanar.
Ostensibly Leasanar is a place where all drow can be free of infighting and politics, but this has not proven to be the case. Conflicts between individual drow, and between drow houses are extremely common on Leasanar, but they tend to be hidden deeper beneath the surface than in any other drow settlement because of the perceived holiness of the base. This should not be taken as meaning that the conflicts are any less serious and deadly than normal, if anything they are more deadly, but they tend to be much more subtle. The slaying of a drow on Leasanar for any reason is punishable by death, and so any assassination must be performed in such a manner as to seem to be an accident. The constable of the Leasanar guard, a male drow named Churste, is very good at detective work, and tends to discover the perpetrator of most assassinations in short order, whether the deaths seem to be accidents or not. Needless to say Churste does not turn in all of the assassins. If the assassin can meet his high price the death goes on the records as an accident (as long as some attempt was made to make it look like an accident; Churste's pride keeps him from covering up an assassination which is done with little class). Roughly 60% of the Leasanar guard is male, although most of the officers are females (with the notable exception of Churste).
The temple dominates life in Leasanar, which is not surprising when you consider that over half of the permanent residents are priestesses of Lloth (the clergy is entirely female). Each drow on the station is expected to attend at least one of the 3 daily services to the Dark Goddess, although there is no specific punishment for missing these services the priestesses have discretion to punish those who consistently miss them any way they see fit. One of the things that the station regularly imports are elven slaves. At any one time there are typically 4-12 elves being held captive, but they tend not to survive very long as they are used for weekly sacrifices. Everyone on the station, except for those on lookout duty, is expected to attend these sacrifices, and failure to do so is punishable by torture. Repeat offenses will result in the dark elf involved becoming the next sacrifice of the week. Whenever possible Neogi are also brought to the station for ritual sacrifice. The high priestess, currently Enantamar (Jobloth fell from favor and succumbed to an 'accident' some 8 years ago), is theoretically in command of all aspects of station life. In practice no high priestess can function without the support of the majority of the clergy, the constable of the guard (as mentioned above this position is currently held by Churste), and the high mage (currently a female drow named Zren). There is a circle of 8 senior priestesses under Enantamar who handle most of the day-to-day affairs of the clergy, including providing whatever services are necessary to coordinate visiting drow ships and resolving any disputes which cannot be settled by the guard.
The smallest group on the station is the college of wizardry. The wizards in the college number barely 30 (this doesn't count those few members of the guard or the clergy who are multi-classed wizards), but all of these are fairly accomplished mages who have focused entirely on magic (ie. they are all single classed wizards of no less than 3rd level). The wizards are made up of roughly even numbers of females and males, but females tend to be promoted over males into positions of influence regardless of magical skill. In fact magical skill has very little to do with the hierarchy of the college, and mages gain their positions through politics more than anything else. In the case of the high mage this is slightly different since it is unthinkable to have a less than highly skilled representative of the college (note this does NOT mean that the high mage is always the most skilled wizard on the station, but in practice there has never been a high mage of lower than 9th level). The role that the wizards play in station life is not as well defined or official as the roles of the guard or the clergy, but they have significant influence. Theoretically the wizards aid the priestesses in their coordination of drow efforts in space, and aid the guard in the defense of the station, but in practice they are mostly concerned with politics, and only help others where they can see some personal gain. The wizards find themselves involved in the politics of the clergy much more often than the guards do.
Leasanar's primary defense is its secrecy, since if its location became widely known the Neogi and the Imperial Elven Navy would both be clamouring to make a widescale assault on it. A large Spelljammer Detector (see War Captain's Companion, or the Encyclopeadia Magica) has been placed on the exterior of the asteroid, and disguised to appear as part of the shapes carved into the rock by the dwarves. The station has 8 Liason Helmets linked to this detector, and no fewer than 4 drow (members of the guard) will be using these helmets on lookout duty at any one time. This essentially means that no ship may come within 40 hexes of the station without being noticed, unless it is magically hidden in some way.
The station still has the original armament that the Starhammer dwarves installed, but the weapons emplacements are hidden by a combination of physical camoflage and hallucinatory terrain spells. These emplacements may all be reached from the interior of the asteroid using narrow tunnels which may easily be blocked by web spells, or wall of stone spells in an emergency. Each heavy and medium weapon has amongst its crew 1 drow with the appropriate weapon loader proficiency, and 1 drow with the appropriate large weapon proficiency. Each light weapon has amongst its crew 1 drow with the appropriate large weapon proficiency (but no weapon loader). Note that the crews for these weapons are taken from the Leasanar guard, and that there are no replacements for the crew with proficiencies. The weapons are always manned by only a single crewman unless a ship has been detected, in which case the rest of the crew rushes to the weapon emplacement. The armament on board consists of:
In addition to this the drow have added 4 small stone ships (10 tons each, AR:6, HP: 10) to the exterior. These ships are barely spaceworthy (MC: F), and were designed to blend into the exterior of the asteroid rather than to be functional. These ships are basically irregularly-shaped large splinters of rock (counts as piercing ram) which have a hollow area inside for the crew (crew: 1/10, may cram as many as 20 within the hollow area). The ship is unarmed and is designed to simply ram an enemy and then send out boarders. The ships do not have helms, but are equipped with simple chairs and Create Minor Helm scrolls (inspired by the recent discussions about the Create Helm spells, I figure even if the spells age the caster the drow who penned the scrolls wouldn't care too much about aging a year here or there). There is only one scroll per stone vessel. The drow who pilot these ships are multi-classed fighter/mages from the guard (2nd level). The effectiveness of these ships is questionable, as they were designed to serve as a last resort, and have never been used in combat.
The guard is the first line of defense for the station and consists of:
enlisted:
officers:
This gives a total of 281 guard members.
The 30 mages in the college are ranked in 5 different orders, with the 1st order being reserved for the high mage. The mages are as follows:
The 385 members of the clergy (all female) are too numerous to list in detail here, but the rank and file range in level from 3rd to 9th (most are relatively low levels, this includes several multi-classed priest/mages, and priest/fighters). The highest ranked clergy (the circle of eight and the high priestess) are as follows (note that I have not differentiated between standard clerics and specialty priests):
Characters (note that I use the optional slow-advancement rules, but since I don't actually know what the maximum levels are for drow, it becomes a bit of a moot point):
Entanamar (female drow level 15 high priestess) AL: CE HP: 52 THAC0: 12 AC: -2 (chain +4, ring of protection +2, DEX bonus) # Attacks: 1 Damage: 1D6+4 (mace +3) STR: 9 INT: 16 DEX: 15 CHA: 17 WIS: 18 CON: 8 Magic Items: Drow chain mail +4, drow mace +3, ring of protection +2, drow boots of elvenkind, cloak of the bat, rod of terror (all magic items may be found in the Encyclopedia Magica)
Enantamar was the sister and most trusted advisor of the late Jobloth. For years Enantamar loyally served her sister, knowing that Jobloth was favoured of Lloth. Once Leasanar was taken over Jobloth's future seemed secure, and with it the future of Enantamar. When Jobloth set up the command structure of the station she placed her sister in the council of the priestesses, and from the start Enantamar was essentially the highest amongst equals in that assembly. As the years passed Enantamar's influence (combined with some well-timed bribes and assasinations) assured that more and more influential drow became indebted to her. Likewise, as time went on more and more of the day-to-day running of the station fell into her hands, as Jobloth became more and more concerned with finding ways to stop the constant infighting amongst the drow, and get them to work together. It seems that Lloth became displeased with Jobloth's efforts, since they seemed to encourage the survival of weak 'unworthy' drow. During an important ritual Jobloth found herself unable to cast the spell required of her. Enantamar wasted little time in making her move, and before the day was out her sister had 'slipped' and plummeted to her death from the highest reaches of the great vault directly onto the spires of the temple. Churste, the constable of the guard, supported Enantamar, and so he ignored the fact that Jobloth had been dead at the time she allegedly slipped; killed by a virulent poison.
Enantamar is the epitome of the scheming opportunistic power-hungry drow priestess. She is willing to use any and all means necessary to fulfill her own desires. Enantamar has no qualms about betraying even her closest allies, but she is smart enough not to do so unless the benefits are clearly greater than anything the ally in question could get for her. As selfish as she is, Enantamar truely believes in the purpose of Leasanar, in other words she believes wholeheartedly in cooperation between drow. Her sister Jobloth envisioned a society where all drow lived in harmony at the expense of the other races, but Enantamar is nowhere near as idealistic as this. To Enantamar having drow working in harmony is only good so long as it serves her purposes, and increases her influence. The only person who Enantamar might consider a friend is Churste. Even this 'friendship' is little more than a respect for the constable, and a realisation that it is extremely unlikely that he will backstab her.
Churste (male drow 11th level fighter constable of the guard) AL: LE HP: 59 THAC0: 10 AC: -7 (chain +4, buckler shield +3, DEX bonus) # Attacks: 3/2 Damage: 1D8+3 (long sword +3), 1D6+2 (trident +1), 1D3 (hand crossbow) STR: 10 INT: 17 DEX: 18 CHA: 15 WIS: 16 CON: 10 Magic Items: drow chain mail +4, buckler shield +3, drow long sword +3, trident +1, potion of perception, potion of extra-healing, drow boots of elvenkind, drow cloak of elvenkind, ring of the ram (all magical items can be found in the Encyclopedia Magica)
Churste has been constable of the Leasanar guard for 12 years, which is 9 years longer than any of his predecessors ever held the position. Churste was born the 7th son of a minor noble house, and, with few enough opportunities available for him, was sent off to serve on a drow spelljammer before his 30th birthday. Churste spent years in space, working his way up from a simple boarding troop, eventually all the way to first mate on a Jade Spider Commandship. Churste's advancement was possible not so much because he was an excellent warrior (although he has always been very skilled at combat), but because he is intelligent enough to find his way around drow politics while making few enemies, and doing his job extremely efficiently at the same time. 15 years ago Churste's ship visited Leasanar. At the time Churste had decided that he could advance no further if he remained on board a spelljammer, and so he signed on with the Leasanar guard. He was first taken on as a lieutenant, but within 2 months he had been promoted to the rank of captain, and had quickly become the favorite of Jeinarque, the female drow who held the rank of constable at the time.
When Jeinarque was executed for allowing 4 elven slaves to die of malnutrition before they were due to be sacrificed, Churste was the natural choice to replace her. In the time that Churste has been constable open violence has dropped dramatically, and the guardsmen have increased their performance dramatically in drills and mock combats. Churste takes great pride in his work, but this does not mean that he is not corrupt enough to take bribes. Churste worked extensively with Entanamar before her rise to high priestess, and through him she enjoyed the support of the entire guard. Churste continues to support Entanamar, partially because he feels a degree of respect for her, and partially because he knows that she needs him at least as much as he needs her, and thus she is unlikely to betray him. Churste is very unusual for a drow in a position of power because very few of his underlings have aspirations to take his place. There is much jockeying for power amongst the officers of the guard, but the rank and file guardsmen are, for the most part, fiercely loyal to Churste, and so the officers know that they would not survive long if they were to assasinate Churste to assume his position. The truth of the matter is that Churste, having started at the very bottom of the ladder himself, relates more closely to the enlisted guardsmen than to the officers, and he spends most of his time amongst them.
