Over the past few years we've often discussed on the list the pro and cons of Spelljammers in relation to groundling power structures. Specifically, we've discussed the degree to which an Spelljammer force could easily dominate a groundling power. While novels don't always help us much game-wise, we do have a specific instance, refered to in one of the Cloakmaster novels, where a spelljamming navy invaded and conquered a world. I'm refering to the Scro conquest of Spiral, refered to in The Maelstrom's Eye by Roger Moore.
I've always felt this invasion could be used to illustrate the ways in which a Spelljamming navy might conquer a planet. And, I was always curious about the story behind this conquest, which went extraordinarily well acording to the novel. And, of course, I've always felt General Vorr was one of the best villains ever portrayed in a TSR novel, and that he deserved better then what he got in Maelstrom's Eye. Since I don't like to revise history (kinda of a professional ethics thing (: ) I thought, hey, why not write some fan fiction relating the story of the fall of Spiral.
So, that's what I going to do.
A few comments. First, I'm a major fan of Tolkien, and draw a lot of inspiration from the Silmarillion. Many of the names (both elven and scro) I've chosen are drawn from his appendixes (especially the "Elements of Elven names" appendix). The title of my story, "Eledheluial" means Twilight of the Star Elves in "Quenya" or High Elven. On the other hand, I am not a linguistics scholar, per se, nor a professional Tolkien scholar, so I may make mistakes in the names at times. :)
Second, Spiral was barely sketched in the novel. Since I needed more then that to tell this story, I've fleshed it out quite a bit in another post, "Bralspace: Spiral [Expanded]". So the Eledhel, the elves of Spiral, are essentially my own creation though they are simply standard High Elves with few cultural quirks for uniqueness.
Finally, I've never written straight fiction before. That means the writing is likely to be atrocious. Please feel free to tell me when it sucks, as a grad student I'm used to harsh criticism. Conversely, there is no schedule on when the chapters will appear, I have other responsibilities which might on occasion slow the writing. So if a week or three goes by with nothing posted, that doesn't mean the story is ended.
Well, here goes....
