Copper Nebula

Type: Irregular air body
Size: I
Escape Time: Varies
Satellites: None
Distance from Primary: 400 million miles
Day Length: N/A
Year Length: 75 months
Population Analysis: Undead

Between Rizzen and Argon's World is the enormous Copper Nebula, an oddly shaped air world. It has a rough, circular shape, but is transparent enough that one can see stars and worlds through it. Stretching over an average of five million miles in diameter, the Copper Nebula is easily visible from anywhere in the sphere. It is so named for the green gas, the color of aged copper, that makes up the nebula. Two gigantic rings of denser, darker gases slowly spin about the center of the planet, one on the 'equator' and the other perpendicular to the first, with a polar course. Where they meet, chaotic storms erupt.

At the center of the Copper Nebula is a bright blue fire body, at least 500 miles in diameter. It lights up the whole nebula, making it glow with bright green hue. This fire body heats the nebula somewhat, resulting in a uniform temperature of about 35 degrees. The fiery body itself is very hot, as hot as Wink's surface, and the heat is lethal within 1000 miles of the surface. Oddly, the fire body is not violent like most suns, instead radiating heat at a constant rate without the flares and sunspots common to other fiery bodies.

The green gas that makes up the Copper Nebula is breathable by humans and centaurs, but barely so. Long- term exposure to the gas has been known to cause a loss of strength and coordination. Those who remain in the Nebula longer than one week must save vs. poison or suffer a loss of 1 point in strength and dexterity. Each week requires another save, with a failure resulting in a loss of another point of strength and dexterity. If someone falls below a 5 in either of those scores becomes too weak or disoriented to move and is effectively bedridden until they are removed from the Nebula. The gas cannot cause scores to drop below 3 no matter how long they remain in the Nebula. Strength and dexterity is restored at a rate of 1 point per every three days away from the gases of the Nebula. Ships leaving the Nebula have their atmospheres contaminated by the nebula gases and need to be purified, or the gases continue to weaken their crews. Interestingly, the asteroids clean the air around them, and each maintains a zone of purified air to a distance of half a miles above their surfaces. Each asteroid is an oasis of breathable in a desert of poisonous gas.

The Copper Nebula has no moons per say, but several tiny asteroids orbit the central fire body. Most are found in the two 'rings', but a fair number form a third ring around the planet's fiery core at a distance of about 5000 miles from the core's surface. The outer asteroids are usually green in color, the surface buried under a carpet of ferns. Many are riddled with extensive systems of caves and caverns, hidden by the lush greenery. The green vegetation shrouds the asteroids from visibility from distances greater than 500 miles. The inner asteroids have never been explored, but rumored to be paradise itself. The outer asteroids are fairly close to the edge of the nebula, at a distance of about 2,000 miles.

Ancient texts refer to the fourth world as Socia, a spherical world. Legend claims that Socia was the greatest citadel of the Raer sorcerers, where they held their most precious icons of power and the greatest of their experiments. Legend also holds that the Last Emperor of the Raer destroyed Socia during the great Raer Civil War, unleashing his great rage upon the vile sorcerers. The Emperor's Rage destroyed Socia and created the Copper Nebula, known to some scholars and travelers as the Emperor's Pyre, for the Emperor did not survive Socia's final destruction.

Climate and Weather

The Copper Nebula is a very dry and calm environment. There are no storms outside of the areas where the two outer rings collide. Where the rings collide hurricane strength winds prevail, but elsewhere the winds do not rise above a gentle breeze. Moisture is concentrated at the asteroids, usually trapped in water-filled caves. Water seems to be attracted to the asteroids, drawing the moisture out of the air. There are no clouds or rain in the Copper Nebula.

Appearance from Space

From space, the Copper Nebula appears as a roughly spherical shape, but constantly shifts and alters its outer boundary. The outer edge has a rippled appearance, with no definite beginning or end. Two yellow bands are visible from orbit, one with a polar alignment, the other along the equator. The blue star at the Nebula's center is easily visible, but the asteroids and islands are not.

Continents

None. There are no land masses large enough to be considered a continent, though each of the three main rings of asteroids are named. Each archipelago of asteroids is vast and largely unexplored. The polar ring is called Ghechis, while the equatorial ring is Phelhis. The inner- most ring is Vanhis to the precious few sages and travelers that know about it.

Life Forms

The bulk of the Copper Nebula is hostile to life. The atmosphere is very dry and the air saps the strength of most creatures. Life is concentrated around the asteroid islands, where water can be found and the air is safer. The asteroids are covered by a thick carpet of ferns, which hide many rodents. The largest animal is the cyreese, a squat, four-legged, ugly beast with a beaked mouth and covered with a thick layer of fat. The cyreese are actually able to make use of a dimension door ability once a week, allowing them to teleport themselves to nearby asteroids. This is an instinctive ability, with small herds of a dozen animals migrating to a new asteroid every other week or so. There are thousands of herds among the asteroids of the Nebula.

Guide to Groundlings

Despite the hostile conditions of the nebula, some intelligent creatures make it their home. Native to the nebula are several clans of topaz dragons, who jealously guard their territories against all invaders. The dragons are small, perhaps a result of a limited food supply, and only reach a length of about 30' or so and a mere 5' at the shoulder. They too have an ability to travel magically to other asteroids instantly to hunt. Their ability is usable twice a week. A clan of dragons is usually ten to thirty strong and lay claim to as many as one hundred asteroids. Each clan has a hollowed asteroid within which they rest, lay their eggs, raise young, and keep any treasure they accumulate. Hordes are communal and consist of any trinket that catches the dragons' eyes.

The outer rings are also home to several pirate holds, who have found safety in the maze of asteroids and hostile dragons. Despite numerous dragon clans, thousands of asteroids are yet unclaimed, and some hide extensive cavern systems. Pirate clans are small, usually only a single ship or a pair of ships, and the conditions of their holds are fairly primitive. Typical ships are wasps and eelships, with a clan totaling about forty pirates, including any family a pirate may have and pleasure girls. The larger pirate clans often make use of bizarre magical items and spells, often causing heavy damage when unleashed. These were given to them by shadowy benefactors, whom they know next to nothing about. Most are suspicious of their benefactors, who are literally talking, intelligent shadows. Some pirate clans have made deals with the topaz dragons, and some pirate ships have a dragon crewman or two. In general, the pirates of the Copper Nebula are a small but dangerous group of rouges and thieves more than capable of attacking ships up to twice the size of their own vessel.

Neogi are also found in the asteroids, though not in great numbers. They have a handful of slave plantations with extensive cave systems created by their umber hulk servants. They prey upon the centaurs, minotaurs, and satyrs of the sphere, but have found them difficult slaves to take and keep. Their slaving operations are actually on a decline due to defeats against centaur and minotaur ships. Recently, the plantations have been approached by the shadows, promising items of power and strange spells. Some of the neogi have reluctantly agreed, with terrible results. Rumors are starting to spread throughout the sphere about deadly spider ships that bring death and destruction to all they encounter. Fortunately, the dragons find the neogi utterly disgusting and refuse to work with them.

Vanhis, the asteroids near the heart of the nebula, are home to the pirate and neogi shadowy benefactors. Each shadowy creature has the same abilities and statistics as a wizshade, but the connecting vortexes are smoky and dark, and lead deeper into the Copper Nebula. Unlike wizshades, they are highly evil and make use of bizarre and fantastically powerful magical items. Many are given to pirates and neogi, who are little more than guinea pigs, testing new and dangerous magical items and spells while at the same time creating chaos and strife in the sphere, at the behest of their master, the self-styled Queen of the Spheres. A lich-like creature, the Queen drains the life from mortal creatures to maintain her incredible beauty and youth. She is extremely cunning, yet vain, and plots the downfall of every living creature in the entire Maelstrom. Her abilities are well beyond most mortal creatures. The dark and brooding Final King, a death knight of unusual abilities, is her constant companion and bodyguard.

Resources and Trade

The Copper Nebula has little in resources. The air is foul to humans, and the asteroids lack much material wealth. Hunting on the islands is difficult but a downed cyreese is enough to food to feed a squidship for a week. The ferns have no known medical value, though people from other spheres claim that when the ashes of the ferns are mixed with powdered scavvar bones a powerful aphrodisiac is produced.

The pirates and neogi are only interested in taking ships, wealth, and lives, and have no interest in trading.

Ports of Call

There are at least two score small ports among the asteroids of the nebula. Most are very small, with docks enough for a single ship, often no larger than twenty tons. The neogi have a single port, Twin Fangs, which has a pier large enough to dock a deathspider, but Twin Fangs is the only port so equipped. The neogi of Tyrspace make heavy use of mindspiders as their workhorse ship.

Powerful pirate groups include the following:

The Fury Blades, a centaur band with an eel ship. The captain is armed with a sword that unleashes a swarm (d6) of specters at his command, souls that have been bound to the blade. The weapon also permanently drains an experience level from the user when the specters are unleashed, turning him into a specter once he has been reduced to 0-level. The captain is currently at 5th level.
The Silent Storm, a group of minotaurs aboard a stolen wasp. They prowl the area near Torrent and return to the nebula to stash their loot. Their first officer has a helmet that when worn, absorbs all sound in a 100' radius. The minotaurs make great use of this effect to throw ship crews into confusion and panic when they are boarding. The minotaurs are well drilled in fighting in complete silence.
The Blazing Skulls, a mix band of centaurs, minotaurs, and satyrs making use of two eelships. They own an gigantic dragon's skull that enchants skulls placed within it. The smaller skulls, when hurled as sling stones, explode in a 5' fireball that causes 4d6 points of damage (save for half). From the fire arises a 2 HD skeleton that attacks everyone it encounters, including the pirates! Typical tactics are to make a pass, unleashing a half dozen skeletons, and then pull back until the skeletons are destroyed before moving in for the kill.

Other Considerations

The creatures at the heart of the Copper Nebula are meant to be exceedingly powerful, well beyond the abilities of most adventurers and are just short of demi-gods. They are confined to the nebula, unable to leave. They can only make use of the pirates and neogi as proxies to sew chaos through the sphere. The creatures rarely engage in personal combat, preferring to keep to the shadows until such time as they are ready to strike. When they do, they believe, the spheres themselves will tremble with their engines of war.