Tarock -- Finli -- Crea -- Cardo -- Penter -- Gester -- Djenn
Seesha is elvish for wind, and an apt name for this airy giant. The atmosphere (since there is no world to speak of) is cold but fresh (imagine a sunny autumn day with the first hints of winter in the air), and usually windy. Seesha has a definite gravity field pulling towards the centre, but why this is so remains a mystery, since the centre is as airy and empty as the rest of the world.
Seesha is inhabited by Geshlings, spherical tree-like beings roughly a mile across (yup, check the treants for statistics). Drifting in perpetual sunlight, with no locomotion of their own, geshlings are merry, peaceful creatures, communicating telepathically. When attacked, the can generate a telepathic blast that stuns their opponents for hours, but they rarely have the need to do so. In their branches live hosts of crawling and flying animals, symbiotic and parasitic plants, and elves. Since the geshlings, being telepathic, never named their world (other than as a mental picture), it was these elves that named it for them. When originally discovered (a long time ago) the geshlings had no language as we know it, but being almost as curious as kender, they quickly learned to use this novelty, and today take great pride in knowing as many languages as possible, and using it to create stories and great poetry. Living even longer than elves, geshlings are also great storehouses of knowledge. Geshlings have no sensory organs as such, but instead can feel, smell/taste, see and hear with their entire being. This makes it nearly impossible to surprise them and gives an excellent warning system to the elves living on them. Geshlings have no trouble at all communicating with many creatures at once.
The elves love the geshlings so much it comes close to worship, and will do nearly anything to protect them. Building their homes in the branches, they live in symbiotic harmony with their host.
Although the elves (not to mention the geshlings) are very openminded towards other races, most people find the open air below the geshlings too disturbing to settle permanently, and although occasionally groups of non-elves colonize a geshling, such colonies rarely last for more than a few decades.
Seesha itself has no main port, although all geshlings have a small harbour where ships can dock. These ships are usually shuttles from Tarock, the dwarven citadel.
The geshling store of knowledge is exploited by the elves (standard fee of 10 gp for any question, weather the geshling knows the answer or not). The geshlings understand the elven need for currency, and don't mind being used so, but may decide any time to answer questions for free, in exchange for other information, or not at all (though this happens rarely). The elves also create many delicacies, perfumes and potions from the many plants and animals living on the geshlings. Import is mostly minerals, metal items, and similar stuff that Seesha lacks.
Tarock is an old dwarven citadel. Long out of use as a spelljamming vessel, its main function is port of call for Seesha. Although the dwarves sold Tarock to the elves in return for mining rights on Finli, they still mostly run the place, since the elves much prefer their geshling homes to live in. Nevertheless, the elves have the final say in any legal matter. Although this alliance sometimes seems strange to outsiders (and in the beginning was chancy at best), both parties have long learned to see the profits, and are on the best of terms. Tarock welcomes trade with any non-aggressive race, and offers extensive accommodations to ships of all kinds. Technically, even a peaceful scro ship (if it exists) could come and trade, although this would truly be the wonder of the year. The Imperial Fleet, with its racistic view is decidedly unwelcome (although individual ships are tolerated).
The city is ruled by the Council, consisting of 6 elves and 6 dwarves, and an elven chairman. The current chairman (-woman, rather) is Kendaha Startree.
Tarock sports no combat fleet of its own, since the geshlings can combine their mental combat abilities to reach into space well beyond Tarock's orbit, and all the elves have to do is gather the bits. Since the telepathic blast from the geshlings does no physical damage, the ships can easily be salvaged, and invasions are seen more as a boost to economy than as a threat. It has been a long time since anyone was foolish enough to attack..
Finli is a cold, mountainous moon rich in minerals. Iron, gold, mithril, adamantite can all be found. However, mining rights are the exclusive property of the dwarves of Clan Finli, and they will protect their property from any greedy intruders. As a result, while the dwarfish population is quite extensive, other races are almost non-existent on Finli. The harsh climate is also responsible for this. There are two exceptions to this; a thinly populated but wide spread human community of mostly farmers and (to the great disgust of the dwarves) a small, but thriving settlement of Tinkergnomes. Originally the survivors of a crashlanding from a gnomish Sidewheeler, the Tinkergnomes had set up shop in what is now widely known as Mount Oshutup before the dwarves were aware of their existence. Since the gnomes where already buried deep and mount Oshutup is volcanic and unsuitable for mining, the dwarves eventually decided it wasn't really worth the bother to evict the gnomes, and instead demanded rent. The tinker gnomes on the other hand have set up countless "scientific research programs" concerning lava, volcanoes, and fire in general, and are way too absorbed into their experiments to be interested in the outside world. They pay their rent, occasionally trade with the humans for food, and get ready for the next interesting project, every now and then interrupted by earthquakes and minor eruptions. They claim to have the volcano "nearly" under control by now, and will offer many ways to quiet down restless volcanoes to anyone who happens by.
The humans live in small communities of farmers, trappers and woodcutters, supplying the dwarves and the (dwarven) city of Tendar, the main port of Finli. The planet offers plenty of first-rate timber, and to the humans, this is their main source of income (mining being illegal to non-dwarves), next to their food-trade with the dwarves.
Led by Thane Khortag, the dwarves themselves mine and work the endless amounts of metals and minerals that Finli holds, creating breathtaking jewelry, superior tools and weapons, and any other metal objects you can think of. These are sold partly to the humans and gnomes, but mostly off-world on Tarock. A substantial amount of minerals also goes to Seesha, to nourish the geshlings (who consider them delicacies). As with Seesha, most ships that dock in Tendar are shuttles from Tarock, but usually at least a few independent traders can be found in port as well.
Although Finli's main line of defense consists of the Geshlings, the dwarves consider it prudent to have a combat-ready fleet as well. Consisting of 8 heavily armed dreadnoughts, they regularly hold "training" trips ranging all around Seesha, looking for trouble; while not actually attacking strange ships, they are apt to board them for inspection. If treated politely (and all is indeed well), they will leave again without making problems, but any pirates or sub-legal traders have come to seriously dread the Stone Fleet.
Gester is a dark, frozen moon. With an atmosphere so thin it is nearly unbreathable, it supports very little life other than the occasional lichen. Having no other points of interest either, it is no wonder most ships don't give it a second glance, assuming they even bothered with a first. This, combined with the fact that it is the 6th moon counting from Seesha, would make it the perfect pirate's base, if not for the one really interesting life form: Ice worms.
Certain sages doubt if ice worms are a natural form of life, especially considering the other very primitive life forms of Gester. However, no one knows where the worms came from if they did not originate on Gester. Whatever the answer, the worms make certain Gester remains uninhabited.
