The Tower of Xenix
A space elevator straight from Arthur C. Clarke's stories. Used to connect the heavily garrisoned Xenix to the Imperial Fleet (the majority of whose ships are unable to land at all). Made of spidersilk gathered from Mozra (tho' the elves would never tell where they've got the wonderstring), very very strong - apparently a magical weapon comparable to Gorgorin is needed to quickly cut a string, with an axe or sword the work takes very long (the elves used golems to cut the ropes with magic weapons - some of which are still found near Mozra, not all golems survived the 'natural hazards' of Mozra. Each string originally had a diameter of one inch, the ones used to construct the bridge are braids made of four normal strings glued together magically.
The twin elevators (soon to be quadruple) are each constructed of sixteen ropes stretching from the planet surface to a conveniently snatched and placed asteroid on a totally stable orbit around Xenix. On these ropes travel cylinders constructed from pieces of ships, steel (some pieces are glass-steeled) and the strongest of woods. Each elevator measures some 20 meters in height and has a diameter of 6 meters, on its' 5 levels can crowd up to 150 elves.
The Black Ziggurat of Ildris
The inhospitable planet of Ildris boasts one of the largest known and probably the most beautiful royal palace in the known spheres: the Tasloan Court. During millennia the other ziggurats have been eroded by the heavy weather, but this edifice constructed of black marble veined with gold still stands unshaken. Hardly surprisingly the Tasloi do not respond well to tourism and visiting the Ziggurat is made even more hazardous by the Nijigras who tend to shoot at any passing ships. However, some consolation can be the amazing pictures painted or drawn by the priests living in Whitehold and sold for quite a price, strangely most of the pictures tend to disagree with each other as to what the Ziggurat exactly looks like.
Since visits into the ziggurats are very rare occurrences, not many people are aware of the pyramids' true nature - they are in fact large starships powered not by mana but gold. The Tasloi must have used them ages ago, but they have forgotten almost their whole history, and the space travel is considered to be just a legend (the pictures of blueskinned giants, weird spaceships and primitive spaceraces are common in their pyramids).
The Watchmen of Twain
Due to the peculiar nature of the Twain (name of both the sphere and the planet, qv. The Planets of the Twenty Nearest Spheres) it is more than vital that the travellers only enter the top half of the sphere. The Twainians have spent the last two millennia creating magical constructs to tell the travellers nearing the sphere which side is which. These sixty feet tall marble busts (all magically sculpted to resemble a planetary celebrity) skim across the sphere at subjamming speeds vainly trying to reach all ships before they breach the crystal. They won't, however, interfere with a captain that has decided to do what he pleases, the statue just offers the crew and passengers a chance to climb upon its' back (most captains consider this to be desertion). The statues offer their information and rides to all passersby, regardless of species, race or alignment (they do warn Neogi, Grell and other wellknown troublemakers of the consequences of entering the right half - Twain has a huge spacefleet). Lately, there have been reports of Watchmen of another kind, giving out false advice, presumably these are Infernian constructs.
Yes, it's the only "We always lie, they always tell the truth" case, the Infernian statues (which, by the way are absolutely indistinguishable from the proper ones) can only appear when a normal statue is nearby, they never visit ships by themselves.
The Idol of Dukagshgan
One of the Wonders that only a few have seen. This is the fearsome idol of the Scro-folk that powered their hugest Battlewagons in the second Unhuman War. Looks like a huge statue (almost a sixth of a mile high) of an orcish warlord in ancient armor, one hand holding a spear, the other clenched in a defiant fist. It was built during the Years of Abstainment after the first war, whether the myth is true that Dukagash himself is buried in the statue's chest in unknown since there's no gaps in the stony surface, and even now any attempt to examine the statue will be hazardous to the examiner's health - the famous Scro fighting spirit may be broken, but they still throw the most fabulous riots known to spacefarers.
Right now again in the wrong hands - the ogres of the Steel Talons grabbed the helm by teleporting it away (expending the power of two artifacts in the process). The original idol was switched during the Final Blackout when the Scro solidified the clouds into granite (by releasing the entire store of mana contained within the stolen Cloud Controller from 'malamut) and all hell broke loose underneath.
The Cuisine of the Poloni
The most famed chefs - spoken reverently of throughout the score upon score of worlds in the Known Spheres are the Poloni: short, flabby humanoids apparently from a planet called Polonia (which, again belongs to those few worlds that everyone's heard about but no-one visited). They tend to be travellers, rarely staying at any place for more than a fortnight. How they accomplish their travels is a secret as well kept as the likewise sudden transportation of the Arcane, neither commonly owns ships (though many a Poloni has received one as a gift from a satisfied patron), nor frequents them as a passenger. Is there a connection between these two species is unknown - neither makes much noise about it if one indeed exists. How they create their magnificent feasts is unknown, they usually get complete access to a kitchen (no peeking, these guys seem to know every trick in the book) with a wide variety of foodstuffs, afterwards the original owners find their stores depleted, oven used and all items neatly washed and replaced on racks. Poloni take their reward in cold cash or valuables, and disappear somehow when the public's observation falters.
Of the food is almost impossible to say anything, it's widely regarded as being way beyond comparison with anything edible in the Known Spheres. Everyone who has tasted the food (even on the same occasion) describes the meal in a very different way, even the liquids served are disagreed upon.
Poloni cook souls, pure and simple. Anybody eating the food is left without one, it's gone to a Hell forever. This can be noticed only by a failure in a Resurrection attempt or somesuch. Poloni are fiends, but their alignment cannot be discovered using any known spell.
The Trees of Reitcla
The tallest trees growing planetside (the gigantic trees found growing on the insides of a few select spheres cannot really be compared), these reach the height of two miles. They grow in the few big clearings among the network of canyons on Reitcla, and serve as homes to the Reitclan elves.
