Type: Spherical fire body
Size: G
Escape Time: 12 turns
Satellites: 5 planets
Day Length: 25 hours
Year Length: none
Population Analysis: dragons
The primary of the Tyrspace system, Wink is a large fire body that changes color and brightness on a 25 hour cycle as it rotates. This cyclic change causes the primary to go from slightly brighter than "normal" suns (such as that of Twilitespace) to moderately dim, such as the light from a dwarf sun. For this constant change, the primary has become known as Wink
Wink is an average fire body roughly 80,000 miles across along its equator. Since Wink is a perfect sphere, it's polar circumference is identical to it's equatorial circumference. At all times, Wink is an extremely hot fire body. The atmosphere (or photosphere, as sages tend to call the atmospheres of all fire bodies) is so hot that there is no known means, magical or mundane, to safely approach. Damage starts at about 5 million miles distant, which causes small burns to people. For every few miles past that, the temperature rises dramatically, until metal begins to melt at about 100 miles past that point closer to Wink. Magical protection fails at 4 million miles, and no ship can approach closer than that without being destroyed.
Wink is unique among fire bodies in that it has several "rivers" of some unknown magical substance. This rivers wind around the whole sun, following chaotic courses that bend and twist across their entire million mile long run. The rivers are normally 10 miles wide each, but "flood" on a 25 hour cycle. When the rivers flood, they expand to be 10 times wider than normal. The rivers are much dimmer than the surrounding surface and have a dark blue color. The flooding of these rivers is the reason why Wink dims in brightness. The course of the rivers is not set, and are constantly changing. Though many rivers seem to intersect many times, the rivers have no affect on each other.
Despite Wink's rivers, it does experience solar flares and sunspots that are common to other suns. The solar activity does affect the course changes of the rivers. The solar flares often send rivers airborne, but they always return to the surface after the flare has subsided. Sun spots drain the blue material of the rivers for hours or days at the time, but empty into new rivers after a few days when the sunspot disappears.
Wink has an atmosphere, called a photosphere, but it is not very different from other suns. It is much hotter than the surface, and there is no known means of safely approaching it. The photosphere is fairly calm in comparison to other suns, with little solar activity. Sunspots are fairly rare, and flares are only slightly more common.
From safe orbit, Wink is a solid green sphere of bright fire. When it is at it's brightest, directly looking at it can cause eye damage or even blindness. When it is dim, one can safely look at the sun without risking eye damage. The rivers are too small to be seen from orbit, even with a good telescope. It was only by accident with magical means did sages learn of their existence, and the small size of the rivers in relation to Wink has causes problems with those sages trying to study them.
None known. If there is any magical continents floating on or above Wink's surface, they have not been discovered by sages yet.
Like most suns, there is life on Wink. The large expanses of fiery plains that make up the majority of the surface is completely uninhabited. Even creatures from the Plane of Fire do not visit the fiery fields, though many could survive there if they wished. Why the plains are avoided by fire-loving creatures is unknown.
The 'rivers' that crisscross the surface of Wink are more inviting to life. A type of giant, fire-dwelling goldfish are a common sight, swimming about mindlessly in the rivers. These mammoth fish are often over 400' long and covered by scales of solid gold. Many could gulp down a small spelljammer if one were able to survive the trip to the rivers. The goldfish do not need to eat, drawing all of their nutrition from the sun itself, but retain fish- like instincts and will devour anything smaller than themselves they encounter.
The fairly passive goldfish are prey to the much smaller sun dragons, who also dwell in the rivers. The sun dragons, when hunting for food, will allow itself to be swallowed by a goldfish, only to slowly eat its way out. This tactic allows the dragon to bypass the fish's scales and bones, which are too strong for the dragon's claws to scratch. A dragon can survive for decades on the meat inside of a goldfish before needing to hunt again. When a goldfish has been completely hollowed out, the dragons sometimes make the husk their lair. Many older dragons can use powerful magics to combine several husks to create one giant husk-liar for their needs. Some dragons have lairs that more closely resemble opulent, fish-shaped palaces than simple dwellings.
The last creature native to the rivers are the sun scavvar. An unusually nasty member of the scavvar family, the sun scavvars are capable of limited spelljamming speeds, which they use to hunt the space around Wink. The sun scavvars cannot travel more than 10 million miles from Wink, but make the area around the sun extremely dangerous to spelljammers. Large and powerful, the sun scavvars have the stats of a void scavvar, but are so hot that anyone touching the creature suffers d6 points of heat damage. Weapons that strike a sun scavvar must save vs. fire or are damaged by the creature's heat (-1 to all hit and damage rolls for every missed save). The creatures must return to the rivers every six hours to rest and regain strength lost by 'swimming' in the void.
The only known culture on Wink is that of the sun dragons. The magnificent beasts are the only known sentient specie on the sun. All sun dragons on Wink (estimated at about 100 or so of the creatures) are part of a single extended family. They have adapted to Wink's particular nature, and have built an extraordinary society.
To adapt to Wink's environment, the sun dragons have changed physically. All sun dragons grow to a length of about 80' when they reach adulthood (a process that takes 3 times longer than normal dragons) and stop growing. Their scale coloring is also different, with bright, glowing green scales and an underbelly of deep blue. The wings of a sun dragon also green but have wild patterns of blue, gold, and silver upon them. When a sun dragon flaps it's wings rapidly, the bright display acts as a confusion spell upon those who view it. As a final means to surviving on Wink, the sun dragons are much more powerful spellcasters, capable of casting spells as if they were gold dragons of equal age. Sun dragons prefer spells that deal with heat, light, and fire, and many are specialized fire elementalists (gaining an additional spell per spell level, as per a mage specialist).
The goldfish homes of the sun dragons have many magical properties in addition to their near invulnerability. The dragons are actually capable of turning their homes into gigantic spelljammers that far exceed the abilities of most spelljamming helms. Normally, their goldfish homes merely drift in the currents of the rivers of the sun, but once a dragon has grown to adult status, they can, by magical means, alter the nature of their homes. The dragons are somehow able to tap directly into the magical energy of Wink itself and use that power to move their homes at spelljamming speeds beyond the confines of Wink. Their home permanently gains the means to spelljam throughout the sphere, but are incapable of leaving the spherewall. The sides of the spelljammers are so strong that no known weapon can penetrate the hull, including all catapults, ballista, or even accelerators. Conversely, the dragons cannot arm their ships with weapons beyond their own personal abilities (which are often considerable). Though they rarely leave Wink, the dragons like to travel to other worlds in the sphere to learn all they can about other races, cultures, and ideas. In particular, they like to visit other dragons in the sphere so that they may exchange ideas, stories, and magic.
The sun dragons have become famous as the lorekeepers of the sphere, as they record vast amounts of knowledge on the inside walls of their homes by means of magical spells and using a diamond claw-sheaf. The dragons are interested in all kinds of lore, and their homes become vast libraries by the time a dragon has reached old status. Since the dragons often share their knowledge with other dragons, the whole clan could be considered the best source of information in the sphere. When the dragons are travelling, they can be hired out as sages, for a substantial fee. What interests dragons most are magical scrolls, books, magical items usable by dragons, and any information about other spheres, races, and ancient cultures. All of these things are protected from Wink's searing heat so long as they are kept inside of the dragon's golden home. All of the dragons can be considered sages, varying greatly in their expert fields. If a dragon does not know the answer to a particular question, he or she is likely to return to Wink to consult other dragons and return with an answer. When the dragon must return to Wink and consult others, the wait time is often a year or more as it must spend that time finding its kin.
All sun dragons pay homage to Llwar, the goddess of knowledge and magic, who they believe is the mother of their race. According to sun dragon dogma, Llwar gave birth to the first sun dragon centuries ago and placed her on Wink to learn all there is to know. The reason she choose such a harsh world for her children to dwell is to test their resolve and cunning. Those who learn enough knowledge to completely fill their goldfish homes with tablets are specially blessed. When the home becomes completely packed, it is said that Llwar herself appears before the dragon and asks him a single question. If the dragon can correctly answer the question, the dragon is transcended to serve Llwar as one of her closest and most trusted servants. Those that cannot answer the question are slain but reborn again in a new sun dragon egg. In either case, their treasure trove of knowledge is taken by Llwar to add to her already impressive extra-planar library.
Vast quantities of knowledge is the only resource that Wink has that would interest space travelers. In exchange for sage services, the sun dragons want magical items. They sometimes will accept more mundane treasures, such as coins or gemstones, but only for study or collecting purposes.
None.
Other than its rivers and coloration, Wink is a fairly standard sun. It is probably fueled by gates to the elemental plane of fire, like many other fire bodies, but few creatures journey through those gates. Most fire- dwelling creatures avoid Wink, considering it a wasteland.
