Welcome to Tyrspace, a small and wild crystal shell in the inner flow of the Maelstrom. Few charts mark its location, as few travelers visit it. The sphere's odd worlds served, centuries ago, as testing grounds for the ancient Raer Empire. Many monsters and hybrid races were born on the strange worlds of Tyrspace. Warlike and brutal, their Raer masters forced their spawn to battle each other to the death in countless "tests," and inevitably, for sport. Because of these bloody battles, the more intelligent creatures came to call their home the "Place of Tears" or "Tear Space" to their cruel Raer masters. In modern times, the name has been corrupted to Tyrspace, but the meaning remains to the decedents of those that fought and died here so long ago.
The sphere of Tyrspace has a central, green sun orbited by five worlds. The primary is known as Wink, as it varies in brightness from day to day, seeming to "wink" in space. The first world out is Thaoul, an air world with an explosive and extremely poisonous atmosphere at its core. Its clouds hide many ruins from an bygone era. Though the air world is deadly, it's moons are center to an extensive spelljamming culture. Beyond Thaoul lies Torrent, a large and stormy watery world with countless tiny islands and endless abyssal plains. Ancient creatures of the deep call Torrent home. Traveling out from Torrent, one encounters Rizzen, a fairly standard earth world. After centuries of recovery, Rawoe has wildlife has adapted to its many new and strange creatures created by Raer life- shaper mages. Orbiting Wink beyond Rawoe is the Copper Nebula, the largest world in the sphere. A vast nebula in space, where this world begins and space ends is not clear, and it's true size cannot be easily determined. The final world in Tyrspace is Argon's World, a small disc world. A volcanic world, Argon was settled by space explorers a century ago to exploit the many resources the world has to offer.
The stars of this sphere are quite unusual The sphere wall is inhabited by tens of thousands of gigantic crystalline dragons. Each of these massive star dragons is over a hundred miles long and glows with a great light of it's own. However, the dragons move so slowly that many mistake them for massive and impressive statues. It takes a dragon a century to move even a few miles from its position. When the dragons meet, they engage each other in fierce battles that may take a dozen decades to conclude. When one of these dragons is slain by another, it explodes in a great flash of light that remains visible everywhere in the sphere for a year at a time. While these creatures are completely immune to any attack by mortals, it is quite easy to avoid them. They are so bright that anyone that approaches within 5 miles of them risks blindness from the light.
The sphere is protected by a powerful navy of several dozen military ships owned by many different races. United in a common cause, the Tyrspace Defense Fleet is responsible for hunting down pirates and keeping the trade lanes safe for traders. The Defense Fleet came together several centuries ago when the goblins threatened the sphere with constant raids and piracy of merchant ships. The natives put together a fleet to deal with the goblins, and in doing so, made eternal friends and allies with the Elvish Navy, who maintains a minor fleet here for diplomatic purposes. So close are the two navies that the Elves have invited a diplomat to dwell on Lionheart, making trade and military treaties. All elvish vessels, barring those owned by the drow, are welcome in the space ports of this sphere.
What is at the center of Thaoul? A wealthy sage wants to find out, and he hires the party to do just that. For a princely sum of 250,000 gp, the sage wants the characters to take their ship down into the depths of Thaoul and discover what lies at the heart of the air world. The trip is extremely dangerous, testing the wits and cunning of any character. They must be on constant guard against the many monsters of Thaoul, and use powerful magic to bypass or survive the lower levels. Then they must endure a long and dangerous bubble-ride to the storms below, where they must dodge lightning and fireballs that could destroy their ship any second. Finally, if they survive all that, they finally encounter the vortex. Where does it lead? Oblivion? An alternate universe? The hiding place of the Elder Gods? Even if they survive all that, they must make the trip all over again, passing through the many dangerous layers of Thaoul once more to escape, finish this deadly journey and collect their reward.
A rich merchant in another sphere established a hunting colony on Thaoul, but all contact was lost a month after it was established. The merchant has hired the characters to travel to Tyrspace and discover the fate of the colony. If possible, they are to bring back any and all beetle bodies they can find.
When the party arrives, they find a dead colony. The bodies of the hunters have all been stripped by hunters, leaving only their bones. Unfortunately, the violent nature of their deaths has caused them to rise again as undead, seeking revenge against all living creatures. Worse, the merchant neglected to inform the characters that a stone golem was also sent with the hunters to protect them from centaur attack. The golem is still active, ignoring the undead but will attack any living creature. The wizard who once controlled the golem is dead, and it has gone wild. Once the characters have slain the out of control golem and the undead, they do not find any beetles unless they search the golem. When the hunters thought all was lost, they hid more than fifty beetle bodies in a special cavity inside the golem. Unfortunately, problems for the characters don't end there. Shipping sapphire beetles out of the sphere without a license is illegal, and if they are caught by port authorities, the characters could get arrested. They will have a difficult time smuggling the beetles out of the sphere and into the hands of their patron merchant.
The unthinkable has happened: the sahaugin have started attacking and sinking spelljammers. So far, three traders have been lost along the coast of Aeonia, and two more have been attacked and damaged. The deadly war is escalating, and the centaur traders desperately want to end the threat before Torrent becomes too dangerous to trade with. The adventurers can become involved in the war in a variety of ways. They could be hired by the merchants to explore below the surface and reclaim lost goods, at the same time slaying any sahaugin they encounter. Later assignments, assuming the party suitably impress the merchants, could include punitive raids, defending coastal settlements, or even using a low-flying spelljammer to ambush sahaugin raiders.
Alternately, the party could be visiting a port in Aeonia when the sahaugin attack and sink their ship. The party must then recover their helm and extract satisfaction from the fish folk, possibly drawing them into a bloody battle. Daring adventurers may even attempt to end the war by assassinating kings of nearby cities, plunging them into civil war as various princes battle for leadership. Adventurers who impress the locals may even be able to count on the support of a friendly amethyst dragon or two, perhaps acting as a distraction to allow the adventurers to penetrate sahaugin defenses and put the king to the sword.
A fairly low-combat scenario, the adventurers become involved with a centaur noble's desires to establish a shipyard on Torrent. Poor adventurers could be hired to help survey possible site and help protect it from attack while ricer adventurers could become investors or partial owners. They might be needed to fend off attempts by other shipyard owners to sabotage the port or scare off investors.
Later, the party could help out in the actual building of the place, finding and hiring expert craftsmen, securing needed resources, and planning the layout of the place. Once the port has been built, partial owners can expect part of the profits, reward for their investment and hard work.
One of the many kings of Tyrspace has lost several merchant vessels to the pirates of the Copper Nebula. To combat this problem, he has issued numerous letters of marquee. The players are buy one of these letters and join the hunt for these pirates. Unfortunately, they soon learn that these pirates are far better equipped than other such groups of their size, making use of strange and powerful magical items. All of these items, when captured, radiate magic and evil strongly, and using them carries a deadly price. All items given to the pirates by the evil wizshades carry some curse and are dangerous to use.
Secrets:
Statues of Ios were entombed because they were very
noble. Wanted to watch and protect their children.
Served the Emperor.
Wemics are actually cross between wemics (form and culture) and jann genies. Have many unusual powers but are very shy.
